📸 Photography Owl flight training

[ThirdgenTa]

Just thought you guys might enjoy a few pictures of the snowy owl that we rescued. It had a broken wing and it got pinned and healed. Now we are flying it twice a week to build up it's strength so it can fly up to the Arctic next year.
Me throwing it






Couple of bonus pictures. I picked up a coopers hawk Saturday night after being hit by a car.




And a local great horned owl nest.

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[blakbearddelite]

O rly?

Owls are the coolest birds.

 

[willizm]

That’s really cool! Owls are badass

 

[bnr32]

awesome!!!

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Did the hawk survive?

 

[Kensington]

That's badass. We have had a couple Great Horned Owls in my neighborhood for the last year or so, having themselves a hootenanny. They're so big

 

[BrianG]

Very cool. Gorgeous animals. How is the hawk doing?

 

[ThirdgenTa]

Owls are pretty awesome. Expensive to feed though. We have been taking our owls for walks on the weekends to get them used to people since the USDA says you have to do programs with them. You should hear the questions that we get asked.

The coopers hawk is doing ok. It has a cracked beak and a fractured proximal radius. It should be fine. Kind of crazy that I released a coopers hawk earlier in the day and then picked one up that night.

 

[Blownbyyou]

Do they eventually get okay with the human interaction? Do you release them all back into the wild?

 

[ThirdgenTa]

Do they eventually get okay with the human interaction? Do you release them all back into the wild?

The ones that we have permanently we handle and have human interaction. If we plan on releasing them, we limit our interaction. Adult raptors could really give a crap about people though, as they only come back to you because you are a food source. I have falconer friends that hunt with their wild birds that they have caught and trained. After hunting season is over they release them and they go back to being wild in a few days. It's when you get them as babies and they don't know any better. If you are always playing with then and feeding them they will rely on you. It's called imprinting. We have 2 baby owls right now that we feed but we usually put a stuffed great horned owl toy in front of our hand to simulate it's mother.

 

[Spivitz]

Awesome pictures !

 

[IDAFC21]

When I first saw the title I thought it said "Owl Fight Training" But this is still just as awesome.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

When I first saw the title I thought it said "Owl Fight Training" But this is still just as awesome.

I also saw that and had a double take.

 

[ThirdgenTa]

Sad news. Coopers Hawk wasn't really eating right. Our director was trying to feed it and it died in her hands. It must have had a brain injury from the hit.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

I am sad. I love Birds of Prey.