Amazing picture by Jongsstraw

Ghost Owl is haunting you.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 2:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Ghost Owl is haunting you.

Oh no! You've just memed it.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 2:50 PM

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Ghost Owl iz at ur windoze, watchin u.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 3:00 PM

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Call me skeptical (I am) but that looks like too perfect an impression to have come from a collision. The outline is very crisp, and if there is in fact powder on owl wings, it would have puffed outward and blurred the edges very slightly. Any other activity of the owl, either sliding down or flapping its wings to fly off again would also disturb the crispness of an impression like this. I have some doubt about the validity of this backstory; I think it more likely someone was playing in photoshop.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 3:36 PM

JONGSSTRAW

I think it's real. Yahoo also had the story today.

http://www.batangastoday.com/owl-imprint-left-on-window-pane-in-cumbri
a-england-photo/15337/

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 5:19 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
Call me skeptical (I am) but that looks like too perfect an impression to have come from a collision. The outline is very crisp, and if there is in fact powder on owl wings, it would have puffed outward and blurred the edges very slightly. Any other activity of the owl, either sliding down or flapping its wings to fly off again would also disturb the crispness of an impression like this. I have some doubt about the validity of this backstory; I think it more likely someone was playing in photoshop.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

I have to say, I agree. I've had birds fly into my window, and you get left with a greasy and sometimes, bloody smudge because of the impact.

Still, its a pretty image.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 6:20 PM

I'm agnostic, PR has a point, but I'm stunned no one has done this yet.

I guess ghost owl needs his own line in the the owl meme.

^_^
(0,0)
|)__)
-"--"
Ethrly?

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 7:46 PM

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
I think it's real.

Respectfully, I have spent waaaaay more time studying photoshop than you have.

Quote:
Yahoo also had the story today.

That doesn't mean anything. News outlets can, in fact, be mistaken; they've reported on several urban legends in the past.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 7:51 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Owls are so cool, they make wonderful sounds.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, July 18, 2011 3:12 AM

"Bird experts identified it as a tawny owl"

O RLY?

We have owls here, even great horned owls, which was my first guess

"They are often found in gardens?"

Hunting the wild asparagus? This is a predator, guys. I have them in my yard regularly, though not the horned ones, there's a couple in town, which is nice, because they're really rare. But they don't come into town.

Every day a bird flies into the window. I can't tell you how many of them have been owls, because, well, none of them have ever been owls, as they never venture near the house.

I have watched birds go full splat into the window like this.

Curious that you went with photoshop. I was guessing she drew it on the window. If I were making a photoshop, I wouldn't start with a trampoline or whatever that is in the corner.

Nice owl though.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 4:32 AM

This is why people should add stained glass motifs into their windows using special paints.

Also because it looks neat and is creative.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 6:38 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Well, Rose, it looks suspicious to me, too, but the article states "was confirmed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)", so who knows? I, too, can see how easily it could have been photoshopped, so I think I'll sit on the fence.

(Purty pictures anyway, thanx folks.) And pardon my ignorance, but what is the "RLY"? "Really", perhaps?

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Monday, July 18, 2011 6:42 AM

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
Curious that you went with photoshop. I was guessing she drew it on the window.

I figured photoshop because of the smooth, glowing effect. It doesn't look like brush strokes so much as it looks like a photoshop filter.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 6:54 AM

Niki: On the internet, you've probably seen how certain phrases or images can become a fad.

It does stand for "Really," usually in the form of "Oh Really?" and "Yeah, Really." Probably the orly owls were the inspiration for lolcats and the other caption images.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImageMacro

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Monday, July 18, 2011 7:05 AM

STORYMARK

It could be fake, but I've seen powder leave similar outlines, so I could believe it's real, too.

That image is far too low in resolution for anyone to really say one way or the other, though.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Monday, July 18, 2011 8:31 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Me, I am picturing some owl flying away, a bit unsteadily, goin "I meant that, I meant that..."

We have a pair of owls of some sort that come around every once in a while and eat the excess bunnies, one of em sits on top of Building Eight and makes quite a bit of verbal racket, heaven knows why though.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 12:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Me, I am picturing some owl flying away, a bit unsteadily, goin "I meant that, I meant that..."

Lol. That has a certain disney quality to it.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 12:31 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Quote:
Apparently an owl hit the window full head on, but didn't die. They searched for the bird but couldn't find it.

Or maybe an eagle saw the owl hit the window, fall to the deck, and then swooped in and snatched it up.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Monday, July 18, 2011 12:52 PM

JONGSSTRAW

This video may explain the owl, and it may also provide answers towards attaining universal harmony with all things.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 12:58 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Jong,

That's gotta be the cutest video on heartburn ever.

( i'm guessing that's what it was about, from what I can make of it )

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Monday, July 18, 2011 5:51 PM

Cute japanese girls, but there's a certain variation needed to keep it interesting. More story, less chorus.

Quote:
Apparently an owl hit the window full head on, but didn't die.

Didn't catch this before. It happens once a day here, a bird flies into my window. (Not the same bird) Happened this morning. The sound is a pretty good indicator of the bird it was. Blue Jay, thwap. Chickadee is very subtle because it usually figures out it is a window but not in time to stop. Anyway, every day for the last 35 years in this house. Number of casualties is still zero. I don't think it's going to increase at any point. You can't really be built to fly and die if you hit something (unless you're an airplane, there's a design flaw.) I'm sure it has happened, but it doesn't make evolutionary sense, and I've never seen it happen, but I've watched many, many birds fly into windows.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 6:01 PM

I had a bird fly into my windshield the other day. It definitely died.

Didn't leave a mark, though.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Monday, July 18, 2011 6:33 PM

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I'm sure it has happened, but it doesn't make evolutionary sense, and I've never seen it happen, but I've watched many, many birds fly into windows.

Evolutionary sense has nothing to do with a hard, clear, artificial substance that a bird might mistake for perfectly open air and fly into headlong. I have seen two birds die such deaths. One was a sparrow that flew into a window at my house, and was stiff and dead when we found it. The other was a crow that flew into one of the many windows at a former workplace of mine. The poor thing sat glassy-eyed in the parking lot for three full days while members of its murder tried to feed it and viciously dive-bombed anyone who came near it before it died of its injuries. It was very sad, but it kinda gave me a new respect for crows. It didn't leave an outline, though.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 5:53 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Thanx, Byte. Learn something new every day!

Rose, I agree. And it might be mentioned that, given what you wrote, there is no way of knowing if the owl that hit that window (if one did) didn't manage to get far enough away that they didn't find it, but then subsequently die of it's injuries.

You're also right; there's nothing "evolutionary" about natural instincts colliding with man-made objects, plus evolution takes a long, long time and birds flying into windows wouldn't even touch evolution!

If anyone has birds regularly flying into their windows, I should think mere logic would induce them to put up stickers to avoid the noises, if for no other reason. We have a big window in the living room which birds have flown into once or twice in the 35 years we've been here, but none of the other windows. If it happened with any regularity, I'd bother putting up stickers of some sort.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 8:04 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Crows are pretty tough, yeah - thing about Bluejays is that they're kinda territorial and seem to have a pretty high flight speed, they'll divebomb humans who come near their "turf" and if a window happens to be in the way, at that speed they're prettymuch a goner.

The bitty birds don't have a lot of mass, so the impact might not be as traumatic, plus lower flight speed, and so forth.

The other thing about Crows, which you obviously noticed, is that they have a pack mentality similar to gangbangers - which isn't completely accurate, but it's the best human comparison given Crow behavior, and with their pack it's kind of a musketeers attitude, all for one, one for all, so if you mess with one....
And if the one is injured they'll go to extremes to assist, which makes trying to rescue one a tricky proposition sometimes.

I have a certain affinity for corvids, mind you.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 8:08 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Having had a raven for over 14 years, I naturally have an affinity for them, too. But also, having lived wiht one for 14 years, I think they're rasty bastards! But then, all undomesticated birds are, so...

As to the pack mentality, boy, do I know THAT one! May have mentioned the fledgling who's driving us nuts squawking at his mom to feed him (long after he should have fledged!); he comes from what the neighborhood calls the "crow tree" at the end of the block, which is always full of crows and, as such, always full of NOISE!

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 12:37 PM

The problem is people make the same argument about skyscrapers and windmills.

The world has been full of trees for millions of years. The reason a bird bumps into something is he's not looking where he's going. Even if he didn't see the window, try leaving the windows open and see how many birds fly into the house. Not many, but some, but those that get in, how many want out ASAP? All of them. It's not somewhere a bird wants to be, and so if he's flying there at all, he's already distracted, looking at something on the ground, etc. It's just like humans with cars. It's dangerous business, and I'll buy freak accidents can happen, just heard about it all my life, but it's never happened here. And there are LOTS and LOTS of birds here. There are probably a hundred nests in my yard, and at least a dozen different species.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 12:44 PM

PENGUIN

King of the Mythical Land that is Iowa

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 12:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
I had a bird fly into my windshield the other day. It definitely died.

Didn't leave a mark, though.

I've seen it leave a mark... My mom was driving down the freeway once when she hit a pigeon going 70 mph.

It made a hole though the bumper, later we realized the dead bird was still in there.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 1:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I'm sure it has happened, but it doesn't make evolutionary sense, and I've never seen it happen, but I've watched many, many birds fly into windows.

Evolutionary sense has nothing to do with a hard, clear, artificial substance that a bird might mistake for perfectly open air and fly into headlong. I have seen two birds die such deaths. One was a sparrow that flew into a window at my house, and was stiff and dead when we found it. The other was a crow that flew into one of the many windows at a former workplace of mine. The poor thing sat glassy-eyed in the parking lot for three full days while members of its murder tried to feed it and viciously dive-bombed anyone who came near it before it died of its injuries. It was very sad, but it kinda gave me a new respect for crows. It didn't leave an outline, though.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

PR, you'll gain even MORE respect for crows after reading this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106826971

I heard about this study on NPR, and found it amazing. Fortunately for me, I'm always nice to birds, be they crows, cardinals, blue jays, or what have you. I had a cardinal fly up and land on the door frame of my car the other day as I was getting out. He just sat there looking at me. I said hi, he cocked his head, hopped over a couple steps, then flitted into a tree above me and just sat there watching me. He didn't seem to find my threatening at all, which I'm not, but found it amazing that HE thought that!

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 1:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:

You're also right; there's nothing "evolutionary" about natural instincts colliding with man-made objects, plus evolution takes a long, long time and birds flying into windows wouldn't even touch evolution!

Exactly. Also, witness the skunk. It has evolved a unique defense mechanism which has worked wonderfully for it for millennia: when threatened, the skunk will turn around, lift its tail, and spray from specialized glands. This strongly discourages predators. It does not work AT ALL when a skunk encounters a speeding automobile, though, something that has only been possible in the last hundred years, and the skunk hasn't had time to adapt yet.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 4:41 PM

Mike,

There's a logical fallacy there: Nothing in nature resembles an automobile in that there are no random one ton metal objects moving at 60mph. There are many things like a windmill, for instance, a tree. A window is a more complex issue, but I do not think birds fly into it because it is clear, because it betrays its presence pretty readily, in no small part because what is on the other side is not the sky. If a bird were inside, I can see it getting confused, and yet when a bird gets inside, it never seems to think that a window is a door. Insects get confused.

The street lamp-moth phenomenon is much more of an evolutionary bump. I've never seen a skunk try to spray a car, but I've seen many hit by them. It doesn't matter what it does. it's like a hailstorm of meteorites.

Quote:
I had a cardinal fly up and land on the door frame of my car the other day as I was getting out. He just sat there looking at me. I said hi, he cocked his head, hopped over a couple steps, then flitted into a tree above me and just sat there watching me. He didn't seem to find my threatening at all

He can fly

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 4:45 PM

Couple other thoughts

Interesting crow story. Actually, all of our birds seems to know the difference between us. The ones who nest in trees. Your flightless semi-flightless et al are more dumb as rocks.

Second, we have a mocking bird which has started to imitate Angry Birds. The birds were fascinated when I started playing, and there was quite a racket going on the first few times, then they got used to it. Except for this one, who decided to copy the sounds. His favorite now is the yellow bird.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 6:34 PM

Mockingbirds are pretty cool. And people seem to forget why they're named that. They mock us. We had one that hung around our shop when we were at break. One of the guys had a girlfriend who used to call at break time, and his cell phone ring was set to sound like the British phones - the two-ring "Brrrt-brrrt" ring. One day we heard the sound, only he wasn't there that day. We were all looking around, thinking it was his phone, 'til we looked up and saw the mockingbird on the wire looking down at us and calling out.

The birds seem intent on interacting with us. I vote we let them.

We also have tropical birds here - they're technically a kind of parakeet (Monk's Parakeets), I gather, but they look for all the world like parrots to me. They apparently started (nobody knows for sure, or has taken credit/blame) when someone let a breeding pair loose near Town Lake (the lake/river which runs through downtown Austin); now there are several colonies around town. We had one next door, about halfway up a cell tower. They build large community nests, and the entrances are in the bottom, so in winter their body heat keeps the nest warm, and every year there are more of them. Some find them annoying; I find them endearing. They aren't supposed to be here, yet here they still are, not only living, but thriving.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-wild-parrots-of-east-austin-austin

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 10:41 PM

Interesting. As long as they don't need water

Speaking of, *(evil and all) You should really do something for T. Boone Pickens. Maybe he can help clean up the mess he made, like a cat might do with spilled milk.

*(sorry, crossing threads here from draught, because I know that that's not just a coincidence)
That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 4:40 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Yes, the mockingbirds around here like to imitate the sounds of electronic equipment also, one even does a fair rendition of power tools, and it's pretty obvious cause he's HUUUGE in comparison to the others.

Funny bit on this, while I am in general fond of wildlife, I *hate* seagulls, mostly cause imma grudge bearing jerk, which is also why I can't stand Llamas, bleh...

So me and the ex got some fish-n-chips from the local Long John Silvers, she'd promised me Arthur Treachers in exchange for some mechanical work but the one up here closed unexpectedly, dammit - anyhow, we pulled into a parking lot to eat it cause we had biz and were very pressed for time, and out of bloody nowhere this damn seagull alights on a fencerail on my side, looks right at me and goes "GWaaaah?!"
"Beat it you punk, this is mine, and I don't even LIKE seagulls you ass, besides which this stuff is bad for you anyway, given your natural diet is.... uuuh..."
And my ex starts laughing.
So I shrugged and tossed him a piece, what the hell, right ?

I reach down for something, look back, and there's FIVE seagulls now, "GWAAhh? GWaah?", and I just start cussing - I dunno about Crow recognition, but animals in general seem to KNOW imma sucker, when I was living in Baltimore, I had a cat once wander into the house, just out of nowhere, and mooch some of my lunch off me, and then head off...
And of course the damn Raccoons around here, some of which will come up to me and beg, despite that I absolutely will not feed em while on duty, and do not do so otherwise, but they seem to know the humans around here are an easy mark - and yes, a Raccoon begging is mindbendingly cute, really.

They're also NOTORIOUS for mugging tourists in Montreal and Windsor.

Hot DAMN are those bastards fat, lmao.. godfather Raccoons, heee.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 6:09 AM