Wherever you are right now, one or both of these owls is probably not toooo far away. These owls can fly further then probably any other owls. This had allowed them to go places other owls could only dream of. There’s one place one of these two can’t go… The next bracket!

Technically, there are 30 barn owls. We’re going to look at the Western Barn Owl of Eurasia and Africa, we did the American one last time. You can get a better guess on if a Barn Owl is make it female by looking at the belly. The males are usually whiter and there are less belly spots. The ladies are a little tanner and have more spots. Their populations are doing a bit of a rebound because they actually love nest boxes and people are finally learning how awesome it can be to have owls around.

While Barn Owls like snug little places like tree hollow, nest boxes, and sometimes even barns, the Short Eared Owl loves the widest expanses it can find. Shorties can migrate 1200 miles / 1900 km, and have even been found hundreds of miles in the ocean in remote islands having babies in a tropical paradise. They have a unique courtship flight ritual in which the male will clap its wings up to 10 claps per second. It sounds like a woodpecker or snapping some bubble wrap.

Both of these owls are classics. They have many similarities, but also maybe differences, making this a potentially difficult choice. Let me know who you’re going with now by upvoting your selection.

#superbowl #owloftheyear2024