The Transformation Begins
From South Africa Wildlife Rescue Center
Every year, many Barn Owl babies arrive, ranging from newly hatched little pink jobbies (and occasionally even eggs that we incubate) to fully feathered fledglings who have discovered the joys of flying... but have landed up in trouble of some sort.
Calli arrived from Cullinan last week looking less like a magnificent owl and more like a prehistoric pterodactyl that has accidentally wandered into the 21 st century.
Her eyes were still completely sealed, her ears also sealed, and her head and neck were still on the losing end in the negotiation with gravity.
At this stage, their appearance is... well... an acquired appreciation!
But give them a little time and these bizarre looking little souls undergo one of the most remarkable transformations in the bird world.
Leanne Hezlett has spent the past week nurturing Calli, meticulously providing the right nutritional balance, the right portions and the right feeding intervals, and adjusting everything as she rockets through those early stages of growth.
And rockets is not an exaggeration.
Barn Owl babies grow at an astonishing rate.
Over the next couple of months, this tiny, wrinkly, pink pterodactyl will gradually disappear beneath a magnificent coat of feathers.
Her eyes and ears are already open, and her neck has finally agree to support her head.
She'll become curious.. Then cheeky.. Then increasingly convinced that she knows everything.
In two months, Calli will be a fully feathered, self feeding fledgling Barn Owl, ready to face the world with all the confidence of an owl who has absolutely no recollection of ever looking like this.
For now, however, she's just a tiny pink bundle of potential .. and one very busy rehabber's full time responsibility.
From prehistoric pterodactyl... to magnificent Barn Owl. We can't wait to watch the transformation.
12 replies
What's the survival rate for babies like this being cared for by humans?
Short answer: I don't believe anyone could give a realistically accurate figure.
Long answer: Rehab survival rates are a bit tricky. I used to be bummed before I started being involved because a lot of general stats I saw were around 30% overall, but just specific animals, but surviving rehabs in general. Roughly ⅓ are basically dead on arrival, ⅓ will die in care, and ⅓ will make it to release.
But in seeing how clinics operate and all the surrounding factors, the numbers don't really tell you anything useful where one could grade a rehab's performance. Every case and even every rehab is different.
Some rehabs are literally one individual in their house. We have a squirrel lady I met at a conference. She only does squirrels. I think her survival rate was near 90%. Is she doing 3x better than a 30% rehab? The 30% rehab could be overwhelmed with animals, low on volunteers, or just taking on more serious and complex cases. Some centers have better equipment, more supplies, more rehabbers, a better exotic vet, whatever the case may be.
And animals come in with wide ranges of issues. Some get brought in right away, some people hold onto for days before bringing them in, some people try to treat animals themselves before bringing them in. A lot of injuries we can spot, but some will get missed because we can't communicate with our patients.
You can see from how fast the animals grow up, how just a short to use period of being injured or malnourished would be the equivalent of a much longer time for us. Little mistakes or untreated conditions can compound quickly. Some of these animals have crazy pulse rates (600 bpm for a pigeon on 1200 bpm for a hummingbird) so you can imagine when that it doesn't take much of a problem with circulation, respiration, hydration, etc to make that crash hard.
And animal medicine just isn't as studied as human medicine because there is no profit in research. Wild animal rehab is only really a thing now because some people really cared enough to put so much effort into starting to systemizing care. People only really began to take it seriously around 1970, give or take. We're all still learning, studying, experimenting, and learning from our patients and each other to get better outcomes. We're getting better all the time, but there is still much more we have to learn about so many species and their individualized care.
A version of the famous Barnie growth chart for those that haven't seen just how fast owls grow:
Dang, they really have to fight through their ugly phase the hard way. I suppose that's part of why they hurry through it.
It's that leftover dinosaur DNA. I say lean into it! Bring back terror birds!
This could as well be a "How do you feel today?" chart. I would be at day 25 btw.
I thought there was a better one, but this is the closest I found right now.
Bruh it's a Baby Chozo!
We're all somebody's baby at some point!
Well, not androids necessarily... 🤔