this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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Superbowl
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For owls that are superb.
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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.
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Respiration is right up there with musculature to allow them to fly. Got a great comment thread for you here about bird breathing. Birds don't have a diaphragm to expand or compress the lungs like we do, so they have an entirely alien (to us mammals) process how they breathe!
As huge as that owl is, even the biggest of the big is still going to be under 10 pounds / 4.5 kg. They are mostly air, inside and out. Any extra mass just makes flying harder and raises energy requirements. Owl wings are generally large for their body size so they don't have to flap as much, yet another thing that keeps sound down.
Fish owls are some really cool owls, and I'd love to see one and hear one! I hear they have very deep voices that travel a long way, supposedly to carry over water noise and such. Buffy is the cutest of them IMO, but Blakiston is quite huge, yet cuddly looking. I just took a look at my stuff for this year's contest on Friday. No offence to White Faced Owl, but we need a strong competitor for it again this year! Snowy and Burrowing really need to secure those last few votes, they keep coming close but not quite enough, and I want to see some more wildcards like Buffy hit us with some surprises.
I'm glad to see you comment today! I feel I've seen you on my lurker list for a while now, and I always get excited when a new person gets excited enough to join in the conversation.
I'm mostly a lurker everywhere, in real life too... I like people but they make me nervous
Nothing wrong with that. You can keep enjoying things however you want! 🦉