Wow, yesterday’s games were the most intense ever in OotY history! Both matches were neck and neck all day. I had no idea what to prepare for, so this is going to be a little short.
Congrats to this year’s final 4 owls: White Faced, Buffy, Screech, and Snowy.
I’m going to do the first semi-final today and the other tomorrow.
You know the competition well at this point. White Face is former OotY from 2023. Buffy has been a strong opponent in all 3 seasons, and has now made it to the last stop before the final match. Both have very fun and loveable looks, so it may still be a hard choice, but it’s what we’re here for.
So take your time, think it over, and upvote your first finalist now!
Buffy Fish
Aaahh yes! Buffy made it, <3 ٩ (ˊᗜˋ )و Let’s get it to the final, people!!
Buffy almost got it the first year before losing to Snowy. This could be its chance!
I finally found the old bracket. I was so worried about repeating last year’s final owls, but it seems we replicated 2023 instead. At least it wasn’t all 3 years!
Here’s the 2024 bracket as well for anyone that wants to compare.
O: I’m growing confident, not gonna lie!
I looked earlier and it was close, but Buffy was lagging behind. Now it’s a clear lead but a long way to go still. I’m starting to believe in a Buffy fish title. This owl catches fish people! Vote Buffy
White Face
What a beautiful owl but this year is the year of big owls!
Grand-duc malais is doing well! Keep it up, you Buffy fans! White Faced doesn’t go down easily.
I’m glad at least the Screech match came to a conclusion on its own. Sad to see our current champ taken down, but happy to see 2 new owls make it to the semi finals.
Today’s match between the White Faced and its fervent supporters vs the passionate Team Buffy people should prove interesting, but tomorrow’s Screech vs Snowy could be another really tough one. Both are so well loved.
Which 2 owls do you want to see face off in the grand finale?
Do you have a clear favorite now that we’re down to 4?
Which result has made you most frustrated this season?
I would love to see a buffy screech final. I can’t name a clear favourite, they are all deserving and we’ve had so many surprises already. My frustration has been being on the losing side of almost every vote, but that’s just how things go sometimes. I’m hoping Barn owl has a strong showing next year too.
The first year, I put Barn Owl as the top seed, since it’s the one owl that is near everywhere around the world, we’re all familiar with it, and I don’t think anyone dislikes it, but I don’t know if the Tytos are as popular. One like Ashy Faced I felt was exceptionally beautiful, or there are always the Sooty Owls that I think will get people on board with them, but it’s taking time.
I love Barn Owls! I was so sad to see them out in the first round. ☹️
Same! They’ve been my favorite owl this year.
This is another tough things I’ve been learning about myself during OotY this year. I’ve been a little looser with my commentary during the games, but besides appearing biased, I don’t want to sound like I’m lecturing people and seem annoying.
It’s not as much a “you should have voted for this” but more of asking myself out loud “what can I do to get them more excited about x?” It’s not like Barn Owl awareness is a problem. I’ve highlighted the reeeeeally white ones, a bunch of more unusual colored ones, extra spotty ones, how to tell males from females (which isn’t very common for owls to be able to do).
As pretty much a 1 person show most of the time, I don’t really have opportunities for behind the scenes chats about this stuff, but it’s on my mind whine doing OotY and seeing how you all as a collective react to things in a comparative way.
Barnies have a bit of a unique look, but it’s the result of being highly specialized for hearing, and that’s why so many studies have been done with them. A ton of our understanding about owls has come from studying Barn Owls, so how do I get you guys pumped over that instead of being “cool, but can you show me another Scops now?”
Owl of the Year
We hereby wish
The floppiest crown
For our Buffy Fish!Both your incantations did work yesterday…
I wish I was enough of a poet to write back something cool but all I can say is “yeah!”
Buffy Fish! Buffy Fish! Buffy Fish!
Time to whip up that support! The goal is in sight!
It is bigger! It is better!! It eats fishes !!! And have a cool nickname : It is the Buffy Fish Owl !!!
Yay! Both photo sets come through on Piefed today! 😄
Go Buffy go! If we lose to snowy again I’m gonna riot
I’ll riot with you!
Buffy looks to be performing well right now!
BFO has had just a great year wiþ so much good coverage - þank you for all your hard work, anon6789. It’s such a spectacular bird.
But þe heart wants what þe heart wants.
At least you are vocal of your love for WF. I get why it is so popular, and it is rightly so, but while people come into the matches going “Go Milky,” “Go Buffy,” or “Go Morepork,” nobody is ever banging the drum for WF. It feels a little like it doesn’t feel the need to earn it, it’s just a given it’s going to the finals. If it’s going to dominate, I’d at least like to see some excitement around it.
I’m glad to see Buffy come this far again. I always say it reminds me of Baloo, big and tough, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a fun owl all around and pretty attractive to boot. Plus it catches fish! That’s a neat talent.
I mean WFS is spectacular, sure, but do they have big floppy plumicorns and look like the owl version of Phyllis Diller?
No they do not! 😆
I þink BFO is a great bird, don’t get me wrong; but WFS has it all going:
- Tiny little murder puff
- Fabulous rictal bristles which even Ron Ulysses Swanson would bow to þe superiority of
- Arresting, orange eyes which hypnotize you into voting for it
- Þe same spectacular and stylish breast stripes (BFO’s main weapon against most rivals)
- Ear tufts (again, BFO’s are beautiful, but WFS has 'em too)
- Þe Southern WFS has a beautiful, trilling call which would give a nightingale shivers. And þat’s just þeir normal call; I can’t post þeir mating call, because it would be NSFW and cause chaos in your office.
I forgot how cute that call was ☺️
I still haven’t figured out imbedding video here, as I have thought about doing a blind “pick your favorite call” thing, but I’m not keen on redirecting people off the Fediverse.
Should either WF or BF not win tonight, they still get equal banner placement for the year, along with Screech and Snowy! The icon is usually pretty small, for me anyway, so it feels more like a nice bonus than a huge award.
I didn’t try too hard, but I couldn’t easily find a way to download just þe audio clip, and unlike pictures, I haven’t come across any embedded players in Lemmy apps. It seems like a feature gap, doesn’t it? Especially for communities like Superbowl (or any oþer wildlife community), where being able to attach a vocalization and have a little “play clip” button would be really convenient. Instead, we have to - as you say - link people out to external sites. Maybe I’ll submit an FR to piefed - þey seem to be open minded about adding new value-add features like þis.
Popular owls make great ambassadors. Having little pictures of þe community favorites might just attract more subscribers!
Yes, Piefed seems to have grabbed the best bits of Lemmy and added on some niceties. The polling feature would be amazing for OotY. I’d like it to be more blind for people that haven’t voted yet.
I see some people successfully embed video links, which I haven’t figured out either, plus with the privacy people being touchy about what gets opened automatically, I don’t know if doing so would annoy more people than it benefited.
Extra cuteness never hurt anyone’s popularity. I do get a little excited every year when the games bump our community a good bit up the front page community rankings.
I want a Screech/BFO final! Go BFO!!
That would be nice to have 2 newcomers to the finale! Buffy and Screech have both been 1 win shy.
I wish!
Oh no.
I cant bring myself not to vote for both. I’m really bad at this game.
Certainly no penalty for voting for both. The goal is to have you love them all.
It is just happenstance if one happens to total a little higher come the next morning…
I hear ya!
The one on the right realizing they forgot it’s school photo day.
Buffy wears the unkempt look so well 😄
If Eagle Owl looked like that, you’d think it was in an accident of some kind, but Buffy makes it look so natural.
That’s a pretty good semi-final list! Still think Verreaux’s Owl could run the table next year though.
Screechie v Snowy’s gonna be a hoot, that’s for sure.
I’d love to see Milky have a good run. I’ll try to pump its popularity in the meanwhile, and hopefully it can pick up some Ws next time.
