Today’s post is from the Owl Research Institute.

Did you know you can tell the sex of an adult Long- eared Owl by color?

Though it may be subtle to the untrained eye, Long- eared Owls display sexual color dimorphism in their plumage. The Owl Research Institute tested this using a soil color chart to score the facial disk, tarsometatarsus, and underwing coverts of adult Long- eared Owls. Overall, females were found to be darker in color than males.

Photos 3-6 show adult male and female Long-eared Owls side-by-side. Can you guess which are which? Comment your guesses below!

Read more about sexual color dimorphism in Long- eared Owls in ORI’s 2016 publication titled ‘Sex Differences in Long-eared Owi Plumage Coloration’.

  • anon6789OP
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    11 months ago

    Looks that is the case.

    When Wold was fixing their image server, I think I remember trying to use imgbb as I had before, but it was doing the same thing and I ended up using catbox.

    I know I used to be able to use imgbb, do you know what changed?