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4 comments

  • What an adorable fuzzball!

    Oh, uh, I mean, terrifying. Yes. That's it.

    • They day I get bit trying to boop a baby owl, I will be sure to describe it to you all and rate it on a scale from Why?! to Worth It!

      They're so hissy and snappy, yet so unbelievably cute!

  • i wanted to see how the adults look and Otus Scops seem to be the scientific name for Eurasian Scops Owls, and Long-eared Owls' scientific name is Asio Otus

    so now i'm not sure if the thing that's wrong is the common name, the scientific name, or if i looked up the wrong thing

    edit: opened the facebook post and apparently it says Asio Otus. it probably was edited to be corrected and OP posted before the correction

    • Great catch on the scientific name!

      This owl I need to pay attention to for a few reasons. First it's a baby, so it looks a good bit different than an adult. Secondly, LEOs in Europe look, in my opinion, pretty different to the ones we have here in North America. Third, people in the comments and also Google Lens identify the pic as a Short Eared Owl!

      So what is it?!

      I focused on the just baby, but the person who made the post also shared 2 pics of the adult, which I assume is a parent. Let's look at that:

      From original Facebook post:

      A random Shortie:

      Looking at the face, I get where the Short Ear guess, Asio flammeus, isn't a terrible guess. With the plumes down, that chubby face is pretty SEO looking. I don't see it in the patterning on the back though. Also, no "eye shadow" like a SEO, and Shorties have yellow eyes, not orange.

      So lil one, and also the parent, I'm gonna call Long Ears.

      Here are some adults, for comparison.

      European (a little more lighter colored and more subtle patterns/textures)

      American (boldly beautiful!)

      LEO eyes range from lighter yellow to dark orange, so there is a good bit of randomness there, but if it's orange, def not a Shortie)

      Love me some gorgeous Long Ears!