For owls that are superb.
US Wild Animal Rescue Database: Animal Help Now
International Wildlife Rescues: RescueShelter.com
Australia Rescue Help: WIRES
Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy Wild Bird Rescue: wildvogelhilfe.org
If you find an injured owl:
Note your exact location so the owl can be released back where it came from. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist to get correct advice and immediate assistance.
Minimize stress for the owl. If you can catch it, toss a towel or sweater over it and get it in a cardboard box or pet carrier. It should have room to be comfortable but not so much it can panic and injure itself. If you can’t catch it, keep people and animals away until help can come.
Do not give food or water! If you feed them the wrong thing or give them water improperly, you can accidentally kill them. It can also cause problems if they require anesthesia once help arrives, complicating procedures and costing valuable time.
If it is a baby owl, and it looks safe and uninjured, leave it be. Time on the ground is part of their growing up. They can fly to some extent and climb trees. If animals or people are nearby, put it up on a branch so it’s safe. If it’s injured, follow the above advice.
For more detailed help, see the OwlPages Rescue page.
Artwork I saw in a gorgeous mid-century modern home while on a vintage house tour.
Text below says: "Ever since he was an owlet, this Horned Owl has dreamed of flying to the moon. Until NASA finally approves his application, however, he will continue training in the anti-gravitational chamber he has made out of twigs, found string, and pellets."
Hey, it's Superbowl Sunday! Since I don't have the kind of image hookup that anon6789 does, I'm looking thru wikipedia for owls that I dig.
This here's a Sri Lanka bay owl! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_bay_owl Looks very otherworldly!
Pic by Abhilash Arjunan, licence info here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ceylon_Bay_Owl1_Abhilash_Arjunan.jpg
Description: "Sri Lanka Bay Owl Phodilus assimilis at Arippa forest, Trivandrum, Kerala, India on October 2015"
From World Center for Birds of Prey
Athena the Burrowing Owl lands on a football
The center is having football themed owl enrichment activities to put the Owl back in SuperbOwl!
From Nicole Seward
I know the Boreal owls are stealing the show this winter, but check out these three cute fluff balls I found this week. > Eastern screech owl
From Nicole Seward
We all know how rewarding it is to spot an owl. No matter the species when my eyes lock onto one I get butterflies in my stomach every time!
I couldn't believe I spotted this one! Great horned owl
From Nelson Filipe
BARN OWL (Tyto alba)
Image location: Lisbon - Portugal
Photographic equipment: Canon EOS 90D Lens and photo settings: 150-600mm Sigma - 1/200 sec | 600.00mm | f/8.0 | ISO 500
Date of photographic record: 03/02/2025
From Alexandra Zwack
A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BIRDS OF PREY - The facial disc and the arrangement of the ears in owls
The facial disc of owls have a purpose: The special arrangement of the feathers around the eyes amplifies and directs sound waves directly to their ears. - like a kind of parabolic mirror, it collects the sound and directs it more precisely to the ears.
These are located exactly on the focal point of the facial disc, on both sides of the head. Many people think that these often seen "ear tufts" ARE the ears of the owls. But no! The ears are inside and hidden. Some of the owls don't even have these "decorative tufts"! Little owls, for example.
The owls that have them use them to express their mood. It is very important for the night hunters to be able to orient themselves even in complete darkness and to locate their prey using their sense of hearing.
In order to be able to locate the rustling of prey precisely, the ears are also slightly offset(*) (unlike humans, which are positioned at the same height).
The slight time shift of the sound in the ears provides the owl with a more precise location and allows it to determine the exact distance of the sound.
Examples of the facial disc in the pictures are of a Siberian eagle owl and a White-faced owl.
Even in a young bird that is about 5 weeks old, it can already be seen clearly.
(*) Note - not all owls have asymmetrical ears!
Original German
KLEINE GREIFVOGELKUNDE
Der Gesichtsschleier und die Anordnung der Ohren bei den Eulen -- Die Schleier der Eulen haben einen Zweck: Die besondere Anordnung der Federn um die Augen herum verstärkt und leitet Schallwellen direkt zu ihren Ohren. - er bewirkt wie eine Art Parabolspiegel die Bündelung und das genauere Führen des Schalls in die Ohren.
Diese befinden sich genau am Rand des Gesichtsschleiers, an beiden Seiten des Kopfes. Viele denken, diese oft zu sehenden "Puschel, Federohren" SIND die Ohren der Eulen. Aber nein! Die Ohren sind innenliegend und versteckt. Einige der Eulen haben diese "DekoPuschel" auch gar nicht! Käuze z. B.
Diejenige Eulen, die diese haben, nutzen diese, um ihre Stimmung auszudrücken. Für die Jäger der Nacht ist es sehr wichtig, sich auch bei völliger Dunkelheit orientieren zu können und ihre Beute auch mit ihrem Hörsinn ausfindig zu machen.
Um das Rascheln einer Beute genau lokalisieren zu können, sind die Ohren außerdem leicht höhenversetzt. (Anders als bei uns Menschen, die in gleicher Höhe angebracht sind).
Die leichte Zeitverschiebung des Schalls in die Ohren, liefert der Eule eine genauere Ortung und erlaubt ihr, die genaue Entfernung des Geräusches zu bestimmen.
Beispiele des Schleiers in den Bildern eines sibirischen Uhus und einer Weissgesichtseule.
Selbst bei einem Jungvogel, der ca. 5 Wochen alt ist, sieht man es schon ausgeprägt.
I’ve always wanted to seen one of these in the wild and I finally did!
The owl was standing still, swiveling its head back and forth. It was still there over an hour later on the way back.
Reposting since I don't think the first one went through (sorry for the spam if it did)
Truly shocked to come across a new original picture of a. BFO! 😮
This must have been such a special opportunity for the photographer.
From Jonathan Wadsworth
Blakiston's Fish Owl, the largest owl in the world.
Settings: 800mm, 1/80s, f/6.3, ISO 8000
This photo was taken at a licensed observatory in Hokkaido, where a special pulsing LED light provides both birdwatchers and scientists a place to observe the owls without disturbing them or seeking them out in their sensitive nesting areas.
Unfortunately, they are critically endangered, relying on mature boreal forest near clean-flowing rivers, habitat that is drastically disappearing. In Hokkaido, conservation has been successful so far, with the population increasing from only 70 birds in the 1980s to at least 160 now. It's still a perilously small population however.
From Ray Xuereb
A once-in-lifetime experience, seeing this Barn Owl flying overhead, in the middle of the day!
From David Testroet
No caption on this one, but it made me think of the "It wasn't me" but from Rocket Man.
A resident Tawny Owl sitting cosy in their nest. The photo was taken last week in Paris, this particular nest has been used by tawny owls for at least 10 years (likely the same owl?)
I was excited to see a story from a rescue I haven't seen anything from in a while, and what a story it is! Stick through to the end. This looks to be one tough owl!
This week's patient of the week just arrived a couple days ago, but what a story so far that we only hope continues to to improve!
I received a message from Jane on my way in to the wildlife hospital on Wednesday that a Barred Owl had been found hit by a car nearby at Rock Springs, but unfortunately had died on the way over and had been left by the finder by the door. A sad story right there for sure, but sometimes no matter what we do they just don't make it in time.
I arrived to see the blanket wrapped bundle waiting, and came up to the door, reaching in to pick up the owl.... And was astonished when the owl lashed out and tried to grab me! She was alive! Likely she had lost consciousness, but here she was trying to fight me!
She was weak and obviously felt awful, but I hurried her in to do an exam and check her over, run blood work, and see what was going on. Her energy to fight was in very short bursts followed by weak stillness. She was slightly anemic, and had some scrapes on her feet, but surprisingly everything else seemed ok physically. I still gave her some pain meds and anti-inflammatory medication to help and we set her up on oxygen in one of our incubators to see if she'd recover.
She spent that first day with her head pressed against a wall, which can indicate some head pain, but before I left that evening she turned and looked at me with wide eyes, more alert than she has been. The next day she succeeded in grabbing me when I went to give her her meds again, and spent the day alternating between dozing and glaring at everyone.
Today she was looking good enough that I moved her into our standard hospital caging that let's her have more space to stretch and look around. Mostly she seems offended to see us around and she was energetic when being moved.
We've been referring to her as Lazarus, but we are very happy that she has surprised us by not only not being dead when she arrived, but also continuing to show promising recovery.
From the Inuit Art Foundation
Follow the link and share your favorite of the 30 prints here and why you liked it! There are so many great ones!
The one above, Festive Owl, is my favorite. It is still bold, yet more subdued with calmer colors than most others. It's got a ton of intricate texture, and the color gradient reminds me of one of my favorite fish, the Rainbow Trout.
I went out to call the dog back in and saw this superb owl hanging out in the cedar on the other side of our fence.
