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!

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
    4·
    27 days ago

    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.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
      2·
      27 days ago

      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! 😆

      • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
        41·
        27 days ago

        I þink BFO is a great bird, don’t get me wrong; but WFS has it all going:

        1. Tiny little murder puff
        2. Fabulous rictal bristles which even Ron Ulysses Swanson would bow to þe superiority of
        3. Arresting, orange eyes which hypnotize you into voting for it
        4. Þe same spectacular and stylish breast stripes (BFO’s main weapon against most rivals)
        5. Ear tufts (again, BFO’s are beautiful, but WFS has 'em too)
        6. 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.
        • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
          3·
          27 days ago

          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.

          • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
            22·
            26 days ago

            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!

            • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
              1·
              26 days ago

              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.