A Mysterious Little Owl Brought to Light

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Only the size of a soda can, a saw-whet is a diminutive raptor, but don’t mistake its wee size for a lack of moxie. This bird has fluffed out its feathers in a bid to intimidate the giant primate holding it, and is rapidly clacking its bill in a dead-seri­ous threat as I slip the little owl into a lightweight cotton bag and cinch the drawstring tight. The owl snaps its beak once again and I glance down to see the tips of eight sharp, shiny black talons poking through the cloth as I move to the next bird.

By the time we head back down the hill to a little cabin, we have nine freshly caught saw-whets in cloth bags. The birds must be weighed, measured, sampled for blood and feather analysis, and outfitted with tiny metal leg bands—the latest additions to a continental monitoring effort that has solved some (but by no means all) of the mysteries surrounding this tiny bird of prey.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/a-grassroots-banding-project-reveals-how-amazing-northern-saw-whet-owls-are/

[MineralMan]

1. What a cutie!

Unless you're a small rodent, anyhow.

[Anon-C]

2. He's so handsome!

[tblue37]

3. As Helena says in "Midsummer's Night's Dream," "Though she be but little, she is fierce!" nt

[FakeNoose]

4. Looks like his claws have been clipped

When they clip these birds' claws they take off the last knuckle of their "toes" along with the claw. Sort of like what happens when de-clawing cats. I think it's cruel because they could never survive in the wild like that.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

6. ?

[patphil]

8. I don't think so. The article says:

"The owl snaps its beak once again and I glance down to see the tips of eight sharp, shiny black talons poking through the cloth as I move to the next bird."

I think the little guy's still fully armed for combat.

[sarge43]

10. No, feathers covering the toes.

A talon is just visible on the inner toe of its left foot.

[SonofDonald]

5. Owls are cool, and beautiful. nt

[2naSalit]

7. Several years ago I had the great

opportunity to take over a hundred pictures of one that decided to hunt for voles in the firewood pile on the back porch. It arrived before daybreak and stayed for a couple hours before it caught a vole, posed with it for a moment then left with its prize. The cats, through the window, were very interested in it but they were far more interested in the voles. They live in boreal forests and hunt small rodents and that's about all I know about them.

[LudwigPastorius]

9. Wook at those widdle feetsies!

He's a cute little killer, ain't he?