For owls that are superb.
US Wild Animal Rescue Database: Animal Help Now
International Wildlife Rescues: RescueShelter.com
Australia Rescue Help: WIRES
Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy Wild Bird Rescue: wildvogelhilfe.org
If you find an injured owl:
Note your exact location so the owl can be released back where it came from. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist to get correct advice and immediate assistance.
Minimize stress for the owl. If you can catch it, toss a towel or sweater over it and get it in a cardboard box or pet carrier. It should have room to be comfortable but not so much it can panic and injure itself. If you can’t catch it, keep people and animals away until help can come.
Do not give food or water! If you feed them the wrong thing or give them water improperly, you can accidentally kill them. It can also cause problems if they require anesthesia once help arrives, complicating procedures and costing valuable time.
If it is a baby owl, and it looks safe and uninjured, leave it be. Time on the ground is part of their growing up. They can fly to some extent and climb trees. If animals or people are nearby, put it up on a branch so it’s safe. If it’s injured, follow the above advice.
For more detailed help, see the OwlPages Rescue page.
Featured: Bowie Labyrinth Owl
Came upon some egregious AI owls this week. Most of you enjoyed these previously.
They annoy me because they get mixed in with some potentially good content, but it shows me the feeds don't check what content they put their name on.
The worst is when they title it "Amazing photograph!" or something that attempts to legitimize it.
Which is the best of the worst this week?
True, this one looks like someone playing with the color sliders.
I'm sure it tricks all types of people. I've had plenty of coworkers that come up here from the city get freaked out by all kinds of everyday animals like they were encountering aliens.
If they passed them off as "art" I wouldn't care, but they have captions like "nice photo" or "amazing shot!" I don't like them mixing fact and fiction.
This could be a real Striped Owl, but it's on one if these weird group pages. The owl looks real-ish, maybe some processing done to it, the background is blurry and it's cropped tight, so it's hard for me to get context.
Here's a real one:
Only sources Lens turns out for the questionable image are Reddit and Pinterest, so that makes me feel it's fake. The real image comes from Cornell, so it's as real as it gets.
Omg, I love this owl! ❤️ I don’t think I’ve seen it before.
I think it's pretty awesome too.
Looks like it's only gotten one post, and it wasn't even from me.
It's a great looking bird for sure!