Meet
the saw-whet, the tiniest of Minnesota’s owls, a mere eight
inches from the tip of its blunt tail to the top of its rounded head.
The simplest way to find one is to listen for the scolding calls of a
flock of agitated chickadees. Or, if you’re lucky, you might
witness the male throwing all caution to the wind and
“co-co-co-co-ing” for a mate, inching forward on every note
like the bird in a cuckoo clock.
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From this
fetching little creature to the magnificent great gray, the
owls of Minnesota have found the perfect spokeswoman in this book,
which is as charming as it is informative.
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Written with wit and a remarkable command of bird lore by Laura
Erickson, well known to public radio listeners and birdwatchers
everywhere, Twelve
Owls also features enchanting pictures, from the long view to
up-close detail, by award-winning artist Betsy Bowen.
“Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?” the barred owl
asks, breaking into a duet that sounds like maniacal laughter when he
gets lucky. The great gray, the biggest of the state’s—and
perhaps the world’s—owls, hurls herself into the snow and
fetches up a meadow vole, leaving behind a beautiful snow angel.
The telling detail, the natural drama, the identifying features, and
the environmental story all unfold in Erickson’s engaging account
of what to look for, where to look, and what these much-mythologized
but very real denizens of the bird kingdom might be doing in the state
of Minnesota.
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Twelve Owls
by Laura Erickson
University
of Minnesota Press, 2011
Order
a copy
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