Superbowl

From The Raptor Center

This week our hospital has been tasked with the care for two beautifully elusive owls, a snowy owl and a great gray owl. These patients here inspired a solstice haik-hoo:

Hoo will delight We mourn the loss of the sun Silent flight rejoice

The Winter Solstice graces us with its quiet majesty, much like the silent flight of our nocturnal hunters. We wonder if owls welcome the winter solstice for the same reason many of us are happy to see it come and go.

In the spirit of gratitude and celebration, we find ourselves reflecting on the profound light that emanates from our incredible community of supporters as we look to brighter days ahead. Your community commitment to our cause is unwavering, especially during challenging times for our feathery friends, and why we know 50 years of saving raptors was only the beginning. With your support beneath our wings, we are elevating what it means to be a beacon of hope for the raptors in need and uncovering what the future for raptor medicine and rehabilitation has in store.

We are so happy to be sharing this journey with you. Together, let's continue to nurture and protect our majestic raptors and the world we share.

Warmest wishes on this Winter Solstice, The TRC Flock.

From The Raptor Center

As we tally up the final patient statistics of our record breaking 50th year census, we have had a few other unique trends unfold.

In many ways, owls have been the hot topic of our hospital in 2024. For starters, we have seen a number of less common owl patients, including a Northern hawk owl (15th ever), and a barn owl (4th ever). Winter brings the elusive northern owl species south in search of food, and we have already admitted multiple great gray owls and five snowy owls in the past month alone with a long winter ahead.

"Hoo" else has stopped in?

While Northern saw-what owls are a common patient around here, this summer we responded to a damaged nest with an above-average sized brood of seven young saw-whets (average clutch size is 5-6). Six of the seven were successfully released back into the wild!

Baby raptor season in Minnesota kicked off about a month earlier than anticipated as a result of great horned owls nesting and laying eggs earlier than usual. Our first baby patients of the year took a tumble out of their nest and were able to be placed back in a new, reinforced nest within 24 hours.

Our education team gained two new permanent feathered residences this year as well. With the public's help naming them, we welcomed great horned owls Odin and Timber to our team of raptor ambassadors.

This past fall, net entanglements were on the rise. With the exception of two hawks, great horned owls and barred owls were mainly affected due to being nocturnal hunters, making the netting harder to see at night.

And lastly, the Northern hawk owl mentioned above was our 1,000th patient of the year and a barred owl was our 1,059th patient admitted which officially made this our busiest year on record.

We are excited to see what our 51st calendar year of operation has in store for us!

Woot! ^^
https://jramseyillustration.net/

EDIT:
TBC, I've no personal association with "J. Ramsey," myself. They're moreso one of the many online artists I discovered and enjoy, bless their creative souls & talent. <3

From Nature's Edge

We're currently caring for a rare visitor-a flammulated owl!

These tiny owls are incredibly unique and are among North America's smallest, weighing only around 50-65 grams (our little one is 62 grams). Flammulated owls are known for their dark eyes and flame-like feather patterns, which help them blend into the forests of the western U.S. and Mexico.

Typically, flammulated owls feed on insects like moths and beetles, making them excellent insect controllers in their natural habítats. They're also nocturnal and highly migratory, but it's rare to see one this far east, so we suspect it may have been thrown off course during migration. This little one came in dehydrated with possible head trauma, so we are providing fluids, pain management, and round-the-clock monitoring.

We're excited to help this special owl recover and, hopefully, return it to the wild soon! Your support makes a huge difference in allowing us to care for unique wildlife patients like this one. Stay tuned for updates, and thank you for following her journey!

Found a pair of videos from an eagle nest cam. Their local GHO is not a fan of having their type in the neighborhood and expresses its concerns in the way owls do.

To be fair, the eagles likely return the favor during the daylight.

Video 1

Video 2

From Victoria Gadek

Some owls we spotted this week: Spectacled Owl (2 adults, one juvenile), 2 Black and White Owls, & the Barn Owl 🦉

From Tammy Mellert

Snowy and the almost full moon Lake County, OH 12-13-24.

From Juneau Empire

This little owl was quite frequently detected in the trees at the edge of the wetlands this fall. And one appeared on the doorstep of a friend’s house, just sitting in the snow, which she photographed. I took that as a sign that it was time to write about them.

Pygmy owls (genus Glaucidium, with about 29 species) live all around the world in a variety of habitats. Some of them are nocturnal, like many other owls, and have asymmetrical ear openings on either side of the head, the better to hear their prey. But others are day-active, with symmetrical ear openings. Most of them live in forested and other wooded habitats, but some occupy more open areas.

Our species is known as the northern pygmy owl (G. gnoma) and it is one of the diurnal species. This species is a collection of subspecies that have some differing features; the southern subspecies are sometimes categorized as a separate species, the mountain pygmy owl. As in other pygmy owls, on the back of its head there are two dark feathery ovals, often circled by a few white feathers, that resemble eyes; these false eyespots are thought to deter predators (chiefly other birds) or small birds that might mob the owl.

The northern pygmy owl ranges from the Yukon into Central America, occupying various forested habitats, primarily in mountainous areas. All pygmy owls are cavity-nesters, commonly using old woodpecker holes or occasionally trees with heart rot and — in open regions — sometimes holes in sand banks or termite mounds. Males are thought to carve out their territories and then females begin to select nest sites. Females are larger than males and usually produce clutches of five or six eggs. Cavity nests may be depredated by weasels, probably squirrels, and other birds.

During the nesting season, females stay in the nest for about seven weeks, doing all the incubation and brooding of young chicks. She emerges only to defecate or spit up pellets of undigested prey parts or receive food from the male, who does all the hunting during that time. Prey received from the male is torn up by the female and fed to the little chicks. As the chicks grow, she begins to hunt too.

Chicks stay in the nest almost four weeks, covered at first by fluffy white down that is replaced by darker downy plumage and then by juvenile plumage. Hatching is often spread over two or three days, so some chicks are a bit larger than their siblings. How and if the nest is kept clean seems to vary. Fledgling juveniles stay together for a few weeks and are fed by both parents, but the relative roles of dad and mom are reported to vary among families. Fledglings begin to hunt for themselves when they have been out of the nest for a week or two.

The diet consists chiefly of small vertebrates in northern populations, but also includes lots of large insects such as moths. Pygmy owls are sit-and-wait predators, lurking in the trees and perhaps moving from perch to perch until they spot a likely victim. Prey is captured chiefly on the ground or in the understory. Some very active hunters have captured over a dozen small birds and mammals in a day. In some areas, small snakes and lizards are also captured.

As with most cavity-nesters, nesting success is usually good: better than 80% of nests produce chicks, sometimes over 90%. These birds seem to be short-lived, living only a few years, but the data are very skimpy; a few adults are known to have lived over four years.

From Lisa M Jones

Northern Hawk Owl Alberta, Canada I love the juxtaposition of the fierce intensity of the Northern Hawk Ow's gaze against the soft, pastel, candy-coloured sky. also love when the stars align and gift me the opportunity to capture the two together.

From Eric D Olick

There was some crazy orange sodium-like light around this red screech owl last night, who has been putting on quite a show after dark.

From Baba-Vulic Alekaandar

Talons and eyes of Snowy Owl mean all business!! Snowy owls, with their sharp talons and keen eyesight, are known for their ability to hunt efficiently and decisively.

Massachusetts December 2024

Notes:

• Doesn't look like this has been posted here before.
• Yes, and I shamelessly stole this from the evil empire, but even so it appeared as an Imgur link, not an R-upload.
• Somewhat NSFW clip of the Fargo scene in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ8DsN1J4vI
• TBC, I'm just joking about the snowy being from Fargo.

From MN Owl Tours

Saw Whet. Twin Cities

From Wild Care Oklahoma

Great horned owl patient 24-8120 arrived last month from northwest Oklahoma. Pictured wearing a body wrap, this patient arrived with a mildly displaced humerus fracture, underweight, and dehydrated. The body wrap helps hold the wing in place giving it time to heal correctly. The raggedy pieces of tape on the wrap are actually distractions intentionally placed on the wrap. Rather than the owl tugging the wrap itself, it can tug on those tabs without disturbing the wrap itself. Pretty ingenious!

From Jacob Shie

Just wow, what an amazing bird, so honored to photograph this majestic Snowy Owl. Indian Lake, 11-28-24

From Fritton Owl Sanctuary

This is Chuckles, our Northern Whitefaced Scops Owl. He arrived at the sanctuary 2 years ago, when he was just 12 weeks old. Now, he is one of the most popular mainstays of all our owls (and still does the quiet chuckle hoot of which he was named after!)

From Coeli Ingold

I took this picture yesterday, under extreme wind gusts and completely dark grey skies with a wind chill of -1, and at the very end of the 180-600's range. It's my first of season Snowy.

No one let me in to any warm places to take it, lol.

Snowy Owl

Lake County...OH...12-12-2024

From Matt Sorum

New Northern Saw-Whet Owl for me this year. Another special find yesterday.

I was navigating through some tightly grown trees, so my attention wasn't really on expecting to see an Owl. When I got to the opening, I turned my head left, and this little one was staring right at me, about 3 feet from my eyeballs.

I think my eyes were just as big, as it was so unexpected. :)

From Deby Dixon

I've had the rare opportunity to spend some time with a Pygmy owl lately, inhospitable habitat. A few days ago, right after I arrived, a small bird flew through the air and landed in a tree near me on the road. These owls are so tiny, one has to look hard through the branches to find them at times. spotted the owl and was able to take a few shots before it took off, heading right towards me! did not know that the pygmy had a vole in its clutches. The owl flew low over the road and could feel the air pressure of the wings as it flew within 18" of my leg. That was the beginning of my new lessons of learning some of the behaviors of these owls. This owl has a routine and a healthy appetite. It caught 5 voles during the course of the day and stashed them in a tree cavity.

I love this shot because it is so dramatic with the owl coming head on. Technically, it isn't perfect but I've seen very few great flight shots with the Pygmy owl.

I’ve been getting trolled most the year by a GHO- they’d set up above my window and hoot until I went outside to try and get a picture.

Eventually set up a webcam… jerk used it for a perch (and flew in and off from behind… all it saw were its talons…)

Whelp. It’s grainy. But I finally got ‘em.

(Very) Early Christmas Day. There was at least four others calling out, maybe 5-6, some were distant, so they were too bothered to hide from me.

From Mike Lentz

I'm not sure what I like better... the lichen coated perch or the difficult to find Boreal Owl. Thoughts?

The Nemadji State Forest is a hidden gem for so many species and it's not the easiest to navigate, but it's well worth exploring... if that's your thing. :)

I actually was told about this location many years ago by a "birder" who said I need to go to the "Nickerson Bog" for Warblers. Well that turned out to be golden!

From Baba-Vulic Aleksandar

No, I'm not flirting with you!! But thank you for that amazing expression of yours.. I don't think I've seen it before. One big plus for the eyes, but ear tufts are just bonus 😍🤣 I think I'm in LOVE...AGAIN!!! New England December 2024

From Hickory Record

Annabell Whelan woke up Tuesday and frantically checked on her holiday overnight guest — Nowl the snowy owl, who she rescued from the grille of a car the prior day.

Whelan was out with her boyfriend's family Monday in Duluth, Minnesota, when she saw the owl "just hanging out there, literally" after car and bird collided, she told The Associated Press.

The car's owner already called for help, but the animal rescue organization that the bird needed was closed — so Whelan stepped in, not for the first time that day.

Earlier Monday, Whelan found an injured great gray owl on the ground further north in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Experts at Wildwoods, a Duluth-based wildlife rehabilitation center, told her how to safely catch the bird.

"I definitely thought that I had had my fix of owls with the first one," said Whelan, 22, a Lake Superior Zoo guest experience manager who graduated earlier this year with a biology and environmental science degree.

"I could tell he was having a hard time with one of his eyes," she said. "I kind of took my time and just sat there with him and talked quietly and was just kind of trying to coax him to trust me a little bit."

Whelan scooped up the owl in a blanket, transferred him to a dog crate in the car and dropped the great gray owl off at Wildwoods. He was sent along with another animal to the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center in St. Paul.

The snowy owl she found hours later was in a much scarier situation, she said.

"It was obviously a lot more trauma," she said.

Since Wildwoods already closed for the night, Whelan wrapped Nowl in a blanket and crated her overnight in a dark, quiet room in her home — keeping her and her cousin's curious cats and dog at bay. She named her Nowl, a play on noel.

"I tried to prepare myself in case I woke up in the morning and she didn't make it through the night," Whelan said. She said she cried happy tears when she saw Nowl moving and awake, and brought her to Wildwoods that morning.

Nowl "is quite beaten up," Wildwoods posted Tuesday on Facebook after examining the bird. "We applied a wing wrap, gave her meds, and coordinated with The Raptor Center to get her down to them."

The rescue organization said people should slow down, stay alert and call for help when they see an injured animal. The animals are terrified of people and should be quickly moved to a quiet, safe space where they can be left alone until professionals can step in, the rescue said.