Flammulated Owk, bits and pieces

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A rare Flammulated Owl was found by Larry and Vicki Kirby and Jim and Brenda Martin several days ago next to the Convention Center on So Padre Island. After not being seen a couple of days then seen yesterday afternoon then again this morning. I drove out there, arriving a little after 10:30 this morning and found a place to park my car only a few hundred yards away (there was this big market thing at Convention Center and hundreds of cars so some had to park a quarter mile away along the road outside the entrance). The wind was murderous, hard to stand in one area I had to walk through. Fortunately the owl had perched in a grove of trees in the Warbler Rest Stop habitat that was mostly sheltered from the winds so it was just cold and breezy (and gusty occasionally) while we watched. The owl was essentially embedded in a tree towards the back side away from the path so viewing consisted of seeing bits and pieces of the owl at one time and from one location.

So these pics show 2 views of pieces of the owl. The top pic gives a view of the owl's talons. What I found interesting in this photo and in my binocular views was that the owl usually had it's claws hung loosely over the branch on which it was perched while I only occasionally saw one or more claws gripping the branch. That surprised me as I would have thought it would be clinging tightly to the branch due to the strong winds that sometimes shook the branch the owl was perched upon.

I posted the bottom pic here as I think it shows the owl's small tail best. According to Owls.com it's tail is just 2 1/4 inches long. Since the owl is only about 6 inches in length, it's tail is 1/3 it's length. More pics above. SeEtta

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