Update: Up-close with a Barn Owl

 This post is an update on an earlier post about a book titled Wesley the Owl. 

I was very excited to learn that licensed falconer Corey Basham (see my previous article about him and his falcon Gucci) also brought a barn owl to Nature Camp. After reading about Wesley, it was extremely interesting to get to witness and observe a barn owl in real life, and to hear about Corey's experiences  with this gorgeous animal. 

Corey told us the owl, which he named Nono, was raised by another falconer after being found when it was too young to care for itself. The name comes from a behavior that Barn Owls do called "Toe Dusting" in which they lower their head and sway back and forth - which can look quite creepy - and sometimes they will shake their head back and forth like they are signaling no, no, no. It is a defensive behavior barn owls and other birds do to express displeasure or to intimidate predators.

Nono is extremely light, weighing only 500 grams. She eats about 3 mice or baby chicks per day, which Corey defrosts before feeding to her. Like all owls, she can eat her prey whole and then produce a pellet that contains the skeleton and fur! Corey invited me to help feed Nono, which was a great honor, but I had absolutely no idea he was about to let me hold her! You can watch my reaction below. 

It was incredible being so close to Nono, getting an up-close look at the beautiful pattern on her wings, the unique ridge of feathers on her face above her beak, and getting to look into her black eyes. Stacey O'Brien wrote about how she saw the universe in Wesley's eyes and felt awe, and after holding Nono, I could better understand what she meant.

Corey will hopefully be releasing Nono back into the wild this fall, either by hacking her or via full release. Hacking is a way to gradually release a captive bird by placing the bird in a hacking box and feeding her there, encouraging her to return to the box for food and rest while she acclimates to living in the wild again. First, Corey says, she must demonstrate the ability to hunt live prey. 

If you want to help barn owls like Nono you can donate or volunteer at the Owl Moon Raptor Center, a wildlife rehabilitation center in Boyd's Maryland.

I encourage you also to read Stacey O'Brien's book, Wesley the Owl. 

Sources:

Corey Basham

https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/barn-owl-facts/

https://centerofthewest.org/2017/05/27/hacking-what-it-is-how-its-done/