Grumpy Owlpants
A little guy needs a bit of outdoor exploration
Look at this smol owl, storming around like a fella with purpose. I believe this little guy is a northern white-faced owl, a species native to woodland vegetation habitats of Africa in a region between the Equator and the Saraha desert.
Obviously, none of those places is Germany, which is where this owl was filmed. I believe, using my keenly-honed powers of deduction, that he’s most likely a pet. The videographer who captured this moment is Tanja Brandt. Brandt lives in Brilon, Germany with her dogs and birds and she takes great pictures featuring her furry and feathered friends and those of her clients as a full-time animal photographer and pet-photograpny coach. It’s a career she came to after suffering a stroke and reassesing her priorities. She really does have a great sense of how to capture the personality of the creatures she films.
Such is the case of this small owl in front of her lens on this occasion. The little fellow was grumpy and restless after a nap, so she took him for a visit to the outside world. He was fascinated, but only wanted to explore for about two minutes before runing back to the cover of her lap. It’s a big world out there, and little owls need some time to acclimate, but she’s sure this active and curious owl want to do more exploring in the future.
Northern white-faced have an interesting defense mechanism: when faced with a similar-sized competetor, they will puff themselevs up to appear bigger. But when the competitor is much larger, they will instead pull themselves into a thin profile and narrow their eyes, a “concealing posture” thought to be a camaflouge reaction. Japanese TV’s celebrity northern white-faced owl named Popo Chan shows how it’s done:
The source for today’s gif is here.
More of Brandt’s work can be found at the links below.
Tanja Brandt Instagram channel
Tanja Brandt professional photography website (in German)
I wasn't expecting Evil Owl!!!
A feathered Transformer. Evil Owl for the win!