this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Superbowl

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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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From Kaleena Smith

I just returned last week from my first ever birding trip outside of the United States. I thought I would share some of the pics from our trip. We went to Costa Rica with a birding tour and also went a couple of days early on our own to spend some time at Paraiso Quetzal. I will share in two parts because I have so many photos to go through, and l saw 197 lifers that I photographed while there (more that I missed shots of).

If anybody has questions about planning a trip there, or where we saw a specific bird, please let me know. We really only saw a small part of Costa Rica, mainly the Talamanca Highlands and Rancho Naturalista with some field trips such as to Centro Mano, El Copal and Irazu Volcano and others as well as San Jose.

It's amazing how many birds we saw in that relatively small area.

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[–] anon6789 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yellow Headed Caracara, ~~aka Mexican Eagle~~ (but actually a falcon)

Though not an owl, I got to see a few of ~~these~~ the Crested Caracaras at the Carolina Raptor Center and they're another very cool bird of prey. It eats carrion in addition to hunting and stealing from other raptors.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

that looks to be a yellow-headed caracara, and the caracara that is also called mexican eagle is the crested caracara

woah i just looked at where the Carolina Raptor Center is located and now i have to ask, how did it get there? the yellow-headed caracara (according to wikipedia) doesn't live anywhere outside of south america, so that boy must've been pretty lost (or wikipedia is wrong)

[–] anon6789 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Thank you, you are absolutely right. I went back to the source and it was an error on my part, they had it correct.

It was the Crested variety that I saw.

The CRC in North Carolina is an amazing place with a bunch of surprise animals. Looking through my pics to find the Caracara, I actually saw this was the first time I ran into a Spectacled Owl as well.

The Chaco Owl was the one I remember most because that's the rarest owl I've seen in person. That's from the area around Brazil/Argentina.

It looks like they have a zoo license, and that probably let them trade some unreleasable animals to other zoos for some exotic to us species.

Very cool place, I highly recommend it!

Again, appreciate the correction, I'm no expert, but I want to be as factual as possible!

[–] anon6789 8 points 2 days ago

Tropical Screech

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Holy moly, that's striking! What amazing markings.

Anon, this one should definitely go into next year's contest.

[–] anon6789 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Crested will be back again. It did very well, though not enough to get past the Snowy. It was funny as it was a first round knockout the previous year. There's always surprises to be had in the OoTY!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Oh! I don't remember seeing it before; maybe this is just a particularly striking picture.

[–] anon6789 2 points 1 day ago

I'll keep looking for more. The Crested and Spectacled both had a burst of popularity and live in the same area, so I've been getting some decent pics of both.

[–] homesweethomeMrL 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

OoTY 2025: Crested v Speccy

ಠᴗಠ

[–] anon6789 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The White Faced Scops people are going to have something to say about that!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm trying to figure out my WFS propaganda strategy for the coming year, to ensure a win this time.

[–] anon6789 2 points 1 day ago

It shouldn't take much, that owl sells itself! Such a great bird!

[–] homesweethomeMrL 2 points 1 day ago

RrrrrrICO . . . Screechie