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From Charles Boas

Sunrise at'The Creek Of Onions' Barred Owl out and about at sunrise today. Thankfully he wasn't sitting on the fence, and in a more natural spot. After some editing he is very visible in the frame, in real life he was invisible.

With my camera I could see him, but with my eyes I saw nothing. He wasn't far away, I only spotted him because he flew in front of me, and landed on the branch. His camouflage is very impressive, I knew where to look, and knew he was there, but I couldn't see him without the camera... he's like a ghost.

From Nelli Photography

Last weekend's beautiful find was a Northern Saw- Whet Owl. They look cute and cuddly, and whenever I see one, I fight the urge to hold it in my hands , but don't let their looks fool you. They are fierce fighters and skillful hunters. Look what my little friend has in his claws!

From Kuwait Environmental Eye

Good morning from Kuwait!

Photography of the Pharaoh Eagle Owl with Kuwait City

The largest owl in the Middle East lives in the north and west of Kuwait, specifically between the rocky highlands of Jal Al-Zour in Barr Kazma and the crevices of Al-Shaqaya

It is called the Pharaoh Eagle Owl because it is clear that this is due to its large size, which is about the size of eagles and vultures.

I took stills from what looks to be clips of drone footage and put them in the comments.

From Ali Xaidi

This owl landed within 2 meters while hunting and never cared about me being there whatsoever. Insane!

From Oliver Cadman

A Short-Eared Owl with a long piece of grass stuck... :P

From Nick Snape

Northern White-faced Owl, Gambia

We recently had a feature on why are many Barn Owls white, and the story mentioned some are much more red/brown, so I found this one to share.

From Jaguar Rescue Center

Whooo is this?

Last week, this little barn owl needed our help. He was found in the middle of a road in Limón, and the people who found him reported that he was hopping around but struggling to fly.

Thanks to our X-ray machine, our vets discovered a fracture in his right shoulder. They bandaged the wing to prevent further damage and to aid recovery. In addition to his injured wing, he was also skinny and dehydrated, so we provided him with fluids, and he has been eating through a feeding tube.

He is currently in quarantine at our hospital, where he will stay until he regains full mobility in his wing. Afterward, he'll move to our rehabilitation area, where we'll monitor how well he can fly.

We will keep you updated on his rehabilitation progress. In the meantime, remember that you can make an impact on the rehabilitation of animals like this barn owl by donating.

From Keith Fitzpatrick

December 17, 2024 - This Great Horned Owl decided to stick around for a second day here in Labrador City, NL Canada. This time it was sitting on a stump in the wind and moderate snowfall.

From World Bird Sanctuary

The resilience of raptors is truly remarkable. In late November, we received 2 birds who had been struck by vehicles and then stuck in the grills within a few days of each other. Remarkably, neither had sustained any fractures, despite being hit by objects over 2,000x their weight and moving at over 60 mph.

Eastern Screech Owl 24-690 had gotten their head stuck in the grill. They were in shock and hypothermic on admit, but after a few hours of heat and oxygen support, they had stabilized and were much more alert. They were exhibiting neurological symptoms consistent with a head injury and had some small abrasions to their feet and left wing. 690 recovered quickly and was released after just 15 days of care!

Barred Owl 24-696 had gone all the way through the grill and was in there for ~12 hours before the finders realized he was still alive and contacted us for help. 696 had a dislocation in his wrist, scattered bruising, some damage to both eyes, and neurological symptoms consistent with head trauma. The wrist was able to be popped back into place and over the next 2 weeks, the swelling and bruising over it slowly disappeared. 696s wrist remained stable as he exercised and he was successfully released after only 26 days of care!

How they were found

From Keith Fitzpatrick

Dec 16th 2024 - A Great Horned Owl decided to make an appearance here in Labrador City, NL Canada. Not a normal visitor to Labrador especially at this time of the year. Also let me get relatively close as these were taken on a 90d with the canon 50-200mm lens.

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!