Subject: Re: Owl identification
Date: Dec 10 18:07:40 1998
From: "Jack Bowling" - jbowling at direct.ca


Reto wrote -

<snip>
>on the photo, the dark carpal mark (the dark sign on the underside of
>the wing, 2/3 out) is visible. I thought of this as a field mark of
>Short-eared Owls, but I don't have experience with the underwing of
>Long-eared Owls. I would like to hear from somebody who has!
<snip>

As most others, I only have seen Long-eareds flying from tree to tree.
However, one thing they do have is long, narrow wings relative to body size.
This photo seems to suggest broader, shorter wings than would be typical of
a Long-eared.

I saved the picture then manipulated it to take the overly warm color out,
then zoomed until it almost disappeared in a maze of blocky pixels. It seems
that the dark blotch on the underside of the near wing is not the carpal
patch at all but is the outer primary starting on the downbeat and we are
seeing it against the rest of the underwing.

Granted the facial shield does seem on the dark side for Short-eared which
could be just a trick of the lighting. But the habitat and wing/body ratio
smack me more typical of Short-eared than Long-eared.

- Jack

---------------------------
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca