A Wild Day

I like animals, but my sister, Annie, LOVES animals. When she was little she snuck duck eggs home in her pockets and tried to incubate them in her toy box. Let's just say that little project didn't end well. Surprise, stuffed animals don't exactly produce the same amount of heat as a momma duck. Talk about a stench!
Over the years she has brought all manner of crazy critters home, but yesterday beat all. She brought a barn owl to the farm. No worries-it was all done legally. Raptors (owls belong to this category) are illegal to have without proper licencing--not to mention you really need a special place in which to keep them. So, until she began interning at the zoo this summer, she really hadn't had much to do with them. But each day brings a new surprise.
Yesterday, Annie called on her way home from the zoo to say she was bringing a barn owl to be released. A raptor rehabilitator connected with the zoo was looking for somewhere to release the critter, and of course Annie volunteered our place. Since dusk is the best release time, the poor thing spent a little time in a crate in my parent's hall. But don't be fooled by the barn owl's small stature, these suckers are MEAN. The rehabilitator said that owls never warm up to people even if they're hand raised. To be honest, this little critter nearly had me peeing in my pants at our first encounter. As I leaned towards the cage to look at him, he jumped at me and made this terrifically scary noise. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Then he backed up and started swaying his head and hissing. He sounded like a cappuccino maker. Unlike most stray or injured animals, this little guy did not bring warm fuzzies to my heart.
At dusk, we all went out to the back pasture for the release. He was a little slow to get out of the cage, but once he was off, he was off. It was beautiful to watch. He landed unsteadily in a nearby tree. His wings were spread out and seemed to be caught up in the branches, but he soon enough righted himself and flew away. We were able to see him for a few minutes, but eventually he went into the woods and out of sight. He was beautiful!
Here are a couple of photos of the owl waiting for release. None of the flight pictures were all that great. My camera isn't exactly meant for long distance shots.


I can't wait until Levi's older, and can appreciate this sort of thing. He and his Aunt Annie are going to have ridiculous amounts of fun together. Speaking of fun I've been meaning to post this new pic of the bobcat skeleton she built.
She's got some possible skeleton commissions on the horizon. In a week she's moving into a trailer near her college. She's devoting one of the small bedrooms to skeleton building. Hmmm...she might have trouble finding a roommate. It'll have to be someone with a strong stomach because Annie's not opposed to dissecting roadkill on the kitchen floor. You gotta love her. She's Annie to the bone!