1. No they cannot spin their heads all the way. Their neck bones would snap and send the head rolling to the ground if that were possible. That would not exactly be the best adaptation for survival.
2. Owl's want two things.
A. Food and B. To be left alone <-- these are our training tools for program birds.
Yes. We actually 'go away' to reward them for participating in training.
(When an owl makes eye contact with you please consider that the two of you are not having a special moment, but instead that the owl thinks you are sizing it up for dinner because you are staring it down like a hungry fox.)
3. Not all owl's are nocturnal. (Nocturnal = only comes out at night).
A lot of owl's actually like to sun bathe to get Vitamin D on those feathers!
3. Not all owl's are nocturnal. (Nocturnal = only comes out at night).
A lot of owl's actually like to sun bathe to get Vitamin D on those feathers!
3. Owl's may symbolize 'wisdom' in western culture, but also represents 'death' in Native American culture. A video shoot for publicity with one of our rescued owls was canceled at my facility because a native man that is normally assigned the task refused to participate on a project that included an owl. However, not all native or other cultures aligns owl's with negative connotation.
Meet the owls I work with for:
Barred owl was recently adopted from the Minnesota Zoo. He suffered injury when he was hit by a car 8 years ago. He was taken to the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota where they had to remove one of his eyes.
The northern saw-whet owl (often mistaken for a baby owl being the smallest owl in Minnesota) for reasons unknown suffered extreme damage to his wing. His left wing will not grow back to original form making this bird flightless.
We do not name these animals because we do not want the public to think that we are implying they are pets. Trust me. You don't want one of these at home (that would be illegal in the state of MN anyway.) However, I will admit that we do have 'behind the scenes' names for them.
The barred owl came with his zoo name "Horton." For Horton's sake I hope it is a boy because the vet papers state: gender unspecified. A while back I started calling the saw-whet owl Gookooko’ oo which is the Anishinabe Ojibwe word for 'owl'. But the staff never grasped the complicated prounciation and it morphed into what is now 'Goo.' Horton and Goo are not allowed to see one an other because the barred owl is a major predator of the saw-whet in the natural environment.
Care for one day of these birds involves:
- gutting and dicing dead mice/rats/gofers/chicks
- weighing the bird, checking it's feet and beak
- counting pellets (a ball of owl vomit)
- weighing what it didn't eat and weighing what it is going to eat
- vitamins
- misting feathers with a water bottle
- enrichment in the form of going for a walk outside
- Raptor Center visits
- Constant restructure and cleaning of their bedrooms
- and more...I am not going to keep typing this list. You get the point.
The interesting part is that I have to perform the care the exact same way I did each day before. In the same sequence with the same words and steps. Owl's depend on routine to communicate/trust their place in the human world. If a wild card gets thrown into the mix, thus breaking the routine contract of what is expected of my service to the owl, things will cease to operate smoothly.
The experience has been rewarding and I feel privileged to have learned a part of HOO they are.
Barred owl was recently adopted from the Minnesota Zoo. He suffered injury when he was hit by a car 8 years ago. He was taken to the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota where they had to remove one of his eyes.
The northern saw-whet owl (often mistaken for a baby owl being the smallest owl in Minnesota) for reasons unknown suffered extreme damage to his wing. His left wing will not grow back to original form making this bird flightless.
We do not name these animals because we do not want the public to think that we are implying they are pets. Trust me. You don't want one of these at home (that would be illegal in the state of MN anyway.) However, I will admit that we do have 'behind the scenes' names for them.
The barred owl came with his zoo name "Horton." For Horton's sake I hope it is a boy because the vet papers state: gender unspecified. A while back I started calling the saw-whet owl Gookooko’ oo which is the Anishinabe Ojibwe word for 'owl'. But the staff never grasped the complicated prounciation and it morphed into what is now 'Goo.' Horton and Goo are not allowed to see one an other because the barred owl is a major predator of the saw-whet in the natural environment.
Care for one day of these birds involves:
- gutting and dicing dead mice/rats/gofers/chicks
- weighing the bird, checking it's feet and beak
- counting pellets (a ball of owl vomit)
- weighing what it didn't eat and weighing what it is going to eat
- vitamins
- misting feathers with a water bottle
- enrichment in the form of going for a walk outside
- Raptor Center visits
- Constant restructure and cleaning of their bedrooms
- and more...I am not going to keep typing this list. You get the point.
(Enrichment: Going for a walk in the forest with the human.
It is not unusual for song birds to go ape at the sight of a human + owl predator mix.)
The experience has been rewarding and I feel privileged to have learned a part of HOO they are.
Now your owl wisdom goes beyond a tootsie pop.
- Kimbo B. Tuna
Kim - cool post. Lots to know about owls!
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