This young eastern screech owl is FEISTY, and that is just the way we like our raptor patients.
When birds of all stages of life, but especially young ones, come into our care, we hope to see a little fight in them. As you can see in this video, the young eastern screech owl is not afraid to defend itself from the humans that are handling them with great care. This little one is wearing a wrap that helps keep the bird's wings restrained, and limits the bird's ability to move so we can get an accurate weight.
Because we take all the proper precautions while caring for young birds, we reduce the risk of having them human imprinted or becoming socialized and comfortable with humans. If imprinting or socializing were to occur, they would no longer be able to survive in the wild without having inappropriate behavior toward people, which is unsafe for both them and us.
When a patient in our care makes it clear that they would prefer not having to spend time with us, it is an encouraging sign in their journey to being released back into the wild.
Fun video at the link above if you are not Facebook averse ...
