From Chris-Lisa Thomison
Do not be fooled.
These three are total hooligans.
They are ready to go out into a larger enclosure.
Mischief is anticipated.
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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How do owls behave? Are they as mischievous as cats? I always expected them to be quite calm and tempered
Lol, how much would you like me to ruin your image of them? 😜
They have personalities as individual as we do of course, but they are flying bobcats with smaller brains. I think they come off as calm since we pretty much only see them during the day, when they are typically sleepy.
I haven't been around all too many wild owls yet, but our clinic's 3 permanent residents varied from calm enough, to downright aggressive to anyone but about 2 or 3 specific people. The 3 wild babies I helped with last year were ready to fight every time I showed up to feed them.
One of my biggest surprises were that almost all the hawks we got in were much more pleasant than the owls. I expected them to be more skittish and aggressive. They do seem jumpier at first as a whole, but they seem to adjust to my presence a lot quicker when they see I'm there to feed them. Some will follow me around and watch what I'm doing, or perch on the hose while I clean the enclosure and some especially calm or confident ones will let me watch them eat. They'll even sometimes make happy or curious little squawks at me.
Don't get me wrong, I think owls are the most beautiful and feature rich birds around, hence why I'm doing all this reporting on them and trying to work with every owl I can get my hands on, but the other raptors and the corvids are wayyyy more happy to see me.
I had wondered how you were cool enough to always have new owl stuff. You have a clinic! That is so neat.
Not too much owliness has come out of the one I volunteer at unfortunately. All the ones around us are more rural, so they've all got a bunch already and they all got at least one Snowy in this winter.... All I got last year was a very grumpy baby GHO and a baby Screech, but I did get to bring the Screech home and release it at my house, coincidentally on my wife's birthday. That was a lot of fun.
It's really fun though. There are lots of great animals, some I didn't even know we had here. I never knew there was an Eastern Roadrunner, aka the Brown Thrasher, for instance! That thing was really neat.
I also hear they are planning the make me the shift Squirrel Captain, training this year's new volunteers and making sure everything goes as it should with our new protocols.
I'd encourage any of you that like animals to volunteer. It's not typically a huge commitment and there are so many awesome opportunities. Most places will start taking volunteers Jan-March, and in April the babies start pouring in, so most volunteers will work April-September, and we typically commit to one 4 hour shift a week. This year they offered more flexible shifts too to try some new stuff. I just go in Sunday morning when I'd just be in bed otherwise, so I don't really lose much time. You don't need any experience to start. Someone like me will teach you all you need to know.
I joined because I was feeling down on the state of the world, and here I get to see the changes I'm making to my small corner of the world, and the people show me how much good we're all capable of. It's been so uplifting of an experience.
I get most of my cool stories here from being subbed to so many rescues all over the world to see all the nifty things they're doing.
i'm sick and fighting with my MD right now, but if i win the fight i'll have the energy i need to go volunteer, maybe both take and teach a course down at the community college. lose and i'm stuck in the chair and i have to go doctor shopping again. so we'll see.
Oh boy, I have been having doctor troubles as well. They keep messing up my new vision Rx, and I've been trying to get a CPAP for 3 months since I fall asleep at work and on real bad days have caught myself nodding off driving. 🫣
I got the new contacts but haven't tried this batch yet, and I finally got the CPAP ordered but I haven't gotten a tracking number so far. I can't wait to sleep again!