Buffy fish owls are found from South Burma and central India to the south east and east of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam peninsula, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, the Riau Archipelago, Sumatra Brunei, Cocos Islands, Indonesia down to Java, Bali and Borneo.
Photograph by Husain Alfraid, National Geographic Your Shot
From its preferred nesting environment—a scrape constructed within a rocky cliff or outcrop—this pharaoh eagle-owl scans the terrain.
Its bright yellow eyes are characteristic of the species.
The birds are generally found in arid habitats of North Africa and the Middle East and are efficient nocturnal predators—even scorpions are on its menu.
One morning, someone in Southern California found an injured owl on their porch. It turned out to be a blind Western Screech Owl with eyes that look like a starry night.
After a visit to the vet, the owl found a new permanent home at the Wildlife Learning Center in Sylmar, California.
He was named “Zeus” after the Greek god of sky and thunder because of his stunning eyes.
Zeus was injured when he was found on that front porch in South California, but the dedicated team of animal lovers at the center helped him on his feet again.
Since he was blind, they couldn’t simply release him back into the wild, so he now lives in a trunk on the filing cabinet next to the Wildlife Learning Center founder Paul Hahn’s desk.
Even owls can have bad days! This baby owl has a feather sticking out and doesn’t look too pleased about it.
Owls, birds of the order Strigiformes, include about 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision and binaural hearing, and feathers adapted for silent flight.
Great grey owls perch on relatively low tree branches, making them a photographer’s dream.
This particular owl and another juvenile in the area were quite dedicated hunters and would search for mice and voles in the dry grass and meadows, swooping long and low before gliding back up to a suitable perch.
It was seemingly unfazed by human presence and would stare right into the camera often both during flight and while scanning for prey from the pine branches.
Image Credit: Photograph by Jennifer Rogers. All Rights Reserved.
