Superbowl

Well I'm glad the owl seemed to have resolved its situation. Those are indeed some huge talons, so good call by the wife. If I had just heard "big owl", I'd presume GHO also.

I always forget when it's mobile turtle season, but we have them crossing the entrance to our neighborhood since there are 2 ponds there, so I've been keeping a keen eye out for them lately. There's a few spots on my way to work I see them cross frequently as well. I stopped to let a snapper cross last year and helped a painted turtle across the neighborhood roadway.

This is the most common way I see the 'net tell people to hold snappers:

and our turtle guy yesterday was showing us that way isn't bad, but can still get you kicked with those big claws, and after a certain point, the center of mass is very far forward and it's tricky to hold them that way.

He likes sandwiching them, one hand up top to stabilize, and slide the other hand up under the tail, supporting their belly. He says that keeps the feet from scratching your arm. This is the clearest pic I found like what he was showing us.

I didn't see any of our ambassadors' stories posted, but he came in as a baby in 2008. We don't always get many owls, so he didnt have an owl role model and he must have spent too much time with people, I'm not sure if that was before he was brought to us, after, or both, but he was released twice and kept turning up in people's yards and was able to be captured both times. If he was left on his own, he's soon end up hit by a car or gotten by someone's dog or something because he didn't have enough fear of humans. So now he lived with us.

He's to owly to be the best ambassador, so he doesnt get used often, but we kept him in the quietest area of the open house, and we made sure people couldn't get to his sides or rear, so he had an easier time feeling secure. He wasn't thrilled working with so many guests, but he was honestly much more calm and well behaved than I anticipated.

They gave me the 2 feeding puppets, which was nice with having Elliot there as he's a great demonstration why they are needed. I hear him give real GHO hoots a lot when he's in his enclosure and he feels confident, but I got to show people that he was not hooting during the event, and was instead making chirpring noises. That is owl baby talk, because he never had enough owl influence to fully grow up, so he's essentially developmentally challenged and is a somewhat human imprinted baby owl stuck in an angry grown owl's body. He's far from tame, but also far from an owl that can be an owl. He lives a good and safe life with us, but it is not the life he should have gotten to enjoy. He's stuck in the middle of 2 worlds.

I haven't had any pets for 2 or 3 years now. We're just always running around these days, so I stick to the clinic animals. Not close to a replacement for an actual pet, but it is a different type of animal fix. I think I need some license/permit to keep animals at home, but with one or both of us gone during a lot of the day with her variable hospital schedule, I don't know if we'd be available enough to keep an animal with us for a while. I'd find time to make some extra stops in at the clinic if the new hootie needs some extra bonding time!

Some of the imprinted birds can get along with animals. There's this whole series of photos of someone's "pet" owl with their doggo. People always think it's AI, but, IMO it would be better off if it was probably, but it is real as wherever this lady lives, shes is allowed to keep the owl as a pet, so it's used to her dog, and she can pose it and such.

Saw Whets are so adorable with those round heads and giant eyes!

Short Ears and boobooks do look so dramatic with those smokey eyed looks.

Sometimes I used to catch the bats in the neighborhood flying around while I'd walk the dog at night or out along the railroad tracks passing through the woods behind my house.

Never seen our neighbors owls yet, but they love to hoot. Loving a nocturnal and antisocial animals is a strange life choice 😁