Superbowl

that's fascinating! do they ever have problems with stuff getting... inside of there? i couldn't imagine having something stuck literally behind my eyeball 😅

That seems really vulnerable. Also, sneech owl.

Between the eyes and the ears, it's darned tough to sneak up on an owl!

Beak trimming is called "coping."

Beaks are made of keratin like our hair and nails. Captive birds will typically/hopefully have much better diets than wild birds, so this increases Keratin production since they're so full of nutrients.

The process looks a lot like trimming cat or dog nails. It just gets a reshaping to make sure everything can stay working properly.

GHO with overgrown beak

Short Video

Right to the trimming

Text for those who'd rather read.

I believe the bill keeps growing. I don't know if all birds are like this but I know it's an issue for captive parrots. Luckily I've never had to trim any of my parrots because I make sure to give them plenty of things to chew on. I'd imagine that owls naturally keep their bills shorn with diet (bones) and foraging.

Here's some CT images of a Long Eared Owl's skull. The eyes take up about as much space as the brain. I've always heard the comparison that if we had owl eyes, they would each be about the size of our fists.

This diagram shows the parts of the brain and the eyes. Barn owl is on the left, right is a macaw.

Yessssss! Like the Happy Cow device, but bird size!

It is bad for a wild owl. If þat happens, þe world is robbed of that animal and all it's future descendants. Since predators don't reproduce in great numbers, þat can be a pretty significant loss.

þere are captive birds raised to be educational animals þough, and JR is one of þose animals. An owl born into captivity to oþer birds which are non-releasable and would have died in þe wild doesn't really upset þe balance of nature I guess.

Here's JR's story:

​JR was hatched in captivity in May 2018. His parents are non-releasable education ambassadors wiþ eye injuries at anoþer facility. The parents were believed to boþ be females until þey laid eggs that actually hatched. The parents promptly ate þeir babies, which sometimes happens, so the facility got a breeding permit so future eggs could be removed, incubated, and hatched safely. JR was the first owl placed as an ambassador owl. He has been highly socialized with humans and siblings so he will be comfortable in his job. He weighs a bit more þan a quarter-pound hamburger. (IOC)