They look so accepting of humans handling them.
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
99 points (100.0% liked)
Superbowl
4773 readers
168 users here now
For owls that are superb.
Also visit our twinned community for wholesome content:
https://lemmy.world/c/wholesome@reddthat.com
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.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
It feels more like compliance. They will hiss and click and puff up, but as soon as they're grabbed, they're usually pretty calm once they see they're not scaring you off.
Birds seem to really avoid fighting whenever possible. Losing the wrong feathers, breaking a bone, or getting a bad cut can all cost them their ability to fly, so if being menacing doesn't work, escape is usually the next best option if they aren't protecting their nest. If the opportunity isn't there to get away, they just seem to freeze up like this.
They're not enjoying it, but they seem to understand they aren't being actively hurt, so it's best to just wait it out.
Random facts incoming.
It is named Wachshaut in german because it looks... waxy. It describes the featherless part at the base of the upper part of the beak and:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beak#Cere
The cere color of young Eurasian scops-owls has an ultraviolet (UV) component, with a UV peak that correlates to the bird's mass. A chick with a lower body mass has a UV peak at a higher wavelength than a chick with a higher body mass does. Studies have shown that parent owls preferentially feed chicks with ceres that show higher wavelength UV peaks, that is, lighter-weight chicks.[57]
Huh, built-in scales. :)
Btw: Beaks!
You had me excited to read about this all day, but I was traveling and couldn't get to it until now.
I read the study paper and for the most part there wasn't too much more to it than what you said, but then the conclusion has me a little confused.
The fact that parents responded to a manipulation of UV reflectance of their offspring can not be due to UV coloration, because owls probably do not have a VS or UVS cone (Bowmaker & Martin 1978) and, at night, there probably is not enough light for colour vision. It is possible that the measured effect was due to a change in perceived brightness mediated by scotopic (rod) vision. Compared to diurnal species, owls have very few cones in their rod- dominated retina (Hart 2001). Owls, like some bats (e.g. Winter et al. 2003), may have a UV- transmitting lens and cornea and so the secondary (beta) peak of the pigment in their rods would capture UV light contributing to achromatic vision at low light levels. It is also possible that, even at low light levels, photopic discrimination was involved, but again the effect of UV would be via the stimulation of the beta peak of pigments in the cones. It has been reported that owls have cones containing oil droplets that are either colourless or only a pale yellow (Walls 1942), which presumably transmit UV light.
So if it's not a coloration difference, does that mean they are just seeing a brighter type of grey (greater amplitude) or are they seeing something else?
I'd like to learn more about their UV seeing abilities, but I feel in over my head. I feel this paper is pretty jargon heavy.
Very interesting stuff though!
Studies have shown that parent owls preferentially feed chicks with ceres that show higher wavelength UV peaks, that is, lighter-weight chicks.
That is fascinating. Owls for the win again!
Oh no his nose!
I'm sure they'll patch it up, good as new!
Even the owls are getting plastic surgery these days huh...
I hope I'm not contributing to setting unrealistic beauty expectations for them! 😮