JR the Eastern Screech-Owl has lost virtually all of his head feathers at once, as often happens for his species. It allows you to see all the new feathers growing in, and you can look into his ear holes and see the dark thing inside, which is the side of his eyeball.
He is very itchy right now, so as a human imprint he wants us to scratch his head a lot (he would normally do this with his mate). His bill was also in serious need of trimming, so we just snipped the tip off and bit by bit, during the head rubs, we were able to file the sides of the tip (the photos were before the filing was finished.)
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 😅
I don’t think I’ve ever actually come across anything where there was an ear issue, now that you mention it. I will have to look into it, as I’m sure there has to be ways to get ear infections. Being raptors though, they do most activities feet first instead of face first, so that possibly helps prevent a lot of situations that could cause trouble.
Some owls just have feathers over the openings, but some have skin flaps as well. Scientists haven’t come to any consensus on why some have the flaps and some don’t.
That seems really vulnerable. Also, sneech owl.
It is one of the most candid owl photos I’ve come across. It shows a lot of very important but delicate features, from the ears to the eyes, and the tiny little pin feathers growing back in.
I love the one little whispy forehead feather too!
Sneetch Owl
<3 made my day! Thanks so much!
Those are some bigass eyes.
Between the eyes and the ears, it’s darned tough to sneak up on an owl!
The sheer size of them lookers, damn.
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.
Does the bill grow like nails do or will it stop growing at some point? Could you tell us more about the bill and how the owl would trim/take care of it in the nature?
I realized I’ve never thought about it and just assumed it stops growing once the bird reaches maturity!
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
Great info once again! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
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.
I hear our owl ambassador does *not *enjoy his being trimmed, so anyone that actually does presentations with him gets out of doing it so Elliott doesn’t start hating them too. He’s a pretty cranky bird in general, so all the things he doesn’t like get pawned off onto people he already doesn’t care for so he can actually have some staff to help him out.
I þought human imprinting was a bad þing? Or is JR not a release candidate?
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)
Ahh. So, not a rescue bring rehabilitated, or an unreleasable rescue, but one wiþ a job. Very good.
I noticed, too. Cheers!
Yup, he’s a working owl!
AI won’t take his job!
He’s got job security! 😁
JR needs this for a present
Yessssss! Like the Happy Cow device, but bird size!
Exacowltly!
