Owl of the Year Match 19 - Morepork vs Little Owl

WINNER: LITTLE OWL 67-57

Morepork soundly defeated the Barred Owl in a real surprise to most of us. If Morepork makes it through this, he may be facing New Zealand’s recent addition, the Barn Owl. Morepork is about 10 inches / 26 cm. It’s this small enough to be today’s favorite little brown owl?

Little Owl bested Barking Owl to get here today. Little Owl was also brought to New Zealand’s South Island in the early 20th century. Little Owl measures in at 8.5 inches / 22 cm giving it the edge in tinyness. Little Owl is all over Eurasia and Africa as well.

Will this flat headed fellow be the winner today, or will the charm and rarity of the Morepork prevail? Upvote your favorite!

littlebluespark,

Morepork will carry Pratchett’s legacy until the end of tiiiiiime 🤘🏼

ook_the_librarian,

Going with morepork for some local pride.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

I wish it was local to me too!

ook_the_librarian,

Now that you say that, I do too. I was just making a Pratchett joke, although the city is Morpork. Alas, I’ve never been to the beautiful land of the moreporks.

Even if my reasoning is joke, moreporks are defo my choice here.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Mine too! You can tell I havent rigged this by how many of my favs have been losing this week! 😑

God_Is_Love,

How are these the actual names???

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

They’re both appropriately named, as strange as that may seem.

Little Owl is pretty much the smallest common owl in most of its range.

Morepork by the English, or Ruru by the native people, is what the owl’s call sounds like.

Morepork / Ruru Call

God_Is_Love,

I would have done so much better in Biology if you were the teacher!

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

I try my best!

DJKayDawg,

I upvoted both. I can’t pick a fav here.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

You picked 2 good choices then!

loganberryq,

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

It’s names are certainly the more creative ones and I support that!

livus,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

Morepork represent, the only indigenous owl in New Zealand.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

It’s got company with the Barn Owl these days, and it thankfully doesn’t seem to be going after native birds too badly.

As for Little Owl vs Morepork IRL:

From NZbirdsonline

A total of 219 little owls were imported and released by the Otago Acclimatisation Society between 1906 and 1910. Additional birds were released in the Canterbury region around the same time. They spread rapidly, and are common throughout the eastern South Island.

Little owls were introduced with the intention that they would limit populations of introduced finches and sparrows, and thereby reduce crop damage. There is no evidence that they have been effective in this, nor are little owls considered a significant threat as a predator to any native bird species. They are a major predator of the endangered Cromwell chafer beetle (Prodontria lewisi), and may limit the beetle’s population. The largely non-overlapping distributions of little owl and morepork are suggestive of competitive exclusion. This may be driven more by habitat preferences than direct interactions, but this has not been studied

Transcendant,

Tough choice, both exude fierce cuteness. Unfortunately for the Morepork, for me it has an association with Liz Truss, and the Little Owl is just adorable (unless you’re a mouse, in which case I imagine its cute flat head is actually quite terrifying).

Little Owl for me!

casmael,

Oh no what’s the truss connection

anon6789, (edited )
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

There seems to be a meme about her and “pork markets,” so I think it’s a Brexit thing, but I’ll let one of our local Brits chime in.

Update: Liz Truss Pork Meme

In what is the latest in memorable moments from a gruelling Tory leadership contest, a Liz Truss meme has gone viral for a strange moment in an old speech where the potential PM in waiting made a promise about pork.

Transcendant,

Just a silly joke about her wanting more pork and how it’s a disgrace, please ignore

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

I appreciate all the attempts at humor here. Everyone has kept it polite so far, and I like the increased back and forth with myself and each other we’ve had going on. It’s been much more fun for me at least. I like when it’s more than you guys just giving a pic a thumbs up and moving on.

I (we) also get a chance to learn about each other. I am learning about things from England, France, Germany, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand from you all. You guys have so much to add without even realizing it sometimes!

Transcendant,

Ah this is sweet to hear. I had a really bad, unintended interaction with a mod on another group recently and it’s made me really nervous about making silly offhand comments, so it’s good to know we can be silly here as long as we try to keep it light and polite :) one of the things I used to love about reddit, and love about lemmy is that I get to chat to people from all over the world. Like you say it’s a good opportunity to expand our worldview.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not a mod, but my personal intention is to make this a happy and positive space for everyone as much as possible. As long as nothing starts getting personal, there shouldn’t be too much off limits.

I try to keep my language PG since I’m basically representing the community most of the time here, and I try to include everyone as equal as I can so this doesn’t feel like a North American group. I may say something ignorant or misinformed about another place, but so far people have been polite in correcting me, so that keeps me willing to post about those places even though I may not know too much about it.

I feel it’s in everyone’s benefit to treat each other nice here if we want the community to grow and for Lemmy itself to keep getting bigger and better.

It’s my hope you and everyone else here feels welcomed, that your opinions matter, and you shouldn’t be afraid to correct someone or ask questions.

chumbalumber,

Surely the Terry Pratchett association cancels out Truss?

Transcendant,

An excellent point. Really I should be doing all I can to not even think about her, so I’ll take that advice!

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Ahh, speaking about expanding our horizons… I have not yet partaken of Discworld. I see it mentioned all the time online but never IRL so it always ends up slipping my mind. Is there a current appropriate place to start? I feel Guards, Guards is the one I typically have seen mentioned.

marzhall,

Guards, Guards and the stories of the city watch are definitely my favorite thread of the universe. Mort might also be a good intro, I think.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Thank you, kind stranger!

Transcendant,

I really like this suggested reading order, 8ve recommended it quite a few times: www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/

I’m a little envious of you, getting to experience all these lovely books for the first time! Terry Pratchett has such a brilliant style of writing. He manages to lampoon everyday life annoyances and foibles, into a bizarre setting but it still seeks to be perfectly relatable.

Also in reply to your other comment… You’re doing a brilliant job here! The vibe is perfect 😁👏

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Thank you! I haven’t gotten into too many series overall because I’m always afraid of getting invested and then it either just disappears or will take a dive in quality or the author just seems to lose interest. I’ve just heard about Discworld for so long having been an Internet nerd that I need to finally see what it’s all about.

I like that we’re a small enough group that we can keep it loose and talk about tangents like this and it’s no biggie. If anything, I feel it keeps something like this from falling too deep into being a niche group.

chumbalumber,

If that’s your concern, I’d like to add some context about Discworld.

Firstly, it’s not really just one series – it’s a group of books all set in the same world. Some sets of books follow the same group of characters, but there’s a few that are standalone. Monstrous Regiment is my favourite of these. Without spoiling it, it’s about a girl who joins a regiment of soldiers to find her brother, also missing in the war. While not a Discworld book, Good Omens was a collaboration between Pratchett and Neil Gaiman that’s a very fun book to read.

I’ll also give a rough characterisation of Pratchett’s writing. It’s built on using humour and a strong sense of right and wrong (which most people on Lemmy are broadly likely to agree with) to make a point, while also telling a compelling story.

TLDR: Monstrous Regiment good standalone Discworld, Pratchett funny with big heart.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

I did a bit of browsing at lunch, and I followed some of the guides and saw there were quite a bit of individual separate storylines that were highly recommended, which I liked, since it sounds like after I finish one, I can either dive deeper into that story, it hop to another of in feeling into a different “flavor.”

Downloaded Guards! Guards! since most people said they enjoyed that one. All I got to read was the dedication at the beginning, but I liked the writing style. Don’t know when I’ll get to really start since I’m very into the One Piece arc I’m in (another series I finally gave into starting this year) and I also got the What an Owl Knows book from the author I’ve plugged here a few times, but I definitely want to check out Discworld before the end of the year.

Thank you guys for your advice, and thanks Morepork for helping get this subject brought up!

livus,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

Unfortunately for the Morepork, for me it has an association with Liz Truss

Ah, it's a pity that OP went with the British coloniser name for the Morepork then.

It's *original * Maori name, that is widely used in NZ too, is the Ruru.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve called it the Ruru a few times during the contest and in other posts. I’ve been trying to keep it under one name here so I don’t confuse people into thinking it’s 2 different things since it isn’t a bird familiar to the rest of us.

The main reason I’ve stuck with Morepork is I source a lot of images from Flickr and searching “Ruru” there just gives me some Asian swimsuit model. Not the hooters I’m looking for. 😅

If it’s more respectful to change it to Ruru, I’m perfectly fine with that. I have no knowledge whatsoever about politics or social issues in that part of the world, so I’m always receptive to your feedback.

livus,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

@anon6789 no, you're all good, I was just lamenting the Liz Truss connection.

NZ is officially bictural so if you were being formal it would probably be Ruru (Morepork) or Ruru/Morepork.

Those on the left wing, Maori, and younger people are more likely to call it Ruru but older generation and those on the political right are more likely to use Morepork.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

No offense was taken. I just like to be sure I’m not being rude or ignorant when possible.

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Little Owl

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/6841a146-60f7-4a34-9853-af8526d57eb5.jpeg

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/99a87113-d666-45a5-b43e-a0e0188a3418.jpeg

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/69ec0f6b-8624-45e5-99be-3383b3d38366.jpeg

sxan,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

Morepork has the colors, but I can’t resist that flat little head!

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

These 2 have a good bit similar between them, so it’s going to come down to those finer details today.

sxan,
@sxan@midwest.social avatar

I’m not an ornithologist, but I have strong owlpinions!

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

🤣

Jyrdano,

Wo can say no to such adorable little murder machine?

anon6789,
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Morepork

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/888ae9c1-9cd4-4aec-8efb-b3a7bda072fd.jpeg

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d2f4af3f-3f2e-47f0-b785-1cdebebddb36.jpeg

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b135da0a-0bf4-426e-8b95-419bec45b39b.jpeg

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