From Patricia Thomas
Short-Eared owls in flight exhibiting a courtship behavior of clapping their wings. I think she was charmed.
this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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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.
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Heyyyy Baby - look what I can do!
Found a good video showing the mating flight, and you can hear the clapping sound. It is quite a different sound than I was expecting, more of a click/pop than a clap/thwump.
The video also shows a grown man imitating it in front of some gorgeous scenery.
That was highly entertaining. I was thoroughly enteretained by the owl, owl noises, and the guy mimicking them. I was a little distressed at the idea of dragging a rope to find the nests. And then the video production logo at the end was 100% unexpected and worth the whole thing.
Oh wow, I was eating lunch and missed the rope dragging! I'd never heard of it, but it's such a smart idea! I give a short paper describing the technique!
They put a length of lightweight rope between a pair of 4 wheelers and slowly go across the area to search. The rope is light, so it rides higher up in the grass, and the nest is down in a depression, so that combo keeps the eggs from being hurt.
As soon as an owl gets flushed, they stop, and then they can follow the rope line to find the nest and flag it for study!
It lets them search huge areas in much less time with little chance of hurting anything. Genius!