This is it, my good people! We have come to the final match of this year’s games. There have been many upsets, many new winners, and today we have a pair of wonderful owls that have paid their dues, taken some lumps, and after 3 seasons, have made it to this point.

Buffy has defeated Pygmy, Morepork, Eagle Owl, and the original champion, White Faced.

Screech surpassed Tawny Fish, the amazing eyebrows of the Crested Owl, last year’s winner the Saw Whet, and finally the Snowy.

That’s a lot of superb owls that have been unable to slow this pair down.

Let’s review some stats of our combatants!

Buffy

Height: 16-19 inches / 40-48 cm
Weight: 2,3-4.6 pounds / 1028-2100 grams
Wingspan: 48 inches / 120 cm
Diet: Fish, crabs, frogs, reptiles, birds, insects
Unique Traits: Build less focused on stealth and hearing. Lacks silent flight feathers and has less developed facial disc, giving it a more spherical face. Has a hawk-like call. Large floppy plumicorns. Only lay a single egg per year.

Eastern Screech

Height: 6.5-10 inches / 16-25 cm
Weight: 0.26-0.53 pounds / 121-244 grams
Wingspan: 16 inches / 40 cm
Diet: Rodents, Insects, Birds
Unique Traits: Highly adaptable and opportunistic allows them to live remotely or among humans. Cavity nester. Flexible diet changes with the seasons. Available in grey, red, or brown. Highly effective camouflage. Fast (for an owl) flyer. Some beautiful vocalizations. Also well-plumicorned. Lays 3-4 eggs annually.

Both owls are very distinct, so with many different aspects to compare, neither likely has an inherent advantage. Buffy comes in with a slightly higher average score (51) but hasn’t faced off against anything much like the Screech, other than White Faced, where it only won by a single vote.

Screech has an average score of 45, but has a huge win over Tawny Fish Owl, very similar to Buffy, where it won by a healthy margin (42-32). Buffy has a bit more of an established reputation compared to Tawny, so that could even things back out.

But numbers don’t matter, old matches don’t matter, this is all about the here and now!

Take a fine eye to these wonderful photos now, scour every minute detail, and see which of these owls deserves to take home the final victory and the covered OotY title.

Make your last upvotes now for your 2025 Owl of the Year!

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      4·
      1 day ago

      Make sure you upvote the one you like to get it counted! It’s a very close race and I haven’t decided when I’m shutting down voting yet, but it’s not too far out.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      6·
      2 days ago

      I’m glad to see someone loving the classic grey Screech! Everyone goes gaga for the red, and I felt semi-guilty not stacking the Screech gallery with some more reds, but grey is most common. I did get at least one of the rare brown ones in there as well though.

      Screech is still giving a good fight despite very hardcore campaigning by the Buffy people. The Scops Lobby is quiet but powerful and cannot be underestimated!

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    19·
    2 days ago

    We wish!
    We wish!
    A win for Buffy Fish!

    A final cheer
    Owl of the Year!
    Fantastic Buffy Fish!

    Yeah! Whoo! Go! Yeaah!

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    18·
    2 days ago

    This is it!! The Superbowl of Superbowls!

    What a season! We saw some fascinating play by Verreaux’s Owl who racked up big wins but in the end couldn’t pull it off over more established owls. Some heartbreakers like my boys The Burrowings but hey, sometimes it’s just not your year, y’know?

    And fan favorite Ruru shook up the world in that round but, alas, had to give way to our eventual finalists. Not to mention Barnies, GHO, EEO, LHO, SEO! All so worthy, but like they say in baseball: Post-season is a crapshoot!

    So here we are with a can’t-lose slate! The venerable Screechie - hero, prankster, guardian of that little notch in the oak. Romantic, comfortable, in multiple flavors with just a soupçon of goofiness that the kids love. Who wouldn’t love them as OotY? They’re a natural!

    But for me, this is Buffy’s year. I’ll be honest, I’d never seen a Buffy Fish (that I’m aware of) before their appearances on superbowl, but wow - what an owl! Part lumberjack, part daffy mad scientist, part inscrutable mystery! Living on their own terms out in Buffy Fishlandia so far the photogs can barely find them - and when they finally get the shot - click - the expression is like he got caught farting while bending over! Can you not relate?! They’re not afraid of jumping right in there - they’ll take on a crab, hell yeah they will, and a fish or two to go! Shake off the river and enjoy some good food before turning in, another good day’s work. The Buffy Fish Owl! Yeah!

    Thank you anon6789, this is the best thing Lemmy’s seen!

    • anthropomorphized@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 day ago

      Buffy to me looks like a “know-it-all” teenager you’ll never get through to, but they’ll figure out their own way. They’re fish owls!? Why do they look so confused wet.

      • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
        1·
        23 hours ago

        They try not to get wet. Owls aren’t waterproof in the way most birds are so they look a bit unusual when they do get wet.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      8·
      2 days ago

      Hah, beautiful! I love it!

      The excitement you guys get makes it all worth it.

      Ruru still had the highest vote count before the finale, but both our finalists here are going to top that shortly. It’s been a tournament of exciting surprises. We had six new owls make it to round 2, and a few made big leaps up or down in average score.

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
    32·
    2 days ago

    Let’s hear some shout outs for your favorite owl!

    It’s your last chance to say why your choice is the right choice.

        • GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip
          10·
          2 days ago

          Thanks, I did! Competition is neck and neck so I’m doing my part to get my fave to the top! (ง’̀-‘́)ง

          • Foreigner@lemmy.world
            9·
            2 days ago

            Whoaaa that’s amazing, beautiful picture!! But also - noooooo my baby screech is being robbed (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

          • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
            7·
            2 days ago

            You captured the look of the face so perfectly I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t made by some drawing type filter or something, but then I looked at your post history and saw that you drew things.

            Your zoomed in dong of the Drunken Fawn came up huge on my laptop here though, causing me to panic as people were walking by! That caught me by surprise. 😂 I’ll wait until later to look at more of them!

      • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
        9·
        2 days ago

        That’s wrapped better than I’ve ever gotten anything from Chipotle, that’s for sure!

        I need to break some more language barriers to get us some wrapped Buffy’s.

    • Regna@lemmy.world
      24·
      2 days ago

      They’re both such gorgeous creatures!

      Thank you for arranging this, and for giving us all daily joy with your owl pictures and discoveries.

      • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
        22·
        2 days ago

        They really are both amazing birds and I’m glad we got to spotlight 2 different ones again this year.

        As always, it has been a delight for me to see you all get excited for the event and to find new owls to care about. Many of you look forward to this all year, and it makes me so happy to see you get so passionate about owls.

        With that said, I’m also thrilled as always that this is over so I can relax again! ☺️

        I look forward to crowning our next champion tomorrow, whichever you all decide it shall be!

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      6·
      2 days ago

      The Screech is so unfortunately named! I think it has one of the best (to human ears) sounding voices of any owl. Barn Owl should be the Screech Owl! Beautiful, but banshees none the less…

  • LordAmplifier@pawb.socialEnglish
    16·
    2 days ago

    This looks like a tight race, and it’s a tough choice! I like the Eastern Screech because it’s small and cute. It’s just the right amount of bird. But the Buffy is an interesting and outstanding owl, too, because the unique traits you mentioned are all so not owl-like. I have my reasons to vote the way I did, but I’m hesitant to talk about them because I don’t want to influence others. So let’s just say that both owls would be great choices for Owl of the Year 2025, and that I’m a little sad that Snowy didn’t make it to the finale.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      10·
      2 days ago

      Indeed, I’ve already lost count of how many times it has reversed so far.

      I was also rooting fairly hard for Snowy until we lost our Screech at the clinic, but at the same time, I’ve been a long time member of Team Buffy. I’d be throwing a vote to both, as I also love both equal for their differences. I’ve already gotten Mrs 6789’s tiebreaker ready, she had no issue choosing, but I think we should get enough votes to not need that. I will have no hard feelings whichever owl wins today.

  • pseudo@jlai.lu
    11·
    2 days ago

    I spend so much time favoring big hiboux but now in the critical time, I cannot refuse a vote to Screech. It is after all a great owl on its own: a hibou with beautiful colours, a beautiful cry and beautiful picture.

    BFO is big but it is not the best at looking majestic. It is at its best looking like a big cute idiot…

    I’ll vote for both.

  • Luvs2Spuj@lemmy.world
    10·
    2 days ago

    I cannot decide, this is too hard. It’s so close too. Both are worthy winners, but for the final they both deserve the respect from me to choose someone rather than vote for both.