Is this owl mature enough to survive on his own?

Photo here.

This question is well suited for **Colibri **if he would be willing to weigh in, but any expert information is welcome.

I am in the jungle of Quintana Roo, Mexico and work with federal wildlife authorities in various matters. Today they came by for some business, and on the way out said “Oh by the way would you please wait until night and release this little guy into the jungle?”

From the photo it’s hard to see scale but he is very small. From head to toe he is maybe 4 inches high, and still has a look of wide-eyed youth and uncertainty.(Ok, all owls have that look, but in his case he seems to be genuinely wide-eyed) He does have some pretty sharp claws going on, and seems healthy and strong in general.

I know absolutely nothing about the circumstances under which they came into possession of him. Beyond his apparent immaturity he also shows absolutely no fear of humans. I changed the paper in his cage and gave him some fresh water and he tried to climb into my hand.

This jungle is loaded with predators; snakes, birds, cats, etc. I am torn about just tossing him out at night despite that being the intention of the wildlife agency. Does an owl of this age stand a chance of surviving alone or is he still dependent on his mother giving him food and protecting him from predators?

As a second question, what should I feed him in the mean time? I pulverized some cat food and put it in a shallow dish of water for the time being.

Your owl probably eats small lizards and mice. I would try to catch a lizard and see if he goes after it. They hunt instinctively but I have noticed the parents sometimes give them a few lessons. Depends on the species I would imagine. Are you sure yours has never lived in the wild on his own yet? very small owls might also feed on tree frogs.

Size is not a good indicator of age in birds. That one has adult plumage; it’s an adult bird of a small species. Presumably along the lines of a pygmy owl, although I don’t know what actual owl species occur in the Yucatan.

Yeah… one of our native owls averages less than 8" full grown. Some owls are tiny.

Get a hold of Colibri if you can. Agree he/she is full grown. From the one picture, it could be a borrowing owl, which would require a specific habitat to be released into. IOW, getting a species ID would be a good idea, so you release him in the right place.

I’m no birdspirt, but IMHO you may have a Ferruginous pygmy owl.

She looks almost like a little screech owl :smiley:

If she has fully feathered, and she has mastered silent flight (you should not hear her fly)
it would be time to start getting her ready for release.

I dont know what facilities you have available.
We always try to release owls in pairs if possible male/female

They go outside into transitional enclosures and are given live food where appropriate
so they can work on their hunting skills, and we try to be hands off as much as possible.

Thanks all for the helpful information.

From what I can gather the smallest owl in North America is the Elf Owl which is described as being “a little smaller than a can of soda.” This guy is maybe even a little smaller than that and I assume native to this region (which the Elf Owl isn’t) so I still worry he could be a youngster of some other species. But I agree the plumage seems to be that of an adult. I don’t know if he’s mastered silent flight because they brought him in a tiny cage, not even suitable for a parakeet. The first time I hear him fly, or don’t hear him fly, will be when I open it and release him.

The wildlife agency who brought him presumably knows this is his natural habitat and believes that he is fit for release here. But that doesn’t mean they believe he has a good chance to survive - just that all other things considered he is better off being released than being held captive.

I have no idea where they got him, but I can assume he was confiscated from someone keeping him as a pet illegally or trying to sell him as a pet illegally. That adds to my concern that he may have become too trusting of and dependent on people to learn basic survival skills. But it’s possible he is wild and went inside a business or house and the authorities just decided to wait until night to put him back outside.

As night has fallen and I’m still not sure, I’m going to probably take a chance and release him. I don’t want to hold him prisoner with the wrong food and wrong environment and then have him weaker and more disoriented when I do release him. But I will probably wait until about 11 PM CST, so any last minute info is still welcome.

A few more pics - whether it helps identify him or just because he is so cute.

https://s23.postimg.org/awtvsd7ff/IMG_1260s.jpg
https://s24.postimg.org/ls5yy4alx/IMG_1257s.jpg
https://s17.postimg.org/5jz9ud9tb/IMG_1254s.jpg

He is cute as a button. :slight_smile:

This fellow looks very similar.


So feed him chicken?

He does look very similar. Although even that one seems a bit bigger, and the beak is a little different around the nostrils.

But he did make a dent in the mush I made for him which was primarily chicken cat food.

Paging wildlife rehab expert CannyDan.

I agree it looks like an adult from plumage. Don’t try to feed it, just let it go.

Well an update of sorts: I waited until 11 PM and hiked deep out into the jungle. I took him out of the cage and held my hand up, waiting for a majestic flight off into the night, but instead he flapped a few flaps and landed on the ground 5 feet away.

I picked him up and sent him up again with a light push off hoping that would inspire him to fly, but once again he just flapped his wings until he plopped back onto the ground. He just stayed there on the ground, seemingly paralyzed with fear. I thought maybe my presence was preventing him from taking flight so I walked about 30 feet away and turned off my flashlight and sat, and sat, and sat. After almost an hour he still hadn’t moved from that spot.

I didn’t want to leave him sitting there as he would surely be consumed by something within minutes of me leaving. So for the time being I took him back in and set out a smorgasbord of chicken, cat food and some cut up hot dogs. (I sort of have to improvise until I can get to a store tomorrow.)

I think despite all appearances of plumage, this may be a baby bird. I was going to take a photo of him in my hand to provide some scale - he is really very small. But that experience stressed him and he was puffing up his feathers and acting like I was a threat for the first time since he arrived so I didn’t want to further stress him.

So it looks like the next step is the vet tomorrow to make sure an injury or illness isn’t what is preventing him from flying and to try get an idea of his age and any advice about what to do next.

Is he eating?

I read that they mainly eat insects, I would say for a short time small bits of chicken should be fine. Maybe if you have room in your house leave him out of his cage so he can exercise his wings. If you have a per shop near by meal worms and crickets would be good. Raw meat only.

In the mean time I got a reply from a wildlife care manager at the Audubon society. She confirmed what you all already knew - he is definitely an adult owl.

She said under the circumstances of his arrival and what I described about his failed first flight, his flight feathers may have been clipped or broken. But of course it could be injury or illness, without any other information she can’t say for sure. Still waiting for a call back from our vet.

She suggested whole mice in the mean time which I don’t happen to have handy, but I think I can find frozen mice at a pet shop. The chicken is probably nutritious enough but whole mammals will get him used to eating prey animals in case he was raised in captivity. I did try some various live bugs just to see if the movement triggered a feeding instinct but he has been eating the makeshift diet of chicken and cat food pretty heartily. So he just let the bugs escape his cage without paying much attention to them at all.

Thank you for the updates, and for looking after that owl, Crazyhorse. I think you’re a very admirable person.

Everybody knows that a borrow owl lives at the quick loan place on the other side of the tracks: why do you think they call it a borrow owl?

A very specific habitat indeed! :wink:

Good job with the owl, Crazyhorse. :slight_smile:

He’s adorable