Trivia question for Apr-24-2011
Carter loves owls, so reading about this one was a no-brainer for him. Lets see how good he is at stumping everyone with his trivia today. These birds are the most northerly breeding owls, and the largest and most powerful flying bird of the far north.
This powerful bird relies primarily on lemmings and other small rodents for food during the breeding season, but at times of low prey density, or during the ptarmigan nesting period, they may switch to juvenile ptarmigan. They are opportunistic hunters and prey species may vary considerably, especially in winter. They feed on a wide variety of small mammals such as meadow voles and deer mice, but will take advantage of larger prey, frequently following traplines to find food.
Though they have few predators, the adults are very watchful as well as equipped to defend against any kind of threats towards them or their offspring. During the nesting season, the owls regularly defend their nests against arctic foxes, corvids and swift-flying jaegers; as well as dogs, gray wolves and other avian predators.
So here are Carter’s questions: Tell us which type of owl this is and how many days can they go without eating? Also, tell us how soon the chicks of these owls are able to call out to its mother.
Good Luck 😉
Answer:
Wow, congratulations to Emma from South Dakota for being the first with the correct answer and for getting all 3 questions correct. Carter was so confident he would stump everyone. The awesome looking bird we featured is the Snowy Owl.
Owls hunt regularly but when food is scarce, they can go as long as 40-days without food. Most of the owls’ hunting is done in the “sit and wait” style; prey may be captured on the ground, in the air or fish may be snatched off the surface of bodies of water using their sharp talons. Each bird must capture roughly 7 to 12 mice per day to meet its food
I hate owls…
requirement and can eat more than 1,600 lemmings per year.
As for how soon a chic can start communicating with its mom, owl chicks actually start chirping with the moms while still in their eggs. Amazing… Here is more on these beautiful owls: Snowy Owl
Thanks for playing along 😉
