From Izzy Edwards

Great Gray Owl dwarfed by Ponderosa Pines

Though it is the longest of owls thanks to that tail, there are some mighty trees that will remind us we are all tiny beings compared to them.

  • chaosCruiserEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    So much moss on those branches. What kind of environment supports that?

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      6·
      3 days ago

      Izzy posts a lot to the Pacific Northwest Birding group so my guess is somewhere within the PNW Temperate Rainforest.

      Most people probably don’t think of the US and Canada as places with rainforest, but just because we don’t have monkeys and toucans doesn’t mean it’s not rainforest! 😄

      I would love to see it someday!

      The Pacific temperate rain forests are characterized by a high amount of rainfall, in some areas more than 300 cm (10 ft) per year and moderate temperatures in both the summer and winter months (10–24 °C or 50–75 °F).

      • chaosCruiserEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        Oh wow! That’s really cool. When I think of rain forests, it’s always like +40 °C, impenetrable vegetation, super tall exotic trees, big snakes, huge spiders, bright colored frogs and so on. Not owls on pine trees.

        • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
          3·
          2 days ago

          Yes, it’s far from that typical image.

          As a related fact about misleading ecosystems, Antarctica is the world’s largest desert with around 50mm of annual rain on the non-coastal areas!

          • chaosCruiserEnglish
            2·
            2 days ago

            I recall seeing a documentary about some cold desert in china. So, plenty of sand and dry air, but also freezing temperatures. Strange place.