This month (July 2006), my colleague Peter Wilkinson and I ringed a brood of three Barn Owls from a box to the south of the Nene Washes, two males and a female. The males were normal, but the female was something special: she was a bold apricot-peach from chin to undertail coverts. Not only that but there was even some light spotting. Anyone seeing this owl in flight would immediately think "guttata". Peter and I have both seen female owlets before with a splendid apricot-peach suffusion on the upper breast, but never one as striking as this bird.
No comments:
Post a Comment