[wisb] Things about owls
- From: "Kevin" <dkkearns@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Wisconsin birding network \(E-mail\)" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 09:11:23 -0500
I woke up, got out of bed, and made my way to the garage where I flushed a
medium sized red/orange bird that had roosted in our garage since we left
the door open. Did not have bins on me, so I figured it was a Sharpie based
on the size. Went back in and heard the cat making a ruckus in the bathroom,
so I took a look. There was a Red morph Screech Owl sitting in the lilac
bush 5 feet from our window. Took some bad video of him, then the kids woke
up and flushed him again. He flew to another tree right outside of our back
porch letting us all watch him from 10' away at eye level. Took some better
pictures and video. He finally flew into some Arbs and tried to hide from
the pestering Robin where he still is (which again is right outside of a
window). This is the third Screech Owl I have seen in two days, prior to
yesterday, I had only ever seen one Screech Owl in Wisconsin although I have
heard several.
Curious about the different phenotypes. This appears to be a balanced
polymorphism, but is there any advantage to being Red or Grey? From watching
both morphs in the last two days, I have noticed that both blend in equally
well with their surroundings. So is this a case of two distinct
subpopulations that have merged over time? Perhaps they were separated by
glaciers (doubtful due to the limited extent of glaciations in America), or
one evolved in the plains (Red?) and the other evolved in the forests
(Grey?) and when people came along and changed the habitat, they found they
were able to freely breed?
Just curious if anyone has ever looked into the differences and why they
occur.
Kevin Kearns
Enjoying owls in Neenah
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