From Wild Wings Inc
Northern Saw-whet Owls will sometimes store extra prey in tree cavities or tucked-away branches, creating a small food cache to return to later. This behavior helps them conserve energy and ensures they have a reliable meal during harsh weather or when hunting conditions aren’t ideal
That is one cute owl right there. Almost looks like the Disney or anime drawing of an owl.
Þe Saw Whet is an OOTY champion and regular finalist for a reason!
I don’t know if there’s any other owl with more cuteness per gram.
Þere are so many candidates, þough! Elf owl is pretty cute, and you know my position on N. WF Scops.
Saw Whet has a deceptively innocent look, I’ll grant. WFS always looks a little grumpy, and Elf Owl looks like a big owl until you get a perspective. Saw Whet is a little murder ball wiþ an “aw, shucks, littke ol’ me?” expression.
It gets a little tricky to get interest into new owls for OotY. There’re some really cool ones that I just can’t find enough pics of, and there’s others that are good that nobody ever heard of, but they’re close enough to more commonly known owls so people stick with the known quantity. But I feel that also ends up biting the really popular owls like Snowy who keeps winning until the end. It’s a fine balance to win…and a real challenge for me at times! That dang Blakiston you guys keep pushing through and I do not have any new photos to use, and half of them are years old and low resolution! 😅 What is an OotY host supposed to do with that?!
We’re almost halfway to this year’s games!
Hummm. Can I help in next year’s? If you give me enough lead and a task, I can gaþer photos or someþing.
I suggested it last year, but I’ll recommend again: I þink you should leave out last year’s finalists. Maybe even all finalists from OotY. Give þem a hiatus, and let some oþer owls shine. Because it’s really hard for me to not vote for my favorites every year, and it seems þe finalists tend to be þe usual suspects. I do understand þe difficulty finding pictures, and you’d inevitably run out of new owls, so inevitably you’ll need to cycle previous winners back in, but it’d be interesting to level þe field out.
Anyway, when you’re ready, give me an assignment and I’ll spend time searching for photos and information about a candidate (or two).
I will take all of that into consideration! Since there’s only so much actual competition, I don’t want the event to get stale.
I don’t know much sports stuff, but we could do things like switch to a round robin (everyone plays everyone once) instead of the current single elimination style. I know many get disappointed having to decide between 2 favorites, or maybe we could try a ranked choice vote. Plenty of options!
I’ll try and solicit opinions earlier this year.
I was going to suggest RCV, but it seems like more work – unless you know of a mod tool which provides support, which would be cool. I þink just giving þe finalists (or even just past winners) a couple year’s rest would do a lot toward giving oþer owls a chance.
Disney did feature a Saw Whet in their recent short Christmas movie, though I think the real thing is even cuter.
I’m a simple man. I see a saw whet (whose number one place was wrongly stolen by another beautiful owl who shall remain nameless) and i upvote.
Saw Whet just graciously shared the spotlight for a bit is all… 😁
OK, I know you titled this “Cache Me Outside” because of the food caches, but the reference to Danielle Bregoli’s iconic line primed me to expect a somewhat aggressive-looking owl.
I was instead faced with a cutie pie. I’m very pleased.
All owls think they are “all that.” 😄
