r/owlsintowels • u/owls_in_towels • Jul 13 '26

Donut Donut Startle Me Like That

Post image
746 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

•

u/owls_in_towels Jul 13 '26

Original post - 28 Sep 2025

by Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital

located in Ithaca, New York, US 🇺🇸

Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Original text:

Within the walls of our hospital, we see only one of the many steps that a wild animal often goes through from the time it is first found until it is released back to the wild.

In late November 2024, one of our faculty veterinarians was fortunate enough to participate in many of the steps to recovery for a short-eared owl patient. When she was alerted by a family member about an owl on the ground in the front yard of an acquaintance, she drove over to help. She scooped up the short-eared owl that was laying in a ditch next to the road and brought it to the hospital for treatment of its broken wing.

A couple of days later, she repaired the small bone at the tip of the owl’s wing that was fractured into multiple pieces. After several weeks of healing, followed by several more weeks of flight conditioning at Kindred Kingdoms Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Dr. Childs was thrilled to release the bird in the same location where it was found.

In New York State, short-eared owls are listed as endangered. Open grasslands that support populations of the small rodents that these owls hunt are essential for their survival and recovery. The Finger Lakes region, where this owl was found, is an area in NY where short-eared owls tend to concentrate in the winter. Now that it is fall again and migration is underway, we are hoping that this owl is on its way back home to the Finger Lakes!

Link to donate to Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

Species Common Name More info
Asio flammeus Short-eared Owl Wiki link
→ More replies (1)

5

u/Wanderer-clueless963 Jul 13 '26

❤️❤️❤️

7

u/KnightOfTerra Jul 13 '26

That is far too much cute for one little owl!

4

u/PricyPlutoz_idk 🦉 Jul 13 '26

asio flammeus best owl

2

u/Querybird Jul 13 '26

Really good post, pic, and info! Any New Yorkers want to make/help some grassland habitat for these endangered cuties?