Owls, of course, are Honorary Cats™, as they are the most feline of birds. The latest issue of Audubon magazine has a nice article highlighting the owl pictures of photographer Brad Wilson (you must go to his webpage and see his other animal photos!). From the article:
Wilson is an expert at point-blank portraits. His series “Affinity” features 65 species, including a white rhino, a white tiger, an Arctic fox, and an Egyptian Vulture. But owls were the most compelling and challenging subjects, he says. It takes years of building mutual trust before an owl will accept physical contact from a single person, says Wilson, and “owls don’t extend that privilege to other humans.”
Wilson wanted his images to accentuate the nobility and independence of each captive bird, minimizing its dependence on its caretaker. Many had wing injuries, for example, which he concealed in his pictures. The owls’ human perches likewise hid themselves, contorting their bodies to stay out of the frame. It was a gesture to the birds, a way of saying that although their wild days are behind them, they still have their dignity.
Here are some of Wilson’s owl photos. How many can you identify? After you try (I got two), go over to the Audubon page and read about each owl.
This owl looks like a fox!
This owl is adorable:
This owl is scary:
This owl is another cute one:
And this is the most striking owl of all:
Bottom one looks like a Spectacled Owl from my part of the world. Wonder how it got there?
It also looks like it has been knitted.
The last one is plotting the photographer’s demise.
Awesome.
I mean…. Owlsome!
Amazing, how close to the edge some people like to go.
Superb Owl* Monday – love it!
* stolen from another commenter
Wonderful portraits. I think my favorite is the profile.
The owls that have all black eyes, are their pupils merely dilated so much that the iris is not visible, or is their iris just that dark? They look like aliens!
And you can see Mr. Wilton’s reflection in all but the profile shot!
I’m pretty sure the black is a dilated iris. Owls have a remarkable range of dilation. Also, I just read that there are species whose eyes account for 5% of their body weight: so imagine, a 100 kg man would have two 2.5 kg eyes, each more than a large soda bottle in weight!
Wow, are those ever spectacular.
They sure are – and the spectacled one at the bottom has a spectacular ‘fro!
The ‘fro – that’s why I felt an immediate affinity. Just emailed that one to my daughter, captioned: Who knew? When I’m angry, I’m an owl.
Top to bottom, Western Screech, Barn, Eurasian Eagle, Eastern Screech, Flammulated, (scary) Great Horned, Long-Eared, Mexican Sootted, and Lou Jost’s Spectacled.
I think the barn owl wants to be your Valentine, Mr. Mouse … !
Spotted, obviously, not Sootted.
I’m still watching from time to time the Savannah Great Horned owl on owl cam – link on Jerry’s post about Thursday last week. She’s feeding owlets that hatched the day he put the link up. It’s fantastic.
Owls seem to have the most front-set eyes of any bird. I wonder if that’s part of why we find them so beguiling.
Look at an owl skull some time (I did a couple of days ago, maybe first time close up). The back of the orbit is nearly flat, which means the eyes can’t swivel much if at all (do they have saccades? – yes, but by moving the whole head rather than just the eyes). If they look at you, they’re really looking AT you, no sidelong glances.
Yes, exactly. And it’s piercing! Thinking of Hawks and Eagles, I reckon the degree of side-ness, if you will, of bird eyes is proportionate to the degree they are the hunted. Look at Diana’s dove posted today: looking straight at the camera, yet beak 90° away: that bird is on the lookout for a bird on the lookout for lunch!
The sixth owl looks shocked. Like it is saying, “you did what?!”
All I can say is keep your cats away from them unless you have said good bye to the cat.
🐾🐾
The last one looks like Groucho Marx. I wonder if the resemblance is superficial.
The grey one is a grey owl. 🙂
Amazing pics.
Not what they seem…
Ha! Took a long time for the pop-culture reference to pop up…
I bet THEY could spot the nightjar.
Those ear-like feathers that some of them have–are those actual structures (or ears) or are they just a quirky arrangement of feathers?
Just tufts of feathers.
Where’s the Teat Owl?
🙂
I couldn’t resist… from my “interspecies love” collection:
http://imageshack.com/a/img913/9513/UNKgZa.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img540/3685/bAXF4k.jpg
Awwww! They’re great.
Thanks, I needed that!
If it’s owls versus cats, for me, it’s owls, every time.
The last one looks quite angry.
If owls are honorary cats (and they are), then I vote for the Eurasian Eagle Owl as the honorary Snow Leopard of owls. Ever since I saw one at the Central Park Zoo, this has been my favorite owl, and possibly my favorite bird. They’re HUGE! This is definitely the big cat version of the owl.
If you look on Twitter, the #SuperbOwl was trending to circumvent the NFL’s registered trademark of Super Bowl. So may gorgeous owl pix! I think Jon Stewart started this on the Daily Show a couple of years ago. These are gorgeous also! KD
A day wifowt kittehs iz a day wifowt sunshine. — Dr Jerry Coyne, translated into LOLCat by Ginger K. Eben teh smallest kitteh iz a masterpeece. — Leonardo da Vinci, translated into LOLCat by Ginger K.
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2015 14:16:18 +0000 To: gvicious@hotmail.com
I know they are Honorary Cats and all, but their beaks scare me.
Unless you are a mouse, or a vole, or any other small mammal, you have nothing to fear. 🙂
Nothing to fear from their beaks, that is. Their claws will go right through your hand or eye. A famous bird photographer lost an eye that way.
Some of those beaks look like Georgia O’Keefe skulls.
Great shots.
When I was about 15 (40 years ago) I would have been easily able to name them all. Now I only recognize the Barn. I was also fairly confident the one below it (3rd) was the Great horned, but ManOutOfTime says it’s Eurasian Eagle, and the 6th down is the Great horned. I’m not yet convinced I’m the one who has them backwards.
The eagle owl, Bubo bubo, has orange irises, the horned owl, Bubo virginianus, has yellow irises.
Evocative photos; when an owl looks at you, you’ve really been LOOKED at!
(You got there first, my latecomer comment is above)
Exquisite. Wish I could take photos like that.
Superlative!
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.