Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Tawny Owl

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by User:SandyGeorgia 19:07, 22 June 2008 [1].

Tawny Owl[edit]

I'm nominating this article for featured article because it's passed GA, so onwards and hopefully upwards. Contributions 187/455 edits jimfbleak (talk) 06:38, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments (must be bird morning...)

  • Can we put Wordsworth and Coleridge last name first in the references?
Otherwise sources look good. Links all checked out with the link checker tool. Ealdgyth - Talk 13:47, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
oops, silly missing that, done now jimfbleak (talk) 15:13, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Heh, no problem. That's why it is good to have others look at articles, fresh eyes help a bunch. All done! Ealdgyth - Talk 15:34, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Resolved comments from Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 02:21, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comments
  • In the image caption in the infobox, is there any way of verifying that the picture is of a Strix aluco aluco?
  • Good to see non-breaking spaces :)
  • Roosting owls may be discovered and "mobbed" by small birds during the day, but they normally just sit tight when this happens. "sit tight" is unencyclopediac language.
  • Since its flight is silent, it may not be detected until it is too late to avoid the danger." Should be "becaues its flight".
  • The bit about the man that died in a cage seems irrelevant to the article.
  • The juvenile survival rate is unknown, but the annual survival rate for adults is 76.8%. Replace "but" with "altough".
  • Even John Ruskin is quoted as saying "Whatever wise people may say of them, I at least have found the owl's cry always prophetic of mischief to me." The period should go after the quotation mark, per MoS.
  • It was hard for me to find things to comment on. Good work! Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 15:09, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
reply With regard to subspecies, it's not possible to be sure without measurements. I've taken out the Russian bit, I had doubts about that myself. Other points fixed, thanks for comments jimfbleak(talk) 15:33, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
reply I didn't realise, that done now, also picked up a full stop that should have been a comma as a bonus. Thanks jimfbleak (talk) 15:39, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support (moral or otherwise) Comments ok, let's get started...

but in more urban areas its diet includes a higher proportion of birds. - an 'although' would be softer and more appropriate as not a huge contrast.

::Its night hunting is aided by vision and hearing adaptations and a silent flight. - a silent flight? should the indefinite article be removed?

::Tawny is capable of killing smaller owls, but may itself be killed by the Eagle Owl or Northern Goshawk,... - there are 2 kills here, would it be worth changing one to 'prey upon/hunt/catch' or something else?

::The nominate race has two upperpart plumage colour morphs, rufous brown and greyish brown, together with intermediate forms, and its underparts are whitish and streaked with brown. - Reads a little ungainly for me, I may split it thus: "The nominate race has two colour morphs which differ in their upperpart plumage, one rufous brown and the other greyish brown, although intermediate forms are seen. The underparts (of both forms) are whitish and streaked with brown." - bracketed bit optional. Or have a play with it some other way.

The Tawny Owl has a direct flight... erm, what's a direct flight? I guess it means flying in a straight line. Is there another way of saying this? (not a deal-breaker)

The owl's actual visual acuity is only slightly higher than that of man, --> greater?

::brown birds predominate in humid western Europe --> stick a 'more' infront of the humid to indicate it is relative. Europe does not strike me as humid compared with, say, the Amazon really.

::In the Taxonomy section, some ssp are bracketed while others aren't. Is this a typo or can it be explained?

The typical lifespan is five years,[3] but an age of over eighteen years has been recorded for a wild Tawny Owl, and of over 27 years for a captive bird. - aha, the old numbers-as-letters conundrum. I'd have 'em all as digits I think.

Nearly there. Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 14:47, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

All done, thanks particularly for the plumage suggestion. I've amended the table caption to explain the (), not sure if this is the best way jimfbleak (talk) 19:11, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support with comments (nothing deal breaking). Disclaimer, WP:BIRD vote, but I've had nothing to do with this article.
The Tawny Owl has a distribution stretching across temperate Eurasia from Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula eastwards to Korea, - this should read has a discontinuous or disjunct distribution stretching... as the sentence reads like there is continuous band of them from sea to shining sea.
Behaviour most of the information in behaviour can go into breeding - nest defence and lifelong breeding pairs.
Good stuff though. Sabine's Sunbird talk 01:57, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, followed suggestions, I had wondered about merging the behaviour bit jimfbleak (talk) 06:02, 22 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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