Future maximum card from a Finnish birch wooden (but flexible) postcard: Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)

Thank you again, Maffe from Suomi/Finland :) !

Someday, I'll send an Avery 8665 transparent label to a partner/friend from Finland, who will affix a matching Finnish stamp with the Boreal Owl.

http://www.birdtheme.org/species/imagespage.php?spec=798&fl=A

Then that stamp, on the label, will get a handcancel/postmark from a cooperating/open-minded postal associate (postal clerk) from Finland.

Once I receive the stamped and postmarked label back, I could carefully affix that onto my cool wooden postcard, which postcard I don't want to risk to lose it, if I were to mail it back to Finland.

Some might say that "an owl is an owl" - who cares about the different species of owls? :)
Well, the Boreal Owl is not...Karen Blixen's [pet] owl.
The Boreal Owl is actually..Tengmalm's Owl.
"This type of owl was featured in Out of Africa (film) as Karen Blixen's pet, although it is not native to Africa and was not the species of owl the real Karen Blixen kept".


"Tengmalm's Owl, Aegolius funereus, is a small owl. It is known as the Boreal Owl in North America. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae. This bird is named after the Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_owl

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Now THAT'S the largest owl species in the world: Blakiston's Fish Owl (Bubo blakistoni)

This is only a simple postcard, but I'd like to create a maximum card, with a Japanese stamp and the help of a Japanese philatelic partner/friend to get a postmark :)

http://www.birdtheme.org/species/imagespage.php?spec=776&fl=B

Appearances are deceiving - that's their purpose.

Do you think the above owl is a fatso?

You think so?

http://www.zazzle.com/i_dont_think_so_postage-172747464236221795?rf=238693463283865848

Just like a sumo wrestler only appears to be a fatso, when in fact he is a strong athlete who overeats on purpose, due to the sumo tradition. So he gets a layer of fat over his well-trained muscles.

Well, our owl in the postcard above only shakes its feathers, I guess.

Or, maybe it has just swallowed...a whole hedgehog (you think I'm kidding? Read more about owls...:)...)

Or, maybe it has just swallowed a long-spine porcupinefish, also known as the spiny balloonfish.

http://biomechanics.bio.uci.edu/_html/nh_biomech/pufferfish/puffer.htm

Just kidding. :)

"Blakiston's Fish Owl is possibly the largest species of owl at 60-75cm (24-30 in). A recent field study of the species showed males weighing from 3 to 3.75 kg (6.6-8.3 lbs), with the female, at up to 4.5 kg (10 lbs), about 25% larger.^[1] Superficially, this owl looks like the Eurasian eagle owl, but is paler, and has broad, ragged ear tufts. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blakiston's_Fish-owl

Read this, and see some great images, too:

http://www.fishowls.com/

[Prehistoric] "The Devastating Smilodon" Postage from Zazzle.com

[Prehistoric] "The Devastating Smilodon" Postage from Zazzle.com

This is the largest of all prehistoric saber-toothed cats - 1.6 meters tall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilodon_populator

"Cartes maximum" from USA: The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pandion_haliaetus_-fish_-Texas-8-4c.jpg

Very skillful fish-catcher.

"The Osprey differs in several respects from other diurnal birds of prey. Its toes are of equal length, its tarsi are reticulate, and its talons are rounded, rather than grooved. The Osprey and Owls are the only raptors whose outer toe is reversible, allowing them to grasp their prey with two toes in front and two behind. This is particularly helpful when they grab slippery fish."

"The Osprey is unusual in that it is a single species that occurs nearly worldwide. Even the few subspecies are not unequivocally separable. There are four generally recognised subspecies, although differences are small, and ITIS only lists the first two.^[3]

• P. h. haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758), Eurasia.^[6]
• P. h. carolinensis (Gmelin, 1788), North America. This form is larger, darker bodied and has a paler breast than nominate haliaetus.^[6]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey

"What?" stamp from Zazzle.com

"What?" stamp from Zazzle.com

Maxicard from Bulgaria: The second-biggest owl in the world: The Eurasian Eagle-Owl (Bubo bubo)

I would have placed the stamp and the postmark on the upper right corner, for better visibility.

Yes, it's the same species from a previous post, where I showed a maxicard from Romania.
So I suppose that these Bulgarian owls can swallow a whole hedgehog, as well. Sheesh! :)

Great websites for owls on stamps, etc.:
http://www.birdtheme.org/scripts/family.php?famnum=78
http://www.owlsandbooks.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.owlsandbooks.co.uk/links.htm