Drove out to the country to see the Snowy Owl at an event today since they are not very common here.
Something else caught my eye though and I kept telling myself that it couldn’t be what it looked like. But it was!
It must have not been advertised cuz most people wouldn’t know what it was, but it was an Australian Boobook named Fable!
So when I saw they were letting people hold him for a donation, in couldn’t say no!
More pics to come, they had a lot of great birds I didn’t rxpect. I’ll try to get the photos for tomorrow, but this was exciting so I shared it now before I head back home.
!lemmysilver
Epic! How was the snowy?
Thank you for the boost!
The Snowy lived up to all the hype! I drove 2 hours there to see just him, and if he had been the only bird there, it would have been worth it.
Huge personality, he seemed to enjoy being outside and seeing the people and the other birds. He was calm the entire time. He did a lot of vocalization and made many great expressions. All the great stuff you see in photos, I got to enjoy in person. Totally worth it.
He did get a bit overshadowed by the Boobook, only since that was totally out of nowhere. I knew I would have to travel somewhere to see a Snowy, but a boobook is the total opposite side of the Earth so I thought I’d never see one, let alone hold one.
But anyone who puts the Snowy as their absolute favorite owl of all time, I totally get it. Absolutely awesome bird!
Ahaha I spoke too early, saw your other post of the snowy later.
But still, happy to read it was worth it! First time seeing it in person, right? Such a cool opportunity
Yup, it turned out to be a first for a number of birds. They put away the Eurasian Eagle Owl right when I got there, but I got to see them a couple times before, though this guy was particularly pretty. They also had 2 falcons I’ll share at some point that I had never heard of. I also learned hawks and eagles and a few other birds also make pellets, which I had no idea they did. They had some cool pellets on display with some really big bones in them.
The whole event turned out to be a total surprise for me, and I can’t believe what all they had, that it was free, and that it was $10 to hold the owl. When I held the Screech, that was around $100 ea, though we did have a private owl talk and got to hold it for a lot longer.
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Was he docile, nervous, irritated, bored?
Angy by the looks of it lmao
That angry face had me doing double takes as it’s so unmistakably Boobook, but I was all “that’s the other side of the planet?!”
He was a proper owl amount of annoyed. Wouldn’t have it any other way!
He was in a pretty good mood for an owl. From all I was overhearing, I think all the birds here were bred in captivity and raised for educational purposes, so they are more used to people.
I was originally talking to the lady handler and the owl seemed to cooperate with her a little more than with the guy working with him when. I got to hold it.
I’d say he was a tad camera shy, but overall in a good mood, though it seemed he was being handled more than expected today, and as I was one of the last to hold him, he seemed a bit done with all the back and forth between people’s gloves. To me it was a bit of a bonus though, as he gave a bit of resistance to leave me and I got to feel a bit of his grip. While far from what I imagine he can do (especially if I were to be a mouse and not a gloves hand) it was a pretty firm grab considering its size and mass.
It felt a bit heavier than the Screech Owl I held last year, and was a little more grumpy seeming, but again, just a healthy amount of grumpy. It didn’t seem to want to be anywhere else.
I would imagine performing for others’ amusement can’t get pretty tiresome quickly, for humans let alone animals. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
All I knew going in was the Snowy was promised to be there all day, so there was a ton of bonus bird content for me!
It was a 4 hour round trip, and I feel it was worth it.
I’m kind of jealous! But glad you enjoyed it. My comment was directed at the disposition of him as you described. Like I wouldn’t want to let go, either. Give me some raw meat, scratch my head, let’s sit in the shade. But of course that’s an anthropomorphized guess.
This little fella would agree with you! 🥰
That is too precious! Thank you for sharing that, it made me unreasonably happy!
It was so great to see in person. They are absolutely as charming and full of personality as they are in the photos! They deserve all their popularity.
Spectre was pretty vocal whenever he spotted active with a treat and he would make noises at the other birds and look like he water to play with them.
Many great faces and expressions every time I looked over at him. I will post more soon.
!lemmysilver
You still can’t give me more than one, though I appreciate the sentiment. 😁
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I do remember the Owl Post Office at the HP part of Universal was “post marked” with owl droppings.
Always wash your hands after reading owl mail! 😟
Awesome! Very Boobooky! He must have been like “uh, you people are on the wrong side of the world, you know!”
Great question. That would have been a good question to ask where he was born. I was so surprised to see one that I got all distracted from being my typical snoopy self.
