OBN Welcomes Stevie Evans

A very warm welcome to the latest OBN member. Dedicated expert owler Stevie Evans from Co. Durham has just joined our ranks. Stevie has been an inspiration to me since I first became interested in owls. He is lucky enough to have all five UK species of owl local to him on a full-time basis, and has even had encounters with a Snowy Owl - although that was an escapee!! Stevie's blog 'Cut'n a Long story Short' (subtitled 'In Dusk We Trust'  - I wish I'd thought of that one!) is largely focussed on owling, but does also tell of other encounters with local wildlife. As well as his own experiences and photos, he also includes information and images from his many local contacts. This is another blog that you should not miss!

Welcome to the Latest Member of the OBN

Accomplished wildlife photographer Christian Thompson sent me an e-mail asking if his blog was "owly enough" to join the OBN. It didn't take me more than a quick glance to realise that the answer was a resounding "Yes!". Whilst Lancashire-based Christian has an overall interest in wildlife photography, his love of owls shines through in his blog Hiding in Cars. From his past work, I'm sure that we can look forward to plenty of interesting 'owly' posts from Christian in the future! Welcome aboard !!!

Book Review - 'Owls Of The World' by Rob Hume

Books on owls seem to be a bit few and far between, unless you are looking for a monograph on a particular species. For most of us, I guess that the monographs go into a level of scientific detail that is a bit more than we are looking for. I've been keeping my eyes open for owl books for more than a year now, so was pleased to find one recently that I was not aware of - 'Owls of The World' by Rob Hume, illustrated by Trevor Boyer.

Most of us, no matter where we live in the world, probably only have a handful of owl species that we can see within our own country. If you are passionate about owls, it is probably inevitable that one's thoughts occasionally turn to what species might be found in other countries. If that is the case, this is a book that could be of interest to you. This book takes us  genus by genus, species by species, though all known owl species worldwide (as far as I am aware!).

For each species the book gives descriptions of the bird, its distribution, habitat, character, diet, breeding pattern, status, etc.. The levels of description are a little variable, particularly as some of the species have been little studied or are almost unknown! Where there is debate as to what are different species or just a different races of the same species this is discussed. Also, each species (with just a few exceptions - where very little is known about a species) is beautifully illustrated by Trevor Boyer. At the end of the book there are small distribution maps for each of the species.

If I have any criticisms of the book they revolve around its use as an identification guide. Inevitably, there are many similarities between some of the species, even within a single geographical range. The descriptions of the species' physical characteristics are sometimes a bit woolly and occasionally seem to be at odds with the illustrations. Given that many owls are masters at changing their appearance, it would have been nice to have more than one illustration per species. For example, with several of the Pygmy Owls, it mentions the 'false face', with eye spots on the back of the head - but this feature is not illustrated anywhere!

In all other respects, however, the information in the book is to an informative and interesting level. This book might just tempt you to travel abroad and exercise your passion elsewhere !

The book is to a large format (32 x 25.5 cm) and has 192 pages. The quality of the paper and binding seems to be to a high level. -  ISBN 1-85585-352-3

This book is currently out of print, but there are second-hand copies around. I was lucky to find mine at Birdfair at Rutland Water last month. It was in a charity book sale organised by the Rutland Osprey Project, and I paid the princely sum of GBP 5.00 for the book which was in absolutely mint condition! Buying it second-hand through Amazon will currently cost you between GBP 30 and GBP 60, but you might find it much cheaper elsewhere - even in a 'remainder' shop?

An Introduction to the OBN's Administrator

I thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to introduce myself. My name is Richard Pegler, and it was my idea to start the Owlers' Blog Network, inspired by other networks of a more general nature.

I do not claim to have any great expertise on the subject of Owls. I've only been particularly interested in these birds for just under two years, being originally inspired by the work of my now good friend Paul Riddle (the first person to join this network), who has been known to refer to me as his 'apprentice'. I don't even claim to have had any long-term interest in birds in general, only having become interested with any degree of commitment about six years ago when I retired from work.

Given my limited knowledge, therefore, my intended role (as far as the OBN is concerned) is primarily that of administrator of this blog, although I will possibly make the occasional post if I come across information which I think might be important or of interest to owlers. I will also welcome input of this nature from other owlers. I do not intend to recount any of my personal owling experiences on this blog - I do that on my own blog 'Owls plus Other Birds and Delights of Nature'.

Thank you for visiting this blog. Please return in the not too distant future when I hope that we will have much more of interest to offer you.

Administrator contact: richard@peglermail.co.uk

Welcome to OBN's Second Member

A very warm welcome to 'Owls & Others of Essex & Beyond' - not to be confused with Essex in UK, this is the blog of  Phil Brown of Essex, Massachusetts, USA. Phil is a very accomplished wildlife photographer, and focuses mainly on birds, with his real passion being owls. However, in Phil's part of the world, owls are somewhat seasonal, being primarily a bird of  late autumn ('fall' in US parlance), winter, and early spring, so Phil's owl posts are a little thin on the ground at the moment. We can look forward to more of Phil's splendid posts on owls in the not too distant future!

Welcome to OBN's First Member

OBN welcomes 'Owl's About That Then!' - the blog of Leicestershire owling guru Paul Riddle. A link to Paul's latest post can be found in the right hand column of the OBN blog.