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 didnt 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 wont 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.
Rest assured, it is never the female owl's fault.
I think Mr. seat belt extender lost weight after his major heart attack. That said, he smokes weed constantly now.
Well as long as they are in the park then that is OK. But when they are around my home then all I can say is here kitty kitty. They are very destructive bushy tailed rats with an attitude.
the americas best eyeglass commercials obviously pay well...
There’s a guy on Youtube who put up a couple of videos of his owl and cat playing.......Really cool
The Great Horned are always around. Their breeding season is on, locally. They need to get the babies fed before everything leaves out and makes hunting a little more difficult. They get more vocal, as well. They wiped out my free-range Silver Pheasants a number of years back.
A zoo keeper told me that zoos will carefully maintain birds of prey’s weight at a level that renders them unable to fly. And, that it’s not unusual for birds to do this to themselves in the wild.
I knew a guy whose mom fed the squirrels macadamia nuts. He said it was pretty pathetic watching their fat asses try to climb the deck railing.
The feather pattern and mottled color of this owl are similar to a Hawks’ feathers. They are both birds of prey, but I don’t believe they are directly related.
He’s been spending too much time gorging at Hooters.
Don’t we all.....................
When my kids were young, our great dane, miniature poodle and beagle were sniffing at the ground. Upon investigating, it was a newborn squirrel that had fallen out of a pine tree. I placed in in an aquarium with some pine straw and fed it a baby formula with an eyedropper. It thrived and would hang on to my bathrobe around the house;)
When he was old enough, we released him to his true family (up the pine tree), but he often hung around the windows watching us.
We called him ‘Mikey’. Your photo brought back memories.
“Owl read it later....................”
Owl believe it when I see it.i
Hah! Nice!
Nature’s Pest Control...
There’s something majestic about them, like Eagles and Hawks.
You see one and it’s just instant “whoa... too cool...”
“...The whole episode took no more than 10 seconds, ...”
And THAT, my friend, is the Owl version of “Fast Food / Take Out”...
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