First it was red owls, then teal colored owls, and now we have purple owls.  Are they real? CryptoVille investigates!

A friend posted this photo of purple owls that, as far as I can tell, originated on Pinterest. It shows a cute bunch of little owls, all cast in a lovely shade of purple. But are there purple owls in Canada, or for that matter, anywhere?

I think I can safely say, these purple owls have been Photoshopped. But are there purple owls in Canada? No, however, they do have some beautiful owls living the high life in their country! Here’s a rundown on whooo’s there:

Barn Owl (Tyto alba): These lovelies come in a dark and light variety – the males are light colored while the females are dark colored. They range between 14 and 20 inches long and have a wingspan around 42 inches wide. Seen in Coastal British Columbia south of Vancouver, and southern Ontario.

Barred Owl (Strix varia): These lovelies grow between 17 and 24 inches long with a wingspan up to 50 inches wide. They are sort of gray brown all over with a “cross barred neck and breast” and a streaked belly; their eyes are dark.

Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus): This bunch looks like they could be the snowy relatives of the Barred Owls, but not really. These babies grow only 8-12 inches long with a wingspan of 21 inches. They are brown with white spots on their heads and a rust colored streaked breast. Their mostly white face disc is outlined in black.

Flammulated Owl (Otus flammeolus): This may be my favorite! Little Flammulated only grows 6-7 inches long with a wingspan of 16 inches. Their coloring is described as “variegated red and/or gray; light below with white and rust colored markings.” It also has cute little ear tufts.

Long-eared Owl (Asio otus): These darlings grow between 13-16 inches with a wingspan of 36 inches. Their coloration is heavily streaked and barred on their bellies. Their facial discs are rusty colored.

Western Screech Owl (Otus kenicottii): These babies look like they came out of a Pixar film – small and stocky, their head is large, their wings broad, and they have a short tail. Their crazy little ear tufts look really big when raised; when down, the owls look flat-headed. Grows between 7-10 inches long with a wingspan of 20 inches.

There are quite a few more owls living up in the North country and if you’d like to see the full list, click on the link to SimplyWildCanada.com in the Reference section below.

Misperceptions

In some cases, natural light can play tricks on our eyes and make anything look different than it normally does. Here are some examples of that:

Here’s a photo of a barred owl during the day:

Now here’s another photo of a real barred owl at night with a flash trained on it:

It sure looks purple, doesn’t it? But in reality, it’s not.

In other cases, artists’ pictures can mislead us into thinking things like animals are different colors than they really are:

 

This coin showing the barred owl at sunset casts the owl in a purple/lavender light. So again, it does look sort of purple. But it’s not in reality.

So maybe these kinds of situations play into people colorizing birds (of all kinds!) on the internet. At least now you know the truth.

What is your favorite kind of owl?

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References

https://www.cdncoin.com/product-p/623932044227.htm

https://www.simplywildcanada.com/wild-species/birds-of-canada/owls-of-canada/