The Greater Sooty Owl is a resident of the wet tropical forest of Australia and New Guinea. There is also a Lesser Sooty sometimes grouped in, but it has a very limited range in North Queensland. They are the most massive of the Barn Owl family, though the Tasmanian Masked Owls are longer overall. This dark owl dotted with white speckles can let out a piercing 2 second shriek. Their primary diet are the mammals sharing the trees with them, gliders, possums, bandicoots, and bats.

For many of us, the Great Horned Owl will need no introduction. This is one of the largest owls of the Americas, and has a wider ranger than any owl but the Barn Owls. Its iconic hoot strikes fear into almost every animals in the forest - not even porcupines nor skunks or turkeys are safe from talons with more crushing power than an eagle, and even most dogs. They also have no problem going head to head with Bald Eagles over territory in epic back and forth battles. They may also be the longest lived owl, living up to 30 years in the wild and 50 in captivity.

Can you decide between these two great “Great” owls? Are you sucked down to the darkness with the goth Sooty, or will GHO crush its competition? Upvote your favorite now!

#superbowl #owloftheyear2024

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    You know me, I’m always going for the under-owl, but today I just can’t do it. Gotta wave my horrendous oversized GHO flag from the back of my owl truck.

    • proudblond@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      GHO got robbed last year so in some ways, it is the under-owl! In case you wanted to feel better about it 😊

      • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
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        12 days ago

        At least when GHO lost to Flammy last year, Flammy went on for a while before losing to Snowy, which was more than respectable. If GHO would have lost to someone who got their butt kicked immediately after, that would have stunk.

        • onigiri@lemm.ee
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          12 days ago

          Yes, that made it easier to take. I voted GHO in this match up, but it was a difficult choice. Sooty is a pretty owl.

          • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
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            12 days ago

            Whoever wins this has an uphill battle against the Burrow Owl, so you gotta go with whichever you feel has the best odds. It took White Faced Scops to stop him last year.

            Sooty is as beautiful as a clear night sky, but can it pull the numbers needed to surpass that? GHO may be the wise choice.

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
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    12 days ago

    Indian Scops never stood a chance against the Burrow Owl. It’s a great owl for sure, but Burrow has too much going for it.

    Last year Sooty knocked out the Eagle Owl in a big surprise. GHO was taken out by Flammy first round as well. Is this year going to be better for the big owls?

  • kokopelli@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    Gotta go with sooty on this one. Horned owl gets all the fun, I like how mysterious the sooty is!

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
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      12 days ago

      La prononciation ne semble pas la plus proche, mais je pense que la combinaison de lettres est suffisamment similaire pour que cela fonctionne, étant une parodie du mème ORLY ?

      • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
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        12 days ago

        I don’t speak French, but since pseudo participates here so much, I try to see if I can come up with jokes that work in French.

        The first caption says “you can’t decide between the horned owl and the non-horned owl?”

        The word in the second box means “ear.”. I thought that looked like the Orly? meme, which felt funny. Pronunciation sounds more like “oo ree elle” than “oh really” but I still feel this constitutes funny word play. Homonyms can be just as funny as homophones I’d say.

      • pseudo@jlai.lu
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        12 days ago

        I didn’t knew about the owl image associated with O RLY but I love. I love owl memes and all you french jokes (^_^)