this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2026
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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.
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If you have time, I’d love to hear more about rare birds!
There have been a few owls recently discovered or that have become unique species, like the spectacled owl from Brazil that was just upgraded to its own species the other week. I love covering those, since there is stuff to talk about.
Some of the rare species are in very remote places where not many people can photograph or study them, and I kinda feel bad that the surprise of some of the owls falls flat right away.
Like: here's this exciting thing you've never heard of! Now let me tell you it's been spotted 3 times over 100 years, and we think it probably eats beetles, the end.
In cases where nobody really knows anything, what else would you enjoy hearing about? The remote island or forest where it lives? Its possible closest relative? The person who is credited for discovering it?
To myself, I feel like I just end up saying this is a Scops Owl or Boobook, but a slightly different color, so I'm not sure how to sell it as something exciting if I don't have any unique things to highlight.
For me, things like where does it live? What's it like there? Maybe there's something interesting about the place or the people.
And what did it take to find the critter? There's often a story behind it, whether it's spending months trying to find a lone wolf that's walking hundreds of miles to find a new territory, or teaching ibises to migrate. Or even just putting up camera traps in the woods to try to spot a rare lynx.
The one owl discovery I shared was such a great story. I think it was the guy just heard a bird around he'd never heard before and chased it until he found it, and it was a brand new owl!
I know for some others I've shared some details and photos of their biomes. Ones like the Cloud Forest Pygmy and the Chaco Owl gave mystical sounding names, and while these aren't hard to encounter (I've seen a Chaco Owl!) their names aren't so obvious to most of us because they're named after where they're from.
I did like you said and said where the Cloud Forest and the Chaco Plateau were and talked about what type of climate and elevation they were and added some photos so people could visualize it.
I even enjoy doing that for some of the historic looking European places or spots in the Southwest USA since even those of us that are American or European haven't seen many of these spots. Glad to know you all are enjoying that as well.