Scooter the White Faced Owl


Wow last night I was outside at about 10.30pm and I saw a white faced owl glide into a thorn tree near the house. I surmise it was "Scooter", one of the owls I rescued, hand raised and released.

Three fuzzy baby owls fells out of their nest during a very windy day here on the farm, and I was lucky enough to find them before a raptor spotted them, or they died of starvation.

What followed was months of sheer entertainment and joy... not to mention the gruesome task of grinding up dead day old chicks and hand feeding it to the 3 by hand, or the pellets they vomit up. The 3 owls were living with me in my house, generally wreaking havoc and flying around at night because I didn't want to put them in a cage. Each day I would encourage them to sit on my finger and gently put them in a box I used to transport them up to my office. Once there I would let them out and they usuallysat sleeping perched on a wreath I won at an off road race (oh and had great fun pulling it to pieces).

I named them Scooter, Hooter and Tooter. Scooter was the tamest having been found before the other 2. Tooter was the wildest because he had been out in the wild for a few more days than the others, and he never did grow out of biting me when I handled him!

Once they had grown from fuzzy little owls into more mature adults it was time to try out their killer instincts... oh it was too funny! I had a big branch secured inside my house where all 3 were loved to land perch so I sent a live mouse scurrying up the tree. Well, when the mouse with my encouragement walked over Scooters feet, she was not happy and lifted her little talons off the branch in disgust to avoid the mouse. If she was humand she would have said, "Eeeuw whats that thing, gettit away from me!" smiling....With much patience and encouragement she finally grabbed it with her talons... aha!


The 3 left early one morning through an open door (which was always open for them to leave when they were ready) after an incident with a black mamba the previous afternoon in my house. The mamba was lured in by the smell of mice in a cage... but thats another story!

So last night I spoke in my own language to Scooter and stood talking to her under the tree she was in for a while before she flew away. I was ecstatic because I haven't seen her for a year or so.... after she first left, it was a week before she returned and flew into my house to perch on one of the curtain rails. She had her days when I could hold her and kiss her, and other days when she wouldnt let me near her... but she always knew she could come home for food.

I have to say that raising those 3 owls was an incredible experience, filled with much love and laughter... I still remember clearly the 3 lined up on my wreath, and when I spoke in my version of owl to them, they rotate their heads around...

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