Great Horned Owl I nursed back to health a few years ago.

Found him/her tangled in a barb wire fence. I'm guessing it didn't see it while try to swoop down on something. One wing had a tear to the muscles up near the body but no broken bones. The owl could not take good flight as it was.

I called to see if there were any Raptor Rehab places near me...and the closet one was 3 hrs. away (Houston) and they said they couldn't take it right then. They suggested I call my local Game Warden, so I did. Told him that I had an Owl and had no place to take it. I said that I could probably nurse it back to health but that Federal Law didn't allow me to possess an Owl. He replied "What Owl"? Getting his drift...I said "I understand" and we hung up.

Took about a month...but he eventually healed up and when I released him he flew plenty well enough several hundred yards up into a tree line. Hopefully he did well afterward. I never saw any sign of him again.

They have eyes that seem to just look right through you.

That is awesome!!! Nice work Sir

Good job

Well played! Great pics!

One of my favorites.

They are an amazing predator as are all Owls and Hawks. You did good.

Looks like he had an affinity for male Cardinals too, great specimen and job.

Absolutely beautiful.....

Interesting to see the difference in the size of the pupil in its eyes in the dark vs. bright sun in your photos.

Great job!

Yes, observant of you. Their pupils will also adjust individually to some extent.

I was surprised to learn something else about them (or at least this one) in that I always assumed they tore their food into small bits before consuming it. Not so. Larger game like rabbits and squirrel...yes. Smaller prey like birds and field mice it would tear the head off the animal and then literally gulp it down whole! The first time I fed it a field mouse (about the size of a bar of soap) I couldn't believe it just swallowed it whole. Why they decapitate the smaller game...I do not know.

It was easy to keep the owl fed since I live in the country on my own property. I baited out some of those large 'sticky' type rat traps (cut them into thirds) and tied them to the bottom of fence posts with some string. We have a pasture behind the house with plenty of mice.

The owl showed a distinct preference for live prey. It wasn't always easy to remove a mouse from the sticky trap depending on how badly they were stuck. I don't know how often an owl 'has' to eat....but I can tell you they will happily consume a couple of mice or sparrows a day. They seem to have a voracious appetite.

Those sticky traps catch pretty much anything that lands/crawls/walks across them. I had all kinds of insects, lizards, mice, a few birds. Owls don't seem to be particularly fussy eaters...but they DO prefer to kill their own prey...that was evident.

How docile or wild/aggressive was he to deal with....

Good job!

Majestic predator

they are good for cat control...

Yup....redtails are pretty good too....we have both in our neighborhood.....stray cats not so much....

Owls are neat, good job on helping that one.

My kind of birds.
The coyotes helped thin out the cats around here, I never thought I would appreciate a coyote.
Excellent photos flintknapper

I put up 10 bird feeders, a deer feeder, and a salt lick behind the house....2.5 acres just outside the city limits with 1/2 the back property line being a creek.....we get hogs, deer, coyotes, bobcats, coons, possums, rabbits, tree rats, and lots of birds.....

Have a pair of Harris Hawks nest and hunt in our yard.....cats, tree rats, and collared dove get hammered....

Made loud hissing sounds and 'popped' his beak together with a rapid (chop-chop-chop) sound when I first tried to get him out of the fence and first few times I approached him to feed him.

He would also spread his wings out and puff up his feathers trying to look larger and more ferocious. But he never offered to use his talons when I would check to see how his injury was healing.

I would say after the first 4-5 days of feeding him...he quieted down and seemed accepting of his situation, though he ALWAYS turned to face me when I approached.

I never once saw him drink any water from the large shallow pan I kept in his quarters. I think they must get most of the fluids they need from the prey they consume, I don't really know.

Beautiful bird. I've witnessed hawks catch and kill prey many times (rabbits, squirrels, snakes) but never seen an owl take anything in the wild. I can only tell you they don't play around when they eat. I think now....after watching this one dispatch mice and small birds, they must be removing the heads of small prey as a quick method of killing it.

The only larger thing I ever put in with him was a cottontail I had shot. He didn't seem all that interested in it. He did go to it and grab it with the talons of one foot....but he never dismembered or ate it.

The next day it was covered in fire-ants and I had to dispose of it.

Thanks....great story....thanks for posting!

I rehabbed a bobcat once, ONCE!.....

Great story!

That's awesome! He sure is a beautiful bird! And those "horns" or whatever they are, look like they have hair on them....that's so cool. Exactly what is that, lol? I know it ain't his ears, lol. Surely? I haven't ever been that close to one. I see them flying around or sitting in a tree sometimes. I had a screech owl land on my porch once. That was cool as heck
He landed on a rail, facing away from me...then rotated his head all the way around behind him, lol. That was an exorcist move if I ever seen one.