Sometimes all the “news” is dire but there are still minor joys.
Like getting the Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s call caught on the Bird Sounds App “Merlin” where it agreed with me that it was, indeed, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. I’m still bemused by Merlin’s assertion that a cicada/grasshopper like noise at midday on a sunny day was a Barn Owl. We should have Barn Owls, yes, but I’ve never seen or heard one (they screech/scream, supposedly) but they’re listed as in this area year ’round. The insect-like sound was the only sound right then.
I’ve been wasting time on some doodles. This round of doodles was inspired by another fit of “filling in a smallish defined space with different patterns (often but not always leaves) and by the rediscovery of a set of colored pencils, with which to color said patterns. I took photos of two of them (some are so small I can’t) and neither the designs nor the photographs approach great art, but they’re fun to do and they relax my brain and hand. I may do just a few lines or one colored section and then come back later. Both of these were drawn on old card stock–one on the back of someone else’s business card (the little square) and one on the back of a 3 x 5 card. Others are more scribbly–not shown here, but derived from trying to get a dried u ballpoint to write (it finally did, a little, and to me the scribbles looked some a patch of trees.
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The rolling hills and agriculture (?) fields remind me of the rural parts of Switzerland.
Part of the inspiration for these has also been watching the equestrians I follow out hacking in the Engish countryside…and I see similar things in photos of rural Italy (esp. Tuscany) and Austria and Switzerland.
I shall have to listen to barn owl recordings. Often late at night when I’m taking the dog for her late night walk I hear a screech and sometimes something that sounds like a cat meowing very loud, but it’s more bird like than cat. I know we have owls, not completely sure which ones. I often hear the “whoo, hoooo, sound.
Having heard barn owls, at night, with Scouts, I can kind of see where an app may, just may, determine that cicada rhythmic sound might sound like a barn owl if caught at the right point of the cycle.
But they are pretty different sounds, especially when considering it was daylight. Even hearing it at night I’d expect it would be the other way around. If the cicadas are sounding off you’re likely to loose the sound of the barn owl amongst similar sounds.
Are barn owls and screech owls the same thing. We used to have screech owls in the woods by us, 80 miles west of Chicago, 20 years ago. Now we have hooting owls.
No, they’re quite different types of owls, not in the same genus. Barn Owls are _Tyto alba_, and screech owls are in the genus _Otus_. Only one species is listed for Barn Owls, and three species are listed for Screech Owls. They prefer different habitats, look very different, and live different lives. The Barn Owl has a white heart-shaped face and an overall tannish look on the back and upper wings. Screech Owls have “ears” and are streaky browns.
Thank you.