From Pete Morris

Our Birdquest New Britain extension is off to a great start, with most of the goodies in the bag already, including the star of the show, the phenomenal Golden Masked Owl. Skittish, and not close, but what a cracker, and brilliant in the scope!

One of my favorite super rare owls!

Not well documented until the early 2000s, this owl only lives on the island of New Britain, near Paupa New Guinea.

An estimated 2500-10,000 exist, and its home area is shrinking.

I cropped it and enlarged it:

An out of season Saw Whet in New York City!

From Wild Bird Fund

This little quy is a Northern saw-whet owl, and he appears to be as surprised as we were to find him at the clinic. He was found on the Upper East Side, unable to fly and very wet. He came in drenched, cold and stuporous. After a blow dry, some warmth and fluids, the owl perked up, then spent the night in an incubator with oxygen. Today he was feistier and defensive.

We suspect he suffered a collision of some sort, based on his demeanor and some dried blood under his chin. But we'll be doing further examination once he's more stable.

Photo by Eugene Oda

From NYS Dept Of Environmental Conservation

This short-eared owl is showing off a behavior known as "rousing". Rousing is when a bird lifts and shakes out its feathers, often to rearrange displaced feathers and shake off water and dust during grooming. It's also a sign of a relaxed and content bird.

This precious moment was captured by talented wildlife photographer Hannie Heere the little owl was moving with purpose, then suddenly spread its wings and sprinted!

From Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island

Last week, we received a young brancher owl that had wandered about 1/8 of a mile from its nest in Point Judith. Thanks to a call from KPD Carpentry, one of our vets, Dr. Snow, quickly responded to assess the situation and safely retrieve the owl.

While on site, KPD Carpentry noticed another young owl, along with the parents, in a nearby tree, confirming that the family was close by and still actively caring for their young. They continued to keep a close eye on the family while we conducted a full health check at the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island.

Bloodwork for lead and rodenticide exposure came back clear, and the owl was deemed healthy and ready for return. Thanks to the collaboration between our team and KPD Carpentry, the owl was successfully reunited with its family and is being carefully mon

From African Raptor Centre

Meet our African grass owls (Tyto capensis), Dube and Ganga!

This owl species makes its unlikely home in wetland habitat. They roost on the ground in drainage lines or in areas that have not been burnt or trampled by cattle. They are found on the eastern side of South Africa in areas of higher rainfall.

Their ground-nesting habits make this species very vulnerable to habitat degradation and loss as a result of farming, burning firebreaks, and development too close to wetland areas.

They are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

From Dawn Loehr

Three's Company

Barred owlets, Missouri

Canon R5 II, Canon 600mm + 1.5 TC

From Jason Fraser

Great horned owlet enjoying some nice warmer climate in Florida.

From Paul Bannick

Flammulated Owl (Psiloscops flammeolus) The word "flammulated" indicates that the markings are flame-shaped but in the case of this small (6.75") insectivorous owl, they are often flame-colored as well. Some populations of in southwestern Mexico are resident year-round, while most populations are highly migratory.

From Mike Lentz

OK, I need feedback from all you quiet people out there.

:)

What in the world do you think this baby fledgling Northern Saw Whet Owl is thinking while looking at the top of the stump? I mean the stump certainly looks like it has a mouth and eyes, right???

From Nelson Filipe

BARN OWL

(Tyto alba)

Location of the image: Lisbon - Portugal

Photographic equipment: Canon EOS 90D

Lens and photo settings: 150-600mm Sigma - 1/500 sec | 361.00mm | f/6.3 | ISO 320

Date of photographic registration: 04/04/2025

From Mark Newberg

Recently fledged Great Horned Owlet looking over its shoulder at me. Montgomery County, OH 4-7-25

I occasionally come on photos and videos of people with "pet" owls or owl cafes.

Owls are beautiful and soft, but they aren't meant to be around us being cuddled or whatever. What is cuddling to us causes anxiety to them. It isn't owl behavior. They tolerate it sort of if they are imprinted, but it makes them more underdeveloped and under equipped to be themselves than it does to make them good company.

Handling birds of prey, a person will get nipped or cut, but these hands are seriously grabbed up and cut, yet in the video clip they still have the owl restrained and continue "playing" with it.

If this hand is any sign of how happy the owls are here, I feel bad for them. If they don't like their handler touching them, I can only imagine how upset they are being touched by strangers all day.

Dogs, cats, and farm type animals have been domesticated and are used to humans to a decent extent. Most animals though will never be domesticated. They want and need to be free.

From Ryan Humphrey

Long Eared Owl

From MN Owl Tours

From Wild Skies Raptor Center

Last week, we had our first fledgling, or in owl terms, a "brancher", get himself into a little predicament at Hellgate Elementary School in Missoula.

We first got a call from Missoula 911 reporting an owl stuck in the school courtyard with no way out. A Missoula Police Department officer was able to safely collect the young owl and place him in a nearby tree. The next morning, however, the owl was found huddled along the side of the building, exposed and vulnerable during the busy school day. Rob Domenech with Raptor View Research Institute responded, rescuing the owl and later returning for a little "recon mission" to find the family and a safer release spot.

Sure enough, Rob found a stand of trees with fresh owl pellets underneath, a good sign. As he placed the young owl back into the tree, an adult owl began alarm calli

From Gelo Arboleda

At around mid-March, I was able to visit the Philippine Scops Owl residing in UPLB's lower campus, and although that was the first time I was able to photograph the species, the owl only stayed for a short while leaving me with significantly underexposed shots I wasn't happy with. I just didn't know how to properly photograph night birds.

Last night, I got to visit the area again and the beautiful owl was there, allowing us a longer period to document its behavior, giving us very good views and ample time to work around the proper settings that would work in very low light conditions.

Thank you for the company Joms, Dan Mathew and Alpha! I got in the much needed warmup and practice before our Palawan sortie this coming weekend!

Philippine Scops Owl Los Baños, Laguna

April 2025