Posted on 01/30/2020 9:35:14 AM PST by Red Badger
Suffolk Owl Sanctuary Yesterday at 12:00 AM ·
This soggy little owl was found in a ditch a few weeks ago. Usually in these instances we assume injury of sorts that is preventing the owl from flying - occasionally becoming wet causes them to become grounded too - so you can imagine our surprise that when we examined her, we found her to simply be extremely obese!
Upon weighing her, she was a rather chunky 245g (which is roughly a third heaver than a large healthy female little owl) and she was unable to fly effectively due to the fatty deposits around her body.
This is extremely unusual for wild birds to get into this condition naturally, so we needed to investigate some obvious scenarios - the first being that she was possibly an escaped aviary bird. Sadly there was no indication of rings or chip identification, and asking around in the local area didn’t give us any leads.
We therefore decided to observe the bird over a period of weeks for signs of a life in captivity. Familiarity with common foods used in aviaries such as bright yellow chicks (which won’t often be found naturally in the English countryside) are a telltale sign. Luckily for her, there were no giveaway signs as she was readily taking more wild food types such as dark mice, so we are confident this may just be an unusual case of natural obesity! After further investigation, we also found that the area where she was rescued was crawling with field mice and voles due to the warm and wet winter we experienced in December.
She has since spent a few weeks with us under observation and been placed on a strict diet. We can now happily say she has trimmed down to a more natural weight for release.
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Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in Britain said an owl found stranded in a ditch was initially feared to be injured, but turned out to be merely too fat to fly.
The Suffolk Owl Sanctuary said a member of the public reported spotting a possibly injured owl stranded in a ditch a few weeks ago, but rescuers took the female bird for an examination and discovered she wasn't injured, just overweight.
The sanctuary said the owl, who they named Plump, weighed 8.6 ounces, about 1/3 heavier than the average weight for a healthy female of her species.
Officials said they initially suspected Plump may have lived in captivity or received food from humans, but her eating habits at the sanctuary showed she prefers the dark mice she would feast on in the wild, indicating her weight is "an unusual case of natural obesity."
The area where Plump was found was discovered by rescuers to have an unusually high population of mice and voles.
Plump was put on a two-week diet and lost nearly 1 1/2 ounces, enough to allow her to be released back into the wild.
She’ll starve to death. NO MEAT..................
Thanks.
Owl read it later....................
Jeez just make him buy two plane tickets then
I went out to the truck for something, the other night. Saw a silhouette in the cherry tree about 10 feet away that had to be an owl. Snapped a bad photo, and IDed it as a Barred Owl. They’ve moved into all of Oregon, evidently. Love the silent flight, even when panicked by the flash.
They are increasingly using them in orchards. A flight of Owls will keep a huge area clean of rodents.
All they need is a roosting boxes and they will patrol the whole place.
lOl, she’ll lose weight for sure.
After a couple hours in my office, I stepped outside for a smoke and was leaning against the outside staircase at the front of the building. To my upper right my eye caught a sudden quick motion and I followed it as a great horned owl swooped down from the woodline behind the building, snatched a 2-3' long snake out of the field, flapped its wings a few times as it circled and climbed back into the woods.
The whole episode took no more than 10 seconds, and the overwhelming impression I was left with was how quick, surgical, and above all, how silent the entire event had been.
Me if I was an owl.
Best comment of the thread. LOL!
I guess she needs her stomach stapled.
Built for comfort, not for stealth.
That there is the winner of the best humor post of the day.
Questions to ponder.
Was the Owl forced to buy two Airline Seats?
Did the Owl have a Therapy Animal with them?
Did the Owl require a Kosher Meal, or was the Owl flying Coach?
A superb owl?
Saw yesterday some city park where the majority of squirrels are too fat to jump around. ...because folks feed them junk human food. ...poor fat little squirrels.
We had a Great Horned Owl hanging around for a few weeks. It was cool. We'd hear the calls in the late afternoon/early evening. He was huge. At least 2' tall, with a wingspan greater than 3'. Two things I noticed; the neighborhood population of wild rabbits went down, and several signs for missing cats went up.
Don't know if the cats were gobbled by coyotes, snagged by the owl, or something else, but the timing was interesting.
"Chocolate is full of antioxidants."
"I flew 3 miles today so I earned this splurge"
"I'm super stressed!"
"Guys will think I'm one of those girls if I only order a salad."
"It's because I had kids."
"It's menopause."
“I eat a lot less than some people/my friends.”
"It's thyroid disease."
"It's a voodoo hex from the patriachy."
“Trump’s fault!”
“It’s further proof of global warming!”........................
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