Meet 'Ollie' the rescued Tawny

[Cowgirl]

Hi, just thought I'd share a photo with you. My neighbour (experienced falconer) this morning got a call from the big house in the next village to say they'd found a tawny owl chick on the ground with no nest (destroyed, by know not what). He brought him back (as owners of house were trying to give it a saucer of milk ) to try & raise for release, or hacking out as he put it. Not intending to keep at all.

I'm usually quite practical when it comes to adult wildlife but baby ones....when you think of it Mother Nature is a crafty old mare isn't she, I mean who could resist such a fluffy object? I suppose l that's why babies are so cute tho'. Luckily my neighbour is a more practical sort & the baby owl will get the best chance of remaining a real owl & making it back out to the wild. Me I just melt & turn all gooey when those eyes are turned my way.

He thinks it's about 3 weeks old, what do you think? How long do you think it'll take? Should have asked him I suppose but I was too busy oohing & aahing over the owlet.

Will try & keep you posted of progress.

[RoyW]

I realise that your neighbour had the owlets best interests at heart and felt that he was helping, but in reality this owlet was almost certainly in no need of rescuing.

It may be too late to return the owlet to its parents now, but if you are able to show your neighbour the information linked below and get the owl returned this evening its parents may continue to feed it.

Tawny Owls leave the nest long before they can fly properly, and although they may occasionally end up on the ground they climb extremely well, so will usually get themselves back up into trees (at most all you should do is lift them up onto the lower branches of a tree to give them a start).

If anyone finds a young owl, please go to the Barn Owl Trust website, click on "information & downloads" in the title bar, then select "what to do if you find a very young owl" and read the information given there, and in the pdfs linked on the right side of the page.

[Cowgirl]

Your probably more than right Roy, I must admit to a certain qualm myself (after I'd gotten over the ooo factor !) but I think the damage had already been done with the owners of the house taking it away in the first place.

At least it'll be well looked after & will be released when it can fully fly. He's eating well & is in good health.

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by Cowgirl

Your probably more than right Roy, I must admit to a certain qualm myself (after I'd gotten over the ooo factor !) but I think the damage had already been done with the owners of the house taking it away in the first place.

At least it'll be well looked after & will be released when it can fully fly. He's eating well & is in good health.

General advice seems to be that if a young Tawny Owl is returned to the exact spot it was found by dusk then the parents will continue to care for it. The four step guide to caring for a rescued Tawny Owl that I saw on one site (Gloucester Owl Trust, or someting similar I think) was along the lines of:
1. Put the owlet in a suitable box.
2. Put the box in the car (or pick it up if you walked to the rescue site).
3. Take the owlet back to exactly where it was found.
4. Go home and have a cup of tea, knowing that you've done your bit!

Still, owlets can be sucessfully reared and released, but even though your neighbour knows how to care for raptors it will be worth him getting advice - apparently young Tawny Owls raised alone can easily become imprinted on humans (and are then not suitable for release). There may also be legal implications of an individual trying to look after a wild owl.

[Cowgirl]

Thanks for that Roy, I've pointed him towards a few websites which make interesting reading anyway, he's going to have a look. He's already registered (can't remember who with) for the legal side of things that he has a wild tawny.

[~T~]

Originally Posted by Cowgirl

He brought him back (as owners of house were trying to give it a saucer of milk )

Why is it always milk people try to give animals that would clearly never even come remotely near it in the wild? A friend on another forum (not wildlife) asked my advice about a young grass snake they found in their garden. "We were trying to give it some milk but it didn't seem interested"...well duh it's a snake

Really cool little owlet, hope he gets back to the wild

[RKB]

Originally Posted by RoyW

General advice seems to be that if a young Tawny Owl is returned to the exact spot it was found by dusk then the parents will continue to care for it.

I think you'd be ok up to a few days later. There will still be owlets in the vicinity, and the parents will still be around, so as soon as it gets dark then this juv will call and the adults will respond. they can't really count, so they wont know if one was missing for a few days or not.