Where Wildlife, Humans, & Ecology Meet
Ecology Blueprints explores the interconnected systems that link wildlife, humans, and their habitats—through science, observation, and hands-on learning.
Because no organism exists alone. When you understand food webs, habitat, and pressure, the species make sense. Ecology isn’t about memorizing animals—it’s about understanding relationships and outcomes.
Owls eat a variety of prey. So when you dissect a pellet, you never know what you’ll discover! Let’s check out some information about some common prey owls eat.
When it rains, what do birds do? What adaptations do they have that help them weather storms? Their feathers are water resistant, and thanks to an oil gland they have at the base of their tails, they’re able to spread the oil over their feathers to help keep them that way.
Have you heard of the Bare-legged Owl? This owl has dark eyes and a whitish-brown face with distinct white eyebrows. Their fronts are lighter with dark spots while their backs are a darker brown with white spots.
Band-bellied Owls are similar in appearance to Spectacled Owls (which you can read about here!) and are closely related to them but stand out by the distinctive stripes on their bellies.
Get an up-close look at these birds in Alan Lacy’s Filming the Wild video, The Cactus Wren. He takes you along for the ride as he works on a project about the Sonoran Desert – catch the desert in springtime and get a look at a Cactus Wren nest, as well as a Cactus Wren with its prey! .
Tropical Screech Owls can be found in Central and South America. They stand 8-9 inches tall, with a 6-7 inch wingspan, and weigh 3.
Endemic to Hispaniola, an island in the Caribbean, this owl can’t be found anywhere else in the world. It looks very similar to a Barn Owl but is darker in coloring.
Athene Noctua, are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand. They like habitats that are open, like farms, orchards, and quarries.
The IUCN Red List is a list of species and their current standing in the wild. Threats to these species are evaluated and then they end up in one of seven categories.
They stand at 19-24 inches tall, with a wingspan of 10. 5-15 inches long, and weigh 17-45 ounces.
They’re the largest member of the sandpiper family. They’re rare birds.
Within the UK, they’re found in England, Wales, and Scotland, but they aren’t found in Ireland, because they don’t travel across the water.
