Superbowl

From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center

Nose Job? This Eastern Screech Owl came to our Rehab Center with some blood above its cere. The cere is a waxy fleshy covering above a bird's beak just below the eyes, where the nostrils (nares) are located. The owl is patiently sitting while our staff cleans the cere.

From Jennil Modar

Majestic and sharp-eyed, this hawk owl embodies the art of precision as it dives into the dance of the midday hunt. Nature's silent hunter at its finest.

Not many photos of these guys outside of winter. I really like them!

From Bamby Randhawa

Rock Eagle Owl - Hooting brings out the white feathers on the throat.

Location: Bhigwan grasslands

State: Maharashtra, India

Date: 7 June 2025

Also called the Indian or Bengal Eagle Owl, some consider this a subspecies of the Eurasian Eagle Owl. I calling it stunning!

From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center

Pure bliss (or a desperate attempt to look like a tree). A tiny Eastern Screech Owl in our Rehab Clinic.

I'm sure it's more the attempt to pretend it's anywhere else, but it does give the appearance of extreme cuteness. It's important to learn about animals and how they react to stress so we can be good friends to them and not be unwittingly terrorizing them the whole time.

The wild ones almost always act like we're the most annoying things ever, but I guess that's the price of their free medical care! 😉

From Raven Ridge Wildlife Center

We are profoundly inspired by the selfless actions of individuals who step up to help animals in need. Recently, on May 6th, we received a call from Jim, who witnessed a great horned owl stranded in the middle of a busy road. It was heartbreaking to see cars speeding by while the owl remained helpless and endangered. Alarmed by this alarming scene, Jim immediately turned his car around and activated his hazard lights to offer assistance. Tragically, another vehicle maneuvered around him and carelessly drove over the owl, leaving Jim horrified at the thought of this magnificent creature being harmed.

Driven by compassion and quick thinking, Jim reached for a towel in his car. Recognizing the urgency of the situation and knowing there was no safe way to contain the owl, he gently placed it in his trunk, creating a dark and quiet refuge that ensured the safety of both the owl and himself. The very next morning, he made his way to our facility, with the owl peacefully secured in his trunk.

We are overjoyed to share the remarkable release of this owl, which would have certainly faced a grim fate without Jim and his wife's decisive action. It was a privilege to have them both present for the release back home, far from the dangers of the road. Their extraordinary kindness not only gave this beautiful owl a second chance at life but also serves as a powerful reminder of how a single act of compassion can make a world of difference.

From Keith Bannister

Long eared owl chick, taken about three weeks ago, fully fledged now and hunting for themselves, in their own territory.

From John Clayton

Meet the Karthala Scops Owl !

The Karthala scops owl (Otus pauliani), also known as Grand Comoro scops owl or Comoro scops owl, is a small, scops owl endemic to the island of Grande Comore in the Comoro Islands.

The Karthala scops owl lacks ear tufts and come in two colour forms, a light morph and a dark morph. The light morph is dark greyish brown on the upperparts with fine barring and pale spots along the scapulars. The underparts are reddish buff with a dense pattern of fine barring on the flight feathers and tail. The dark morph is overall dark chocolate brown but no specimen of a dark morph individual has been taken. It measures approximately 20 cm (7.9 in) in length and the wingspan is 45 cm (18 in).

A whistled "toot" which is given repeatedly with one second intervals.

Endemic to the island of Grande Comore, the Karthala scops owl is found only on Mount Karthala, an active volcano. Here it inhabits the montane forest, some secondary growth and the tree heath above the forest.

Nocturnal and very territorial, the Karthala scops owl will approach an imitation of its call, otherwise almost unknown. It has relatively weak talons so probably feeds on insects and other invertebrates. It is though to nest in tree cavities.

It has an estimated population of 2,000. It is classified as endangered due to it being restricted to such a small area, which is being rapidly deforested.

The main part is a video (ca. 5 min)

Jürgen Schneider 07/30/2025July 30, 2025 Across Germany, volunteers are going on patrol to protect owls and their disappearing habitats. Grazing areas often have to make way for new building projects.

In the orchard meadows nestled between Bonn and Cologne, conservation volunteers Andrea Caviezel and Jonas Bode are on summer patrol—checking nesting boxes for little owls, one of the country’s most vulnerable owl species. The carefully placed nesting boxes offer a lifeline to the elusive birds. With food availability and habitat quality playing a major role, successful broods—like the four healthy chicks found during one inspection—signal hope. The chicks are fitted with identification rings so they can be tracked by conservationists. These young owls will soon learn to hunt mice and beetles from low perches, provided the grass remains short and the environment intact.

🌾 Shrinking Habitats, Expanding Efforts

But habitat loss is a key problem for the owls. Prime owl territory is rapidly vanishing. Orchard meadows, once rich habitats, are being cleared for development or left ungrazed—diminishing ideal nesting grounds. Yet, there's progress too: webcams now monitor the nests of Eurasian eagle owls, a species rescued from the brink of extinction in the 1960s. Today, over 850 breeding pairs thrive across Germany thanks to groups like the Society for the Conservation of Owls (EGE). With 75 nesting boxes in the Bonn-Cologne area and half already occupied, long-term conservation efforts are clearly bearing fruit.

🏥 Second Chances Through Rescue and Rehabilitation

But not all owls make it unaided. For orphaned or injured birds, rescuer Dirk Sindhu and his shelter provide crucial care. Each summer, up to 15 birds arrive in need—some pulled from rivers, others found weak and stranded. Using surrogate parent birds, including eagle owls and buzzards, Sindhu ensures chicks are reared with proper instinctual guidance. The highlight comes when a rehabilitated bird—like today’s exhausted buzzard—is released back into the wild. It’s proof that with compassion, tradition, and teamwork, even the most delicate wildlife can take flight again.

This video summary was created by AI from the original DW script. It was edited by a journalist before publication.

From Stan Halen

Now you see me... Now you don't. The camouflage of owls, in this case a western screech owl, is incredible. I'm sure we walked by this lovely lady (90% sure?) more than once until we got a side view. May 2025

From Pete Hanna / Jesse Winston

Nice shot of her back showing lovely markings.

From Savannah Rose

Ups and downs. Great grey owl chicks leave the nest before they can fly, so as a result they have an interesting relationship with gravity. This time, the poor thing plummeted to the forest floor.

From Christopher Spooner

I am very fortunate indeed, to have a long-lasting great rapport with this female Rufous Owl.

For over three years she has tolerated me being very close, and at times has flown down to perch near to where I am standing - which she did again last night - and once landed down at my feet where she picked up something (dropped food, perhaps?) before flying back up into the tree.

Such a special feeling when wildlife is so accepting of me on an ongoing basis!

A couple of weeks ago when I saw her for the first time in quite a few months, she appeared a little nervous. I spoke to her, and she immediately looked my way and calmed down - did she recognise my voice from last year's encounters?

Here are some shots from last night after she had fed the chick and flown down to a bare branch near to where I was.

I had not seen her land and perch, but she called a few times which alerted me to where she was, and then she quietened down when I went to her and spoke to her. A wonderful 10 minute encounter before she flew off to hunt.

(Unfortunately I do not have anon6789’s knack for titles.)

Eurasian pygmy owl (Glaucidium passerinum)

Picture by Philippe Vigneron. February 2024, in this forest.

This picture was nominated in a bird picture contest last year. I found it here with the other pictures, followed by this short text:

After several days spent looking for a fox, wildcat or stoat in Champfromier forest, my friend Jean-Luc and I decide, for lack of snow, to go explore higher up in the forest of this bit of Jura. No sooner have we arrived that a wing movement catches my eye. I recognise the [Eurasian] pigmy owl right away. It lands on top of the foliage just above my head. On the branch of a beech tree, it undertakes a methodical grooming session. The view angle not being to its advantage, I move away without letting the tiny ball of feathers out of my sight. More than a half hour of enraptured observation before it disappears as stealthily as it had arrived.

The translation is by me and probably filled with mistakes, sorry!

From Shrirang Mukta Kulkarni

Bright light outside, near darkness under the canopy - the kind of conditions that test both your patience and your gear. But then, a reward: a stunning pair of Crested Owls, calm and watchful in the gloom. Guápiles magic.

From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center

Hey! I'm not a squishy toy. I'm just a little Eastern Screen Owl trying to get some shut eye.

From Owl Rescue Centre

Little guy was rescued on the side of the highway after bumping off someone's car windscreen. He's still young, tough and scruffy, but 100% ok to go back home. Our Marsh owl population has declined drastically over the last decade, so everyone of them that we get to save and rewild is pretty special. 😉

Here's a beautiful adult Marsh Owl for reference.

It's in the same genus (Asio) with the Short Eared Owl, which I think it most resembles, and the Long Eared Owl and a few others.

From Rob Clay

Sooty Owl (Greater), a stunning apex predator of coastal eastern Australia. Those talons!

The environmental center will be among the first in the country to care for a Northern hawk owlet in a conservation education environment, providing a rare opportunity for the whole community.

From PSU.edu

A tiny owl with a big mission has landed at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center. Pip, a Northern hawk owl chick, is helping the center break new ground as one of the first in the country to raise this rare species in a conservation education environment.

The arrival marks a new chapter not only for Shaver’s Creek, which is a service of Penn State Outreach, but for the entire community that will learn and grow alongside Pip.

Pip is one of a brood of northern hawk owls hatched this spring as part of a first-of-its-kind conservation education effort in Washington state. Pip recently traveled across the country to join the Klingsberg Aviary at Shaver’s Creek.

Shaver’s Creek Wildlife Program Director Paige Sutherland said Pip is a fitting name for this owlet who will bring many new experiences to the environmental center.

“Pipping is the first stage of hatching out of an egg, and this little one is the first of this species bred for conservation education in the U.S., the first time the center has had this species, the first time we've acquired a bird bred for education and the first time we've raised a chick from this young of an age,” Sutherland said. “Pip will help hatch a new stage of our program’s development and help us grow to new heights. As the bird grows and develops, so will our program.”

Northern hawk owls are unique because they look like owls, but act like hawks, said Klingsberg Aviary Coordinator Joe Whitehead. While Pip is currently small with fluffy downy feathers, Northern hawk owls grow to have a distinct owl look with an oval body, yellow eyes and round face. Whereas most owls are nocturnal and hunt at night, Northern hawk owls are typically active during the day, often seen perched on trees hunting like hawks.

The species is native to the boreal forests of North America from Alaska to Canada and parts of the Northern continuous United States but is seldom seen by birders in the area.

The opportunity to acquire this rare owl is a testament to the innovative work that Sutherland and her team have done with raptor training based on positive reinforcement that provides the birds with empowerment, flexibility and choice.

This approach has proven to be successful with the owls they have worked with over the years, providing an example to other nature centers that work with owls.

“One of the big gaps in knowledge is that a lot of the work has been historically focused on hawks,” Whitehead said "Animal training has come a long way but there is still a lot to learn, especially with owls. But we have done well with our owls. They have done well in our system at our facility."

Now, with a human-imprinted owl raised in a conservation education environment from infancy, Whitehead said he believes it will be beneficial to compare the work done with Pip to the other owls who arrived at the center with different backgrounds.

“As far as the field is concerned, this puts us in a really interesting place to research in the future, because now we have this hawk owl that is a very purposely raised as an imprint and a species that our industry has the least amount of knowledge on,” Whitehead said. “We have this spectrum of all the ways you can work with an owl. It puts us in a position to continue to help other centers because we can compare, share and strengthen each bird’s message.”

It's the center’s strong reputation in the conservation education that led Joel Knutson to entrust Shaver’s Creek with one of the six Northern hawk owl chicks that hatched in his care this year.

“We had heard about the facility's great reputation, and we had a personal recommendation from a mutual connection who said they felt it would be a great fit. Then we saw some videos of one of the birds that Joe was working with, and it was very apparent that he really knew what he was doing,” Knutson said. “That spoke a lot to the level of care and precision that would be involved with the husbandry of this bird.”

From Thomas Hartwig

The first photo in which the stone owl looks "friendly" at the roof of our stable (Warendorf, 26. July).

Das erste Foto, bei dem der Steinkauz im Dach unseres Pferdestalls mal "freundlich" dreinschaut (Warendorf, 26. Juli).

From Owl Research Institute

At just over 3 weeks old, Long-eared Owl chicks leave the nest-even though they can't fly yet! Their flight feathers are still growing, so they spend their days hiding in the branches, camouflaged and quiet... unless danger comes close.

To scare off predators, these little owlets hiss, bill- clack, spread their wings, and even rock back and forth to look bigger and more threatening. Meanwhile, their parents swoop in, barking and faking injuries (yes, really!) to distract and draw predators away from their young.

Nature is wild-and brilliant.

From Gid Ferrer

The Giant Scops Owl, Lesser Eagle Owl, Mindanao Eagle Owl or Mindanao Owl, is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the Philippines found on the islands of Mindanao, Dinagat Islands, Siargao and was only discovered in Samar in 2010.

Thank you for this wonderful pose and opportunity to photograph you. We all appreciate you

Fujifilm XH2 O XF 150-600mm

From Savannah Rose

Rare view right down the gopher hole!

Looks like a young Great Grey.

From Amel Nour

Camouflage of the Eastern Screech Owl

I never would have found this guy in a million years! 😒

From Jeremy Johnson

This Burrowing Owl sure showed off her dance moves for me and was getting down!

In all reality she was sizing me up and protecting the babies in the burrows behind her. Burrowing Owls don't just live in burrows-they reuse ones dug by prairie dogs or ground squirrels. She even decorated the entrance to her burrow with Coyote poop to lure insects for an easy dinner. Clever and a little gross... but genius.

From MN Owl Tours

Cute and grimacing all at the same time.

Northern Saw Whet Owl