These birds are not just wise and old

By DON CORRIGAN

Owls sport reputations for being shy and stately, wise and old. However, social media accounts and tabloid TV stories are now portraying these feathered fellows as dangerous. Wise old owls appear to be in attack mode.

A hiker in Alaska recently had a scary encounter with a great-horned owl armed with sharp talons. Last year, attacks took place from Washington state to Georgia. Incidents in Texas prompted a “When Owls Attack” advisory.

“Owls can and do attack,” explained the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Shelly Colatskie. “If you get close to their nests, especially when they have young, they will swoop down on you. An owl coming at you with their talons can be scary.”

After several incidents in Midland, Texas, wildlife experts began advising residents to wear protective gear when passing by nesting owls and their owlets. Leather jackets and baseball helmets were suggested for “owl-proofing.”

A ST. LOUIS ATTACK

In suburban St. Louis, an owl-attack victim is recommending a bike helmet and an umbrella for protection. This advice comes after he was dive-bombed by several owls near his home.

The Webster Groves pediatrician goes to work around 5:30 a.m. When he was first hit on a Friday morning last spring, it was dark and he thought he might have just closed the car door on himself.

On the Sunday after the first dark encounter, he witnessed his assailants. Two owls swooped down on him. The first one knocked him to the ground, but he was able to wave off the second attacker.

“The next attack came the next Saturday,” recalled Dr. Galgani. “I actually got scratched pretty bad on the ear and I bled for a while. These little animals may weigh less than two pounds, but they pack quite a wallop if they hit you. They can knock you down.”

Respecting Owls

“People in the outdoors should have a healthy respect for owls and all raptors. They all can have sharp talons to rip apart prey,” said Daniel Cone, general manager of the World Bird Sanctuary in nearby Valley Park.

“Owls’ nests are not always easy to see. People can come upon them unexpectedly and everyone gets startled,” Cone said. “Just keep moving, but don’t run, and there will be no reason to be scared.”

Owls actually have a lot more to fear from humans than humans have to fear from owls, according to Cone. The World Bird Sanctuary specializes in treating injured fowl and works to rehabilitate birds for a return to the wild after treatment.

“We treat more than 650 bird patients annually, and by far the overwhelming number of them are owls,” Cone said. “The injuries are usually collision-related. They get hit on the roads chasing a squirrel or a mouse.

He explained, “Owls are great hunters and they get hyper-fixated on their prey. They are simply unaware that a car or a truck is coming at them.”

Cone said the “release rate”

Wildlife Wrangling and Outdoor Ramblings

Photo and Text

By RANDALL P. DAVIS

The widow Jenny Jenkins lived in the same house for 30 years. Her husband, a railroad engineer, had constructed the roomy two and a half story farmhouse around 1900. He died in a locomotive accident in the 1920s, leaving her the house and 20 acres.

Jenny never had any children but was always kind, caring and well liked by everyone, so much so that she became known as simply, “Aunt Jenny.” for birds treated by World Bird Sanctuary is about 40 percent, which means that 40 percent can be released back into the wild after treatment. If owls are no longer able to hunt because of injuries, they will not be let back into the outdoors.

She liked her solitude and was happy to live alone with a couple of cats – and according to some folks, a modest moonshine still. I suppose back then, it was a lucrative way to supplement any railroad spousal compensation.

But in the mid 1930s, Aunt Jenny passed away in the upper bedroom, alone. It would be a couple of weeks before someone came looking for her. And those cats ... well, they had access to her.

Owls On Exhibit

Some of these birds can be kept on site for exhibiting. In addition, owls that are not native to the Midwest are captive and kept for on-site exhibiting.

“We have three spectacled owls from Central and South America that have great personalities and are very popular,” Cone said. “They are captive-raised, so they are calm around humans and very adorable.

“Unfortunately, they are an endangered species because they are losing their habitat,” Cone added. “Animals like the spectacled owls are losing their rainforest homes in places like the Amazon to human development.”

Giving A Hoot

Some owls in America once were hunted for prize money and sport, but as an endangered species, that is now illegal. Owls may occasionally give humans a scare, but it’s probably time now for humans to give a hoot about endangered owls!

Don Corrigan is the author of numerous books on the outdoors and the environ-