Both of these owls have bested some real fan favorites to get here. BnW defeated the angelic Barn Owl and Mottled Wood really shocked a lot of us by taking out the Spectacled Owl, a favorite to win the tournament coming into it.
Mottled Wood, aka “the fowl of death”, made quite the first impression on a number of you. Nothing else in this tournament looks like it. Wild and intensely colored, this Indian owl becons you to get to know it.
Black and White"s prison outfit makes it a little more familiar, at least for this pair of birds. This owl attracts plenty of followers and has done well so far this year, and in past games.
Which of these tropic-owl birds is going to get the go-ahead from you today?
What a brutal match between Saw Whet and Blakistons! It was back and forth and tied so many times when I checked in. Saw Whet took the early lead and seemed like the champ was going to have a calm first match, but Blakistons fans started pouring in to put it into the front. Late in the race Saw Whet got back in front, and was somehow able to hold out against the titan of a challenger.
The champ will go on to face Little Owl next, who did really well in its opener. We will have to see if the champ still has what it takes, or if the community is ready to switch out on wee owl for another.
Black and White
Tough choice, but I think I like the black and white more
Both are really lovely looking, and I can’t think of any reason to vote against either one. I think this race may be another close one since both seem equally great.
Mottled Wood
Im pretty sure I’ve voted only for the losers so far haha
I was glancing at my results charts the other day and there are already as many upsets this year as in the whole tournament last year. This has really been a crazy game so far.
I just learned that both of them are called gamarús in Catalan.
The mottled is the Gamarús ocel•lat and the black and white is Gamarús capnegre (blackhead)
I heard the name gamarús all my life and I knew it was some kind of owl but I never saw one. From what I’m reading they are mostly the genus Strix.
Yay! More language lessons!
Gamarussos seem to be smooth headed Strix owls. Tawny, Barred, Rufous, Great Grey, Spectacled, Ural, and more look to all be named Gamarús.
I see gamarús can be a mild insult like calling someone a dummy?
Hahaha yes there’s that too.
I kept reading and just learned that in the Balearic Islands is called xibeca. I knew that xibeca was species of owl but not that it was the same one.
It gives its name to a very popular beer brand and in Catalonia is synonym with a one litre bottle of beer.Oh that is so fun! Everything is tied together here!
A popular legend says that an owl, called Xibeca in Catalan, cursed a young woman turning her into a witch, and the elongated shadow of this witch gave the idea for the name of the liter beer of the Damm company. An alternative version of the story suggests that the origin of the name could be the similarity between the size of the bottle and the owl.
