this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
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Superbowl

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I think I'm ready to start getting Owl of the Year underway!

Last year went well, but between you guys' feedback and my own, this year will be mostly the same, but a few improvements.

First change is the competitors. Last year I picked every owl, but this year I'll let you choose! I'm hoping that makes a few early rounds more exciting, since they will all be the owls you want to see.

I'm keeping everyone who moved onto the second round in. These owls are:

  • Barn
  • Buffy Fish
  • Morepork
  • Little
  • Snowy
  • Short Eared
  • Great Gray
  • Flammulated
  • Burrowing
  • Elf
  • Saw Whet
  • White Faced Scops
  • Sooty
  • Blakiston Fish
  • Northern Pygmy
  • Eastern Screech

Everyone who got knocked out has to compete to stay in. Those will be competing here. I'll let this run for the week so everyone has time to vote.

I'll put the 16 from last year in this post, and next week I'll run 16 newcomers! Top 8 from each will go on to the tournament to face the 16 returning owls.

Rules are simple and the same as before: simply upvote which you like.

Vote for one or two, vote for all, vote for none, the choice is yours.

Downvotes do not count.

In the need of a tiebreaker, I defer to my SO's vote, so I have no way in much of anything as far as results go.

Second change, the prize. Last year, this was all pretty new, and it was originally going to be a purely symbolic prize, other than we changed the banner and icon to reflect the finalists and winner.

It ended up being very fun, and in the spirit of owl celebration, I made a cash contribution in c/Superbowl's name to my local owl rescue. I did this mainly because I was familiar with them and knew they were legit.

Now that we've been doing this for over a year and have seen over a hundred rescues I'm sure, I thought if you guys had any rescue story that has stuck out this year or if there's a name you feel you have seen a lot like (in no particular order) A Place Called Hope, Middle TN Raptor Center, the University of MN, The Raptor Trust, or anyone else, give them a shout out during any of these threads or message me, and I can have you guys vote who gets the prize this year.

I do not want any money from you, and I will never ask for it. If you like the work you see here, donate directly to the rescue or get them something from their wishlist. I'm still going to donate this year again to my local rehab because it made me happy. This prize will be in addition.

With all that out of the way, here are your first contests!

#superbowl #owloftheyear24

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

First pic: "oh shit, did I leave the oven on?"

Second: "I'm really worried about Steve's drinking.."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

They both do have serious looks of concern! 😯

[–] [email protected] 32 points 4 days ago

Crested Owl

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (7 children)

My vote is for this guy. I visited a place in the Alps where these guys lived in the cliffs and some local family friends said to never leave your baby under 2 months unattended because the “Uhus” can still carry them at that age.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 days ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

I'm glad the Lesser Horned Owl is also called the Magellanic Horned Owl. I think they're great too.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Owl of the Year is back!! 🥁🎉🦉🏆
Come and vote for your favorite #Owl at @[email protected] in the most exiting tournament of the fediverse!

The qualifying rounds have started already.
#superbowl #owloftheyear24

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Is it trying mind control?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

You won't know until it's too late! 😁

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

. . . all glory to the oriental bay owl . . .

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

I love me some OBO!

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 days ago

Barking Owl

Barking Owl

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 days ago

Spectacled Owl

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago

Black and White Owl

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago

Bare Legged Owl

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago

Northern Hawk Owl

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

I never stopped believing in you! 😁

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Burrowing!

Saw Whet!

Less Filling!

Great Taste!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Mmm....tough with a pronounced rodent flavor! 🫢

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So does it bench twice its bodyweight or is it like an owl senator? 🤔

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Not infrequently, prey weight averages between 50 and 100%, whereas, in most other raptors, including large owls, there seems to be a "rule" that most prey weighs 20% or less of the raptors' own weight.

They're also one of the very few raptors where the male is larger, therefore calling the shots in the relationship.

So I guess that makes the answer to your question: yes.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Me: I won’t vote for all the owls

Also me: [votes for all the owls]

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

I think most of the fun comes from having the difficult choices.

A few people chimed in last year that we shouldn't be pitting them against each other, that it's not a competition and we should love them all equal, etc.

That's the whole point of the contest! They're all great, so how does one choose?! It's a challenge for us, not for the birds, they're just pictures.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the contest, and I look forward to hearing about everyone's difficult decisions! It's a ton of work for me, but at least I don't have to decide anything once I have the bracket made, then it's up to you!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I try to stay impartial during things, but it was shocking seeing Great Horned and Eagle knocked out in the first rounds last year.

I'm curious to see if they do better this year.

There's also a ton of great new owls coming next round, some of which I don't think I've even had a chance to cover yet, so there's new and exciting new birds for you to fall in love with! I'm anxious to see which ones you all like!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I was just thinking the same as I scrolled through this list! Can’t remember who they were up against but it must have been a tough seed. GHO is and will always be my absolute favorite, partly because their expressions are so cat-like and partially because their hoot is the best IMO.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago

I've thought about doing a blind "hoot off" where there are unlabeled clips of hoots, but some owls are tough to find equal quality recordings of. GHO is top tier with its hoot, no denying it!

GHO lost out to one of last year's surprise juggernauts, the Flammulated Owl. Flammy is a stunning owl too, so I was stunned, but glad to see a less common owl get so popular for a bit.

Here's the whole bracket for reference:

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@[email protected] Unfortunalety the edit has not fediverse to Sharkey. That's common but if you add it from the start next time, it will not be a problem. I will respond to this post with a comment with the hashtag so they are added. Thanks for alway working so hard 😊

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

I will do my best to remember!

I'm glad you are having fun. ☺️

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What if your SO upvotes all owls, too? :D

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago

Thankfully she comes from a very long line of strongly opinionated people! 😆

I think there were 2 ties last year, but neither was a tough decision for her. She knows she's the tiebreaker though, and takes the responsibility with the utmost sincerity! She's the one that really kickstarted my interest in owls after all.

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