That should be, like, on the sidebar!

Ah, but it is! I think that guy added soon after OotY ended.

I see some pretty wild stories about what people think is “helping” animals. 😳 I just keep getting the word out.

Agreed!

It’s a handsome lil devil too!

She won’t be totally off the hook until fall, but it’s at least no longer 24/7 once it can fly. 😊

Puppies and kitties are our friends, not wild animals. We’ve had thousands of years to at least understand each other a little. Wild animals are strangers to us, no matter how much we may admire them.

Some owls eat mainly rodents, while some only eat bugs. One must understand what is safe for different species to eat

Owls food also doesn’t go through them. Solids stop at the crop and don’t enter the actual stomach, and undigested bits like bone, fur, and feathers need to come back out the mouth as a pellet before it can safely eat again. One needs to know if an owl has a full or empty crop.

Even just water can kill. The opening to the esophagus is right on the tongue, so even gently dripping in water can fill their lungs with water.

Other than these reasons, we shouldn’t feed or water an injured animal because even if they do want food or water, they don’t want it from us. They are hurt and scared and stress is a huge killer of birds. They might also need immediate care that may require anesthesia, and a full crop could cause medical complications. So even if you feed them properly, which is pretty unlikely, you may still delay or complicate their recovery.

Most of us wouldn’t try to treat someone we come across who was sick or had broken bones, etc. We would likely get them qualified help so we don’t make things worse for the person. And that’s with a creature we can likely communicate with to find out what it needs! So why do we always want to intervene with another species we probably know nothing about?

If you love wild animals, just call the pros. They will tell you what you can do to help, like keeping them warm and secure and as relaxed as possible until they can come get it.

Ah, I’ve always had a soft spot for Emilio. He was just in so much stuff I watched back in the day. Anything he’s in gets an ok from me, even if it isn’t that great. 😉

Lol well I am glad you de-hermited temporarily for my sake! I always learn some very cool stuff when you pop up.

Thank you for the explanation!

Judgement Night is awesome!

I may have ebayed one after finding this picture! 😁

The eyelids seem to be the only real wear area, so I picked the one that still had the best looking eyes. The feathers look amazing, and I couldn’t not add one to my collection.

Lol no problem. You’re one of the people here able to teach me owl stuff.

I thought there were your everyday, natural chicuahtli, but also the Chicuahtli that was the companion of the god of the underworld. I could very well be wrong there though. That was the mythical one I referred to.

I’m just glad you were here! When I looked up the right way to spell your username to take you, it looked like you hadn’t posted anything for a couple weeks.

Some of the middleweights are ignored to my dismay like the Long Eared and Tawny, though I think that might be due to the demographics of Lemmy. Some do shine through, like the Morepork and Spectacled, and I’ve been trying to build up love for the Wood owls.

The things I enjoy about Owl of the Year is seeing how you guys rank them. One of the first big breakouts was the Flammulated Owl that nobody really knew about, and it knocked out the Great Horned, which I thought would be a sure thing. And last year, Elf Owl didn’t win its round, but people were really won over by it because while huge owls are eating mice, the smallest of all owls is out there living in a thorny cactus and popping off scorpion stingers and downing them like shrimp cocktail. That little guy is at least as tough as the biggest of owls, and some of you really got fired up about it.

There are a few more Scops than a half dozen! The Scops alone have a few Genus groups, mainly the Old and New World Scops.

Otus, the bulk of non-American Scops has 54 species, and Megascops, the American Scops, has 27 species. There are some more like Psiloscops, which is just the Flammulated Owl, and Ptiloscops, the White Faced Owls, which are now split into Northern and Southern species instead of just one.

Pygmy Owls and Boobook Owls are also large groups with both having 37 species each. I don’t get into all of them, because other than me just saying this one looks exactly the same as the other 36, but it lives on this remote island instead of that one and they have a slightly different vocalization and diet. 😁 I know to me that stuff is interesting, but I think you all as a whole are more entertained by other things unless I find something extra unique to mention. Most of these remote owls we don’t know much about other than that they exist.

I try to balance giving you everything vs the things you’ll actually be interested in. If there’s ever anything you want to see more of, just let me know!

The adorable Jim Henson looking plush is a Jellycat Orlando, in case anyone else was wondering.