The bracket is made!
I think this year’s lineup is an improvement over last year. Based on what I’ve seen, all the opening matches look very competitive. My goal was to fix some of the lop-sided wins we had, and I’m feeling good about how this schedule looks.
There’s going to be some tough choices for you guys. Much like last year, I’m glad I don’t need to decide, but I’m still going to have to accept some painful loses at some point. I try to keep impartial during the tournament, but I definitely have some personal favorites. Sooty vs GHO is one where I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye to either one.
You guys didn’t nominate my beloved Spotted Wood Owl. Buff Fronted got in, which I was happy for, but its first opponent is last year’s winner.
I’m excited to see the Battle of the Southern Hemisphere between Australia’s Barking Owl and NZ’s Morepork.
We’ve got Eurasia’s biggest owls going head-to-head.
Snowy, Burrowing, and Buffy are all up against some flashy newcomers where we could have a surprise victory like the unexpected triumphs the Flammulated Owl had last year,
I think I will start the games Wed, 4 DEC after I get back from some travel. Then we’ve got a little over 2 weeks of excitement to crown this year’s winner. I’ll put the final 4 owls in the banner again and the winner gets the icon.
Got a personal favorite you’re ready to cheer on to victory?
Let me know which matches you are most looking forward to or dreading the most!
What a great competition! And SWO as a deserved winner! I loved the whole tournament and wanted to thank you (as so many others have done) for organizing this, you’ve done a great job!
I wanted to include a tiny bit of feedback for maybe next year. I often found myself searching a bit of background info for owls I was less familiar with, because sometimes what makes an owl great is not just how it looks, but also the little fun facts that make it unique. I’d love if there was a short description with the pictures for every matchup, so that people can get a brief overview of the basics or unique qualities for each competitor. (This would also be great for newcomers to learn something) But this is just optional, I’ll be watching out for owls and owloftheyear2025 regardless! :)
I’m glad you enjoyed it! It’s a lot of fun to do, and I love seeing you all take part.
I try to include some facts, and I did a bit in the opening rounds, but there’s a couple issues with it.
The biggest problem is despite humanity’s long knowledge of owls, we don’t know all that much about most of them. Most owls hate people. Most of their activity is in the dark. They live in hard to reach places. Some migrate huge distances. They’ve historically been very difficult animals to learn about, and much of our knowledge about them has really only started becoming more than guesses within the last few decades.
It was only in the 1970s we finally learned how owls can hunt in the dark. Genetic testing is teaching us what owls are actually related, and there have been many surprises. People are training dogs to find owls since they can see (smell, more appropriately!) things we can’t. Drones are letting us get to nest sites that would otherwise be impossible to see.
For some owls, literally all we know is they exist. If they are in really remote places with poor access, we are very lucky if we know what they eat or how they nest.
There are at least 250 species of owl, many with multiple subspecies, so that leaves many we haven’t gotten around to really learning about. The more common ones we know of have a decent amount of facts available, but when they “compete” against one we don’t know much about, I don’t want to have unbalanced profiles, so I try to include an even amount.
I tried to at least give an approximate size comparison for everyone this time, and if they had any interesting dietary things I put that in. Other things we know are either just general things that apply to most owls, or things a bit more complicated and interesting that they need a full post to go over.
I treat Owl of the Year as basically a beauty contest. You learn their names, where they’re from, and some basics likes and dislikes. It’s to get people excited for another year of learning the deeper stuff.
With it just being me, it’s hard to put out too much spontaneous things for 2 weeks straight. Most posts now I prepare a few weeks ahead of time now. With the close matches this year, many I had very little lede time on. There was also major issues in my real life that unexpectedly put my schedule out of order, which didn’t help.
Part way through I did try to enhance things a bit with bigger pictures. It is sometimes hard to find quality pics of the rarer birds or there are old photos that had lower resolution, so I ran many through an upscaled to make them at least 1080p.
This is more info than you asked for, but I got carried away with behind the scenes things! Please don’t take it as complaining!
I love running this and the positivity it brings, but it’s really a marathon for me, and I’m mentally worn out by the time it’s over. I enjoy talking about my thought process behind what I did, and I like taking everyone’s suggestions into account. I just have to keep my goals in line with my available time I can devote to it.
But annnnnyway! Thank you for enjoying it! I hope you hang around and continue to learn great owl stuff. I have lots more Snowy pics, some attacks on eagles by owls, some more of the rare Latin American owls, some owls (real and fake) in Christmas trees, all kinds of good stuff!
Interesting, I didn’t know many owls have still so little stuff known about them!
Treating owl of the year more as a beatuy contest is completely valid, and honestly, with all the amount of work you already put in (like finding and upscaling the images, and preparing this whole event and everything that comes with it!) it’s more than fair to just keep it as is :) Your work is greatly appreciated and we’re thankful for every minute you can spare on curating some owl content for all of us :)
It’s getting me to learn a lot more than I had ever planned. I have some physical owl books I’ve bought, I read science journals, and I talk to rehabbers and zookeepers about laws and regulations to try to bring you guys new info that isn’t general knowledge yet.
We tend to know our locals owls best, and Owl of the Year was originally a way to acclimate you all with some of the ones many of us have never heard of while still celebrating the ones we do. I expect a more common owl to do well, but I get excited when you embrace one that is more rare.
Go team Burrowing Owl! They had a good showing last year. This year it’s time to go all the way!
They’re always popular and only lost to the overall winner last year. They could very well meet again in the semi-finals. That one in the back is looking for some payback!
Absolute muppets! Hoping to see them in the finals against flammy.
I’m really rooting (hooting?) for my boys, burrowing and flammulated, this year.
I’m curious how much of last year’s excitement the outsiders like Flammy, Buffy, and Sooty will show up again. There’s a bunch of new competition, and I’m excited to see how much momentum they can get this time.
There seems to be much early love for Burrowing, which is a good sign for them.
Burrowing its way to victory!
I’m on Team Saw Whet. They’re in it to win it.
Saw Whet is a solid choice. The owl of a thousand faces! They’re all cute, but no two are the same.
Yo, I’m all in on the Morepork. I’m betting fifty internet points that bugger is going to ride to the finish on a hippo
With a little intervention of Lord Vetinari
Well, we have to keep things. . . organised
We know: ‘Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.’
I love the little Morepork (and I also feel hippos are the true king of beasts!) and at first I thought you were a bit crazy, but it really isn’t in a bad spot to have some surprise success.
Little Owl beat it last year, but Little had to get past Milky EO first, and the Milky has been surprisingly popular this year. Morepork has a much more classic look that could win over the Milky’s unique characteristics depending on people’s moods that day.
I commend you on your unique choice!
I literally voted for the Morepork just cause of the name lmao
Cheering on the Snowy and Barn owls. They’re both on the same side of the draw so I may have to pick one if they both reach the semis!
Snowy is always going to be a good bet. Especially on the Internet, it’s just too classic.
Barn Owl got taken out last year by another string newcomer, Buffy Fish Owl. I think it’s in a strong position this year.
With these 2 as your picks, I think you’re going to be happy with how many of these matches go, but you may be left with a hard decision near the end!
I’m curious to see how far the saw whet will get. They’re so cute with their giant heads and big eyes. Eagle owls are neat too. Maybe not as classically cute, but majestic.
I had to look up barking owls just now. They really do sound kind of like a dog barking. Interesting that they eat bats. I didn’t know there were birds that did that.
Owls have quite diverse diets. If it’s meat and they can fly off with it, they’ll generally eat it. Frogs, worms, butterflies, other birds up to turkeys, snakes, squirrels, rabbits, skunks, porcupines, fish, and some will pick at carrion as well, so there’s not much they won’t snack on.
The Powerful Owl didn’t make it in this time, but it can take down things bigger than itself, which is very rare, as most raptors try to limit themselves to closer to prey 20% of their body weight. With Australia’s bountiful list of fauna, they eat possums (different than the North American opossums), the giant flying fox bats, and young koalas. They’re very impressive hunters!
Pics aren’t too graphic, but I’ve hidden them to be polite.
PO w/ possum
PO w/ flying fox
PO w/ koala
I’d like to see an owl eating a porcupine. If it’s anything like a camel eating cactus, it’s gotta be pretty interesting. Maybe they have a way to pull out the spines.
Interesting pictures, and a very striking owl. How do you decide who gets in the bracket?
I didn’t see any pics or videos of any owls actually with the porcupine but there was an article about an Eagle Owl that was eating porcupines, and this Facebook post where they are removing quills from this GHO’s face. I took a still for those who are Facebook averse.
I picked all the owls last year, and the event was a big hit, but there were a few matches that were one sided, which makes sense since all the owls were ones I picked.
This year I took the 16 that you guys moved one from the first round last year.
Then I took the 16 that lost the first round and I put them up for vote to give another chance to anyone that lost just because of a tough pairing, like Great Horned losing in the first round. I kept the top 8 of the poll there.
For the final 8, I picked 16 more owls based on posts you guys have most up voted this year, plus 8 that have either never been posted here or only once or twice. I kept the top 8 of those, filling the last spots.
I seeded them by looking at the average upvotes from last year for the returning ones and the results from the 2 qualifiers. The resulting bracket looks much more competitive now that I had data from you guys to work with.
Those camels are intense eating that! It was like watching someone eat glass! 😧
Interesting article, thanks for the link. I missed owl of the year last year, and the first couple posts this year. It sounds like an awful lot of work, but I love the idea.
It is pretty time consuming, and some of the rarer owls are really hard to find good pics of, but seeing everyone get passionate about their favorite and feeling the tension on the close voting makes everyone really feel involved in the community. It also gives me a better idea of what you guys like and want to see more of. It pulled in a lot of new fans from the All feed too, so it’s good advertising for us.
I think it helps my overall goal of letting everyone know about all 250+ owls, to show how unique they all can be, and to give people a bigger reason to care about our planet and the people trying to save it, one animal or tree at a time. It’s becoming more crucial all the time, and saving nature starts with making people appreciate what we have and to give it intrinsic value.
I got one of these guys who lands on my roof occasionally
I believe that is a Spotted Eagle Owl, not a GHO. The Great Horns do get greyer the further north they go. Spotted is an African Owl, GHO is American. Don’t know where you’re at, but that should help.
I kinda love that about the Middle East and African Eagle Owls, they kind of gradient between the GHO and the Eurasian Eagle.
BFO! The BFO army grows its ranks with another member this year even if its not a fish owl and has a tough first matchup.
Hoping to see one of the big fish owls or a horned type taking it this year.
I’m a sucker for some nice plumicorns. There are some really good horned owls this year.
Buff Fronted is a really special looking owl and I’m glad it made it through the qualifier.
I love the little Saw Whet! I would like to see it vs Snowy in the final. Although, Sooty vs Barn would be interesting…
GHO vs Sooty is going to have me stressed all day. They’re both do good!
Saw Whet would be a good winner. They’re so darn cute.
GHO has to make it out of the first round this year! I’m voting GHO.
It felt wrong for it to not move on last year. I think it was my overall pick to win. It’s all up to you guys though!
To access the bracket and follow the discussion, click on the link at the end of the post.
#superbowl #owloftheyear24As soon as I posted, I remembered that I forgot to include the hashtags! 😮💨
I appreciate all your work to really take advantage of all these federated platforms. You really seem to be trying to make the most of it all!
Blakiston’s fish owl going all the way this year!
Oh my, I love that owl, but it’s one of the hardest to get pictures of because it does not live in a very accessible place. There will likely be some of the same pics from last year if it goes past the first round, but I will do my best!
snowy takes it
Snowy has possibly the best positioning IMO, but even so, there are a lot of unique challengers on that side of the bracket. There’s some owls with some really cool gimmicks over there that could catch the Snowy off guard.
Last year showed me no owl, no matter how normally popular, can let its guard down. Some I thought would be untouchable went out in the first round.
That’s what makes this exciting though!
I’m going with the great horned owl since I hear one screeching every night in my backyard. Still haven’t seen it though.
The “sky tiger” is tough to beat. A little smaller than a Snowy, so not the biggest North American owl, but it’s one heck of a tough and beautiful bird. With the classic hoot, it’s the first owl that comes to mind for many people.
My neighborhood also belongs to a GHO, so I’m a bit partial to them myself. I always smile when I hear it secretly watching over us.
I’d really like to know what David Lynch’s problem with owls is. So much hate towards them in the first season of Twin Peaks. : ) I just moved to a wooded area this year where it’s possible to see an owl for my first time. It’s pretty deep in the woodsbased off the shriek volume but I’ll take some time to try to find where he hangs out.
Side note…I’m just assuming it’s a GHO based on the shrieks I’ve listened to online. It could also be something getting murdered.A shriek sounds more like a Barn Owl. This video has most of the North American calls if you want to hear them in one place. GHO is a very deep series of 5 hoots for its common call.
Owls are perfect for creating a paranoid environment. Even if you know what is making the sound, it tells you something is watching you that you likely can’t see it or hear exactly where it’s coming from.
The alien encounter movie The Fourth Kind I believe also references owls in this way. I believe a few characters say “the owls aren’t what they seem…” and if I’m remembering right at the end it just has an owl with an unblinking stare looking into the camera like it’s watching you.
Yeah, after listening to that video it’s definitely possible or even likely it’s a barn owl. Some other site had GHO shrieks/screams but said they generally do that when they’re younger. I have to make an effort to go outside around dusk and get calls down in my head or record it somehow. I really want to know what kind it is for sure. I can understand the lore surrounding owls after hearing the shriek a few times now. Before I actually put any real thought into what it was, I was pretty damn shocked lol. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
My pleasure. I love trying to answer questions you guys have.
If you search a project BirdNET-Pi, people have made a raspberry pi box that listens in your yard and charts all the birds that it identifies by sound.
Some here has one I believe, but I can’t remember who it is now. It looks really fun and seems to provide a ton of data.
Yes, that was me. Unfortunately, I’m not the one who built it, I just enjoy the data, so I can’t offer any advice. 😅There are a lot of birds it picks up that I have never actually seen, including a Barn Owl. It’s pretty cool.
Are there people selling ready to go units or did someone you know make it?
I haven’t remembered to read about it in a bit, but I feel it touted a pretty high accuracy rating. Do they update software frequently and/or have you noticed anything that was obviously inaccurate like it claiming a bird that isn’t in your country or something?
That’s really cool. I’m going to look into that
Let us know how it goes if you do it. I’ve never done anything with a pi but I keep thinking it would be fun.
