Inspired by the owly calendar post, I got a cool book about the Boreal Owl in Finland as a Christmas gift! The book is heavily focused on nesting and what affects it (basically fluctuations in vole population), but there were some other interesting facts too! Did you know that fieldfares sometimes poop-attack boreal owls, smudging their feathers and making them unable to fly?
The book is written by Erkki Korpimäki, an ecologist, an owl specialist and a researcher. Having studied the Boreal owl for more than 50 years, he was awarded the Champion of Owls Award in 2018 by the International Festival of Owls!
I read the book through in one sitting and on the side finally decided to learn the names of our owls in English.
This is so many levels of amazing! I was just scrolling through the Champions of Owls after sharing the lady with the prosthetic leg and saw this person.
I also have bookmarked a PDF of habitat management for the Boreal Owl I want to read.
I’d never heard of a fieldfare, but it is a type of thrush.
The funny part, to go with your story of poop attacks, is the thrush genus name is Turdus, which gave me a good chuckle as turd is slang for poop. Turdus is just Latin for thrush, so it’s not intentional.
I’m glad you had a superb owly Christmas!
