Posted on 06/28/2023 5:19:44 PM PDT by Twotone
Oh, how delightful! Barn owl babies experiencing new sounds and sensations can be quite a fascinating sight. Thunder can indeed be a significant event for them, as it introduces a loud and booming sound they might not have encountered before.
Barn owls, like many birds, have highly sensitive hearing. They rely on their acute auditory abilities to locate prey, navigate their surroundings, and communicate with their fellow owls. Therefore, a sudden and intense sound like thunder can be quite surprising for a young owl.
Upon hearing thunder for the first time, a barn owl baby might display various reactions. Some common responses could include:
1. Startled or alarmed behavior: The baby owl may become startled by the loud sound and quickly turn its head in the direction of the thunderclap. 2. Wide-eyed and attentive: The owl’s eyes may widen as it tries to understand the source of the sound. Owls have excellent night vision, so they rely on their eyesight as much as their hearing. 3. Head tilting: Owls often tilt their heads to better locate and assess sounds. The baby owl may tilt its head to the side, trying to decipher the origin of the thunder. 4. Calling for reassurance: Young owls may emit soft, high-pitched calls to communicate with their parents or siblings, seeking comfort and reassurance during an unfamiliar experience.
It’s crucial to note that while this moment might be exciting to observe, it’s essential to ensure the baby owl’s safety and minimize any stress it might experience. Young owls rely on their parents for protection and guidance, so it’s best to allow nature to take its course while appreciating this enchanting milestone from a respectful distance.
If you happen to come across a baby owl or any wild animal that seems distressed or in need of assistance, it’s recommended to contact local wildlife authorities or licensed wildlife rehabilitators who can provide appropriate care.
Remember, observing wildlife in their natural habitat can be a remarkable experience, but it’s vital to prioritize their well-being and minimize any potential disturbance.
Really hate articles that tell you to find a professional for injured animals. More often than not, that means they kill the babies so they aren’t contaminated by contact with people. When I took in a baby robin, it was almost impossible to find out how to feed it because all the articles said it was illegal in our state to save the life of a baby and were afraid to tell how to care for it. My neighbor called for a goose that followed her and took food. The “professionals” came and killed it because it was too people oriented. She naively thought they were going to take it to a pond with other geese. I find that arrogance that only their opinions on the “right” attitude toward wildlife are the right attitudes as upsetting as their attitudes toward politics.
That den looks pretty comfortable, once you get it stocked with furniture and stuff. Not half bad.
Blame the people for when animals get too familiar with humans. Being too familiar makes it often too dangerous, because the animal still has its instincts.
The exceptions I would make is for anything that can be domesticated enough in skilled hands to live in the house of its owner.
Cute. I wish that were the extent a my white lad who goes into a panic attack. The only positive is that he hears it love before it ever hits, so we know it’s coming.
That response says pretty much “I don’t know what that thing is but it sounds like it could eat me”.
YouTube has plenty of informative rescue videos posted by people who wound up saving young, orphaned wild animals. As you might expect, those rescuers did not take kindly to the people -- leftists, I suspect -- who wanted to kill those animals "for their own good." The rescuers often successfully reintroduced their adoptees to the wild.
My experience with the baby robin was that its natural instincts kicked in after I raised it in the dining room in a cage I made from netting and hula hoops and a hanger from the chandelier. It learned to fly thru the room and I cleaned up little memories for years. Once it was flying, I released it in the back yard and called it back for food. My neighbor ate out for years on the story of being awakened in the morning by cries of “Trilby!” Eventually it stopped coming for food, but I kept bird feeders going in case it needed backup. I tried to imagine what its mother would have fed it, but decided worms were not on the menu, so I fed it ground hamburger mixed with raspberries on a toothpick into its mouth. It seemed to get its liquid from the raspberries.
If it had chosen to stay, I would have kept it, but I relied on it making the decision. Obviously, I was a total amateur but I tried to think the issue out carefully. This was years before there were such things as YouTube videos.
People can adapt to animals as well as expecting them to do the adapting. There was this fascinating lady running a junk shop on Rt 7 near Danbury who sat in a rocking chair in this massive fur coat. She’d gotten it because she’d raised 3 baby squirrels and their claws were impressive.
You did good. High quality bird seed would have been a good option for it as well.
You did very good.
I read an account of a tree of squirrels that cut the guts out of a dog that was barking at them. Very sad for the dog, because it likely meant no harm.
But this is a cute story that was posted here a few weeks back.
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/06/26/flying-squirrel-plays-dead-and-creates-crime-scene-in-hilarious-viral-video/
I reacted the same way the first time I heard one!
I’ve worked in wildlife rehab. We never killed the animals.
The ones who killed the goose were likely state wildlife officers. They do sometimes kill animals they think are nuisance animals.
The animals should be taken to a licensed wildlife rehabber so they can be properly fed and handled so they can make it in the wild and fend for themslves. Often, it is done in stages with one rehabber handling early stages and another “wilding” them. In my state, the licensed rehabbers are volunteers and very, very good and truly love the animals and know what they are doing.
Too often, amateurs release animals which have not been properly “wilded” and they can be too tame, look to humans for food, and become nuisance animals — then someone calls the state wildlife officers and yes, they kill them. Or the animal cannot fend for itself and starves or meets an untimely end.
Mammals that can carry rabies must be vaccinated and released at a proper location per federal guidelines to block spread of rabies among wildlife. In addition to being taught to find their own food, baby robins (and a number of other birds) need to be acclimated to the night sky so they can migrate in the fall. If an amateur keeps the baby inside all night, well, it won’t make it. Properly raising a baby animal to make it in the wild is not as simple as it seems.
So, if you want the animal to live a good life, call the rehabbers, not the state wildlife officers. They will take good care of it. The state wildlife officers well might kill it.
No, a baby robin cannot survive on bird seed, probably wouldn’t eat it, either. The hamburger and berries was a much better choice.
I see. Thank you.
Cow it is then.
Good advice.I will look up animal rehabbers in my area in case I might need one.
The ones I know are very dedicated and very good. They spend their own money on aviaries for birds, proper enclosures for mammals, incubators for neonates, equipment, supplies, food, vet care, etc. Donations always welcome, but they never ask for any from people bringing them wildlife. They will often let you volunteer and help raise your orphaned baby animal and glad of the help. Those who love to rehab wildlife can learn under the supervision of a licensed rehabber and become licensed themselves. Or one can just volunteer and help out from the to time.
In Tennessee, TWRA has lists of rehabbers for each type of animal in each county:
https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/find-a-rehabilitator.html
I imagine it’s the same in every state. In my state, it’s illegal to keep a native wild animal unless you are a licensed rehabber or you are raising/keeping the animal under the supervision of one. There are some exceptions, but lots of red tape. Rehabbers also handle injured wildlife and have good relationships with the vets who treat them.
Good info on state officers. Will remember that.
These babies had their parents helping them forage. It’s hard to go out these days to put out food, so I’ve set up a multistage unit with a ladder to the table, the highest level just under the library window. That way I can do all the feeding from the window. The raccoons sometimes eat with the skunks on the ground, and sometimes go up to avoid them.
Night Visitors - Joseph Blanchard - Whimsical Foray
https://youtu.be/4Fz_w97bt4s
When we built the addition, I had the construction people cut the evergreen straight down the trunk, top to bottom. From the outside, the tree looked intact. From the house, the branches were completely visible. So the parents would drop off the babies at Evergreen Playschool while they went out foraging, their offspring safe from the hawk I once saw in the yard.
Baby Birds - Etude - Chopin - 1993
https://youtu.be/5pVqvCsrZaY
Birds are smart enough to tell a good human from a bad one.
I once crossed a field that must have had a hawk’s nest, because he kept bomb diving me.
I worry all thru the winter. I haven’t come up with any design to protect the feeding area from snow, so I keep a shovel by the window to scrape the table and ladder. I also keep the window half open to the garage, with cat houses scattered around inside so that they have SOME refuge for the bad weather.
One of my videos from the Audubon sanctuary includes a hawk feeding (YUCK) that I saw on the way there. The baby bird video of the birds emerging - I stood on a ladder for over an hour on the hottest day of the year, with my camera tripod perched on big upside down flower pots. And waited. And waited. The baby emerged, flew up to the roof, and the battery died. So all I could compose was the first flight and the dream of flight of that hawk.
Dragonflies and Wildlife Refuge - Mozart - 1993
https://youtu.be/vtjtecjzXhY
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