Great Horned Owl nest work

[moss]

Wind blew their nest down, property owner is a lawyer and didn't want me in their tree. The backstory is insane, they may be the worst neighbor in the world. Now they'll sue me for slander, they love filing lawsuits.

Anyway the good news is the lawyer's neighbor found the owlets on the ground and I built a new nest in one of their white pines. Parents came in at sunset and started feeding the owlet. The second owlet is recovering from minor injuries, I'll be putting it back up next week.

-AJ

 

[Shadowscape]

Excellent!

 

[Steve-o]

Another great job for a worthy cause Moss!

 

[ATH]

What were you feeding it? (Couldn't tell on phone watching video).

You said "he wants me to give him one, but I know better than that". What is wrong about that?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[moss]

What were you feeding it? (Couldn't tell on phone watching video).

You said "he wants me to give him one, but I know better than that". What is wrong about that?

Thanks for sharing!

I had some mice provided by the wildlife rehabber I work with. What happens is when the mother owl returns to the nest she'll feed them to her young. I've tried feeding them before and they won't take it from me.
-AJ

 

[GregManning]

I had some mice provided by the wildlife rehabber I work with. What happens is when the mother owl returns to the nest she'll feed them to her young. I've tried feeding them before and they won't take it from me.
-AJ

Very Cool !

 

[ARLO]

Wind blew their nest down, property owner is a lawyer and didn't want me in their tree. The backstory is insane, they may be the worst neighbor in the world. Now they'll sue me for slander, they love filing lawsuits.

Anyway the good news is the lawyer's neighbor found the owlets on the ground and I built a new nest in one of their white pines. Parents came in at sunset and started feeding the owlet. The second owlet is recovering from minor injuries, I'll be putting it back up next week.

-AJ

We just had one about a week ago where the climber used an old wicker basket to create a more secure platform. The adults were back taking care of the owlet within a day. As a 50-year owl biologist I can tell you that there is no harm in feeding them a few dead mice if they will take them. If they are very small owlets you may need to tear the mouse up into small chunks so they can swallow the pieces. That is what the adults do for their owlets. Fed them guts, brains, and everything. It is all protein.

 

[rico]

You’re one of the good ones moss..

 

[moss]

You’re one of the good ones moss..

Thx Rico, appreciate it!

 

[moss]

We just had one about a week ago where the climber used an old wicker basket to create a more secure platform. The adults were back taking care of the owlet within a day. As a 50-year owl biologist I can tell you that there is no harm in feeding them a few dead mice if they will take them. If they are very small owlets you may need to tear the mouse up into small chunks so they can swallow the pieces. That is what the adults do for their owlets. Fed them guts, brains, and everything. It is all protein.

Nice! Yeah everyone tells me just use a basket but it’s just too much fun for me to build a natural looking nest from scratch.

Yes about the feeding, game is give tbe parent a head start, let her do the work ;-)
-AJ

 

[evo]

I had some mice provided by the wildlife rehabber I work with. What happens is when the mother owl returns to the nest she'll feed them to her young. I've tried feeding them before and they won't take it from me.
-AJ

Try to find a owl puppet for feeding? I’ve heard of rehabbers doing that to avoid imprinting issues.

 

[treegongfu]

That was cool. What a creature.

And the owl too.

 

[oldoakman]

Lawyers, engineers and architects, can't live with them andcan't shoot them. They think they make life better for all of us when the opposite is more often the case.

 

[ARLO]

Try to find a owl puppet for feeding? I’ve heard of rehabbers doing that to avoid imprinting issues.

You don't need to worry about imprinting unless you take them very young and raise them in captivity. If all you are doing is feeding them for a day or two before renesting them it is not an issue. Sometimes you have to take some small pieces of meat and stuff them in in their mouths to get them started eating, but they usually come around pretty quick once they get hungry.

 

[ARLO]

The other thing to remember about owls in general is that it is fairly common for them to leave the nest before they can fly. They just jump out and often end up on the ground. Usually within a few days they are able to climb or hop up into an elevated perch. So, it is often difficult to decide whether you should just leave them alone or intervene by sticking them back in the nest. If they are older than about 3 weeks of age and are not injured I generally leave them alone unless they are in a high traffic area where there are lots of cats and dogs.

 

[moss]

Try to find a owl puppet for feeding? I’ve heard of rehabbers doing that to avoid imprinting issues.

Definitely! My rehabbers use them. My job is to rescue them or put them back up not feed them ;-)
-AJ

 

[moss]

The other thing to remember about owls in general is that it is fairly common for them to leave the nest before they can fly. They just jump out and often end up on the ground. Usually within a few days they are able to climb or hop up into an elevated perch. So, it is often difficult to decide whether you should just leave them alone or intervene by sticking them back in the nest. If they are older than about 3 weeks of age and are not injured I generally leave them alone unless they are in a high traffic area where there are lots of cats and dogs.

Yep, the "branching" stage is not well known to the general public. There are very few bird species that fledge by flying directly from a nest. Bluebirds and tree swallows are the exceptions I've observed. Most new fledglings end up on the ground where the parents keep feeding them as they transition into improving flight skills. Owls and hawks do what's called "branching" where they can practice short hop flights on branches and limbs near their nest. The rescues I work on are situations where the young went to the ground too soon in their development due to wind events (usually). Great horned owls do not make their own nests and sometimes they choose some miserable excuse for a nest, just a small clump of sticks. It's almost guaranteed that one of the young will go down too soon, sometimes becoming injured depending on what they hit on the way down or at the ground. I've got one I'm putting up on Tuesday that survived a small forest fire, nest location unknown. It has minor burns on its abdomen and scorched feet. It's healing up well, I'll be putting it up in the nest I built as a "foster child" on Tuesday. If the developmental age matches well to the young in an active nest an orphaned owl will be accepted and fed by its new parents, no questions asked ;-)
-AJ