…or did he?!
When i first took this shot i thought the little shit was looking at me… then…
One theory is that large false eyes may create the illusion that the owl is much bigger than its 6 and 3/4- inch size.
A more current theory is that the false eyes help protect the pygmy-owl’s true eyes. Small birds will mob this diurnal owl, even striking it, directing some attacks at its eyes.
I haven’t heard either of these, but it’s as good a guess as any. The owls aren’t sharing the truth with us!
What a beautiful shot. I have a very similar one of a mountain chickadee I took.
Oh, you may have missed the trick here. This is the back of this owl’s head, and those are fake eyes, called ocelli.
If you have the chickadee pic I’d still like to see it. 🙂
Tiny owl on a tiny branch
I like its tiny tail, like they almost forgot to stick one back there. 🥰
