Monday, 29 June 2009

Twit Twoo

These magnificent birds were on show in the High Street, helping raise money for The Barn Owl Centre. The charity, based on the edge of Gloucester, has the following aim - "To advance public education in Owl & Raptor welfare & husbandry."

The first owl is a Long Eared Owl, the second photo shows a Little Owl (original!) and the last owl is the most common in the UK, the Barn Owl.


The owl is a magnificently handsome bird of prey. Below are some interesting Owl Facts to impressive your friends and family with -
  • Owls belong to the Order Strigiformes, which contains over 200 different species.
  • Owls are nocturnal and hunt small mammals, small birds and some hunt fish.
  • Their eyes are fixed in the sockets. They rotate their head 270 degrees to see back over there shoulders.
  • Many breeds have special flight feathers for silent flying.
  • They are long sighted and use feathers similar to whiskers to sense the prey in their beaks.
  • The largest owl has a wing span of 2 meters.
  • The Twit Twoo sound they make is actually Ke-wick Hoo-hoo-oooo.

14 comments:

Sharon said...

Beautiful shots. That top one is magnificent! Look at those eyes.

Jackie said...

What fantastic photos Marley - they should be paying you for the publicity!

Tanya Breese said...

wow Marley, they are gorgeous!

Jilly said...

Owls are SO beautiful and so are your photographs.

I loved your Rhodes photos and what a great idea to featureWhile Marley's Away. All a great success and super photos,Marley.

Kate said...

What a way to return to your home blog! Such magnificent creatures!!

Neva said...

What a great post about owls! I did some owls when I first started blogging....they are pretty interesting birds......

Ken Mac said...

stunning!

Babzy.B said...

beautiful birds !!!

Jane Hards Photography said...

Twitter ye not! I just adore owls, long before Harry Potter. These are absolutely magnificent captures of magnificent birds.

magiceye said...

brilliant captures of magnificent birds!

Gerald (SK14) said...

and they are so soft to touch too - nice birds

Mo said...

I dont think I've seen owls this close before. Brilliant. Shouldn't they have been asleep?

Tash said...

The photos and the birds are incredible. Thanks for sharing such close-ups.

Rob said...

Handsome creatures!

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