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Messy Face (thelemmy.club)

From Maxime Legare-Vezina Photographe

A Tengmalm's (Boreal) owl with a little bloody bib. Let's just say it looks a bit less harmless like that, haha! When the young are still very small, the female tears apart their prey before feeding them, which explains all the blood on her face. It just goes to show that even the cutest owls can still be formidable predators. (Google Translate)

Original FrenchUne nyctale de Tengmalm avec une petite bavette de sang. Disons qu'elle paraît un peu moins inoffensive comme ça haha! Lorsque les jeunes sont encore tout petits, la femelle déchiquette les proies avant de les nourrir, ce qui explique tout ce sang sur son visage. Ça démontre bien que même les plus adorables chouettes restent de redoutables prédateurs.

all 5 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 hours ago
[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

She had the meat sauce 😉

[-] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social 5 points 4 hours ago

Vampire owls of the arboreal forest.

[-] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

I'd like to think that it's protesting an accusation of pre-dinner snacking with no idea that it's been caught red-faced.

this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2026
78 points (100.0% liked)

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