Poetic Shutterbug

Taken at the SF Zoo I am participating in Macro Monday 2

I think he partied a little too much last night :) All Photos Taken At The San Francisco Zoo Monty the turkey vulture playing hide n seek This is my baby boy Wilbur The Barn Owl who despite having no ruby in his photo, I decided to include in this post because his buddies are featured here :) I am participating in Ruby Tuesday Too

Source: Photo of the Eurasian Eagle Owl taken at the San Francisco zoo. A Story Of Survival. The San Francisco zoo is a haven for rescued wildlife and the owl population is no exception. Meet Athena as pictured above. She is the Eurasian Eagle Owl who lives in the Children's zoo and is cared for by the Koret Animal Resource Center at the San Francisco zoo .. It is illegal to import owls and birds in general into the United States because they can carry disease. Nevertheless, a smuggler back in 2005 thought he would bring in over a dozen owl eggs into the country by dyeing the eggs to look like Easter eggs and sell them for over five thousand dollars a piece. Only three of those survived and one of them was Athena. She was rescued by the United States Fish and Wildlife service at the San Francisco airport and was brought to the San Francisco zoo for her own protection and to receive the care she needed after her traumatic event. Because her first imprint (m...

This is my adopted son Wilbur the barn owl, with the heart shaped face who has my heart and lives at the Koret Animal Resource Center at the San Francisco zoo.   Read about Wilbur's adoption here . I am using Wilbur as an example to bring you some interesting facts about barn owls in general. Barn owls have acute hearing with their ears being asymmetrical.  On a barn owl their ears are covered by feathers with one ear being on the top right side of their head and the other being on the low left hand side.  They work like cell phone towers with sounds bouncing off of each other.  If a barn owl were blind, he would still be able to hunt for food using his keen sense of hearing. Their eyes are tubular in shape which means that they do not have peripheral vision.  That is why they have to turn their heads up to 270 degrees to see around them.  They have no sense of smell at all and is why they have a heightened sense or hearing.  Wilbur also has d...

All photos taken at Lloyd Lake and the San Francisco zoo. I am participating in Wordless Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday Check out Blackbird and Homeless