Tessera

Owls in Towels

@owls-in-towels.bsky.social

Wildlife rehabilitators often wrap owls so they can be weighed and fed. If not, the owls get in a flap.  The result? Loads of pictures of #owlsintowels https://owlsintowels.org

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Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3d ago

A nestling Barred Owl was found without a nest. The owl was otherwise healthy and eating well, and sent to a nearby shelter to bond with another owlet. Want to donate to Raindancer Wild Bird Rescue? www.raindancerwildbirdrescue.org/donate.html Source: fb.com/172627046075... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Barred Owl nestling is snug in the folds of a white towel inside a cardboard box. The owl is pictured from above, craning her neck upwards to face camera with an "are you my mother" type expression. Her beak is pale pink and yellow like a ghostly tequila sunrise in reverse. Eyes are black and feathers fluffy, tipped with white fuzz like a fungus... but cuter.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · last wk.

Kaikōura Wildlife Centre Trust posted a number of Little Owls admitted for injuries due to nest fall, cat predation and vehicle strike. Little Owls were introduced to New Zealand in 1906. Want to donate to KWCT? www.kaikourawildlifetrust.org/help-us Source: fb.com/105041082044... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

This owl's pale yellow features (beak and eyes) are contrasted with the lavender purple towel that ensconses her. Only her head is visible, the rest of the owl is nestled in the hollow of the donut-shaped wrap. The ends of the towel meet at the other end like a horseshoe, or an inverted uppercase Omega "℧". The silhouette of the photographer is reflected in the owl's black pupils.

From the markings on the owl's beak and feathers, and overall discerning expression, this appears to be the same Little Owl as the previous photo, at a slightly closer depth of field. This time she is wrapped in an off-white towel, worn like a religious head scarf, beak and eyes still visible; still judging.

With chest feathers a'scraggle in hues of light brown and cream, this Little Owl is lain supine atop a plain white towel. The look in the owl's eyes is a little seductive, as if to say "draw me like one of your French owls"

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 2w ago

Before and after, 7 days apart. Rescued by a keen-eyed driver, this car-hit Australian Boobook was soon given an assessment, meds and time to rest before release. Want to donate to Mosswood Wildlife? mosswoodwildlife.org.au/donate Source: fb.com/147448698471... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

With eyes so wide they're practically popping out of their sockets, the same Boobook is once more wrapped in a towel in a clinical setting. This time the cloth is decorated with white stripes and alternating bars of pastel yellow, magenta and cyan, the latter of which is wrapped in a black double helix like it's the Rod of Asclepius. Fitting, given it symbolises health and renewal, and this owl looks both healthy and renewed (and extremely alert).

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3w ago

An endangered Short-Eared Owl was found in a ditch with a fractured wing. Vets at Cornell's Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital helped with the owl's recovery and eventual return to the wild. Want to donate to JLS? www.vet.cornell.edu/giving/ways-... Source: fb.com/864914120031... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Short-Eared Owl is lain upon a white towel folded and formed in the shape of a donut. Her body sits in the hollow, and head is raised with lemon-yellow eyes fixed on the camera: bright rings around wide black pupils. Her beak is slightly open, and if she had eyebrows they'd be raised. She has an overall appearance of shock, somewhere between fright and delight. Feathers are brunette with streaks of blonde, and those around the chin and neck are ruffled by the towel - they overhang the crest of the donut and almost give the impression the owl has a beard. A blue bandage wraps a wing to the side.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · last mo.

Not all owls on the ground need help! This young Long-Eared Owl was thought to have fallen from the nest, but was in fact a fledgling learning to fly. More info about this one at: owlsintowels.org/flight-test-... via u/bl00dspilled at reddit.com/r/Owls/comme... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A young Long-Eared Owl - mistakable for a Jim Henson muppet - is wrapped in a pale slate-blue microfibre towel, above a grassy setting. Two hands hold the bundle of owl in the exact fashion someone might hold a burger between bites.

Snapped from over-the-shoulder, the fledgling peers up at camera with orange eyes like undersized lifebuoys. Now pocketed inside the towel and flattened to the captor's chest - and continuing the food theme from before - he looks more like calzone than burger.

In this view the owl is cloaked in the towel. He sports feathers grey and brown, coated in a fine ashy-white fuzz typical of a fledgling. His chest feathers are matted and scraggly. His beak appears large, disproportionately so, but he will grow into it. His expression is vacant - he holds in his eyes not a hint of malice, wrath, nor bloodlust. Not yet. We will watch his career with great interest.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · last mo.

A Cape Eagle-Owl was admitted to Johannesburg Wildlife Vet for a wrist injury. After rest, physiotherapy and flight testing he was banded and released back whence he came. Want to donate? www.johannesburgwildlifevet.com/make-a-donat... Source: fb.com/401532551848... #owlsintowels 💛🦉 🇿🇦

An orange-eyed owl wears a purple towel like a thick-collared winter coat. The rehabilitator behind wears a blue nylon tee and holds the rugby ball sized bundle of bird with fanned fingers that meet mid-torso, thumbs obscured. The owl rotates his head a touch, watching someone or something left of frame. His plumicorns are tall and V-shaped toward the beak, complemented by an angled brow that gives an expression of subdued rage.

Sans towel, the owl is now shackled at the feet by the rehabber's clenched hand, and held in the other at a 45 degree angle, the way one might wield a cudgel or a tennis racket. Heretofore unseen is the injured wing, wrapped with cyan gauze and affixed with pink elastic plaster. Also on display is the owl's full plumage in shades of dark brown and mottled with patches of tan and white. The owl looks directly at the camera with eyes W-I-D-E. The rage from the previous photo is no longer subdued.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · last mo.

An Austalian Boobook at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital was pictured in a news article saying the facility struggles to source steady income, meanwhile patient numbers surge. Donate to CWH at currumbinsanctuary.com.au/wildlife-hos... Source: goldcoastbulletin.com.au/190b1acf2eef... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A grouchy looking Boobook is wrapped in a thick white towel, held by a rehabber wearing a stethoscope over teal scrubs. Her mossy olive green eyes (the owl, not the rehabber) are dilated and crossed, under a white-accented brow in the shape of an angry boomerang, amongst feathers that are otherwise brown and tan.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Eastern Barn Owl "Willy" was found seriously underweight but is now rehydrated and on solid food thanks to care at Boobook Wildlife Shelter 🇦🇺 For those willing and able BWS accepts donations to bank acc. listed on their fb page fb.com/boobookwildl... Source: fb.com/313079971372... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Barn Owl gazes at the camera with a pair of almond-shaped black eyes. The fine white feathers around his face have natural crevices, forming a V shape from the inside corner of each eye and converging at the tip of his pinkish-white beak. It's like a lowercase q and p were conjoined at the tail, and angling towards 11 and 1 o'clock. He appears wise, draped in a sage towel as if posing for a royal portrait.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This Screech Owl was left unable to fly due to (sadly) some very ignorant human activity. Thankfully, rescuers took him to wildlife experts at Owl Whisperer so his feathers can grow back. Donation link: owlwhispererws.wixsite.com/owl-whispere... Source: instagram.com/p/DYewkLqEc_V #owlsintowels 💛🦉 🇵🇦

Yellow eyes peer out from a ball of grey fuzz: a Screech Owl, wrapped neatly in a plain white towel. The close-up makes the towel textures stand out as soft bristles cast in light and shadow, as it does the owl's feathers. The rehabilitator's thumb and forefinger hold the towel in a C-shape bottom left of frame.

The owl's wing feathers are splayed out on a tabletop like a fan, showing how the feathers were clipped. It appears the primary wing feathers were cut by a third or more.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Two branching GHOWs were grounded and had to be re-nested. Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre posted: "After a thorough check, and a few good meals, they were ready to return home." Want to donate to OVWBCC? www.wildbirdcarecentre.org/donate Source: fb.com/860422619451... #owlsintowels 💛🦉 🇨🇦

A Great Horned Owlet is contained in a vanilla pillow case. The case colour matches his/her fuzzy fledgling feathers, like frosted tips on plumage that is otherwise tan, brown and black. The setting is a forest floor: an orange climbing rope is coiled below with brown pine needles and leaf litter strewn about.

A second owlet appears. The pair of GHOWs are perched fore and aft on a branch in a brightly-lit enclosure. The owls' silhouettes blend with the off-white wooden trellis walls behind, making it hard to make out the horns for which the species is named (i.e. the tufts of feathers that ostensibly look like ears). The tufts are only short round nubbins at this early life stage. Any excuse to use the word nubbin, really.

Close up of one of the owlets, with pale yellow eyes and mouth agape trying to exclaim in owl-speak "back off strange bear!"

Shot from afar, one of the owlets is centre of frame, perched high in a pine tree. Ottawa Valley WBCC reported the parent owls excitedly welcomed the owls back within an hour of them returning to the tree.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A Barred Owl was wrapped in a towel for a final round of roundworm meds, and self-feeding which is always a great sign of progress, at Congress of the Birds, Rhode Island. Want to donate? congressofthebirds.org#GETINVOLVED Source: instagram.com/p/DFz87n4xpCJ #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A towel-wrapped Barred Owl is held by a rehabber wearing a pair of semi-transparent gloves. At least, I hope they're gloves or this person has no fingernails. The owl's feathers are an ashy mix of brown and white, eyes are black, and beak is yellow the tone of aged cheddar. The towel is patterned in broad stripes of white and brick-red. Though it should be noted, the redness of the brick usually depends on the clay whence it was fired, so for the sake of geographical agnosticism, let's call it a shade between persimmon and vermilion. Persimilion perhaps?

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Peaches the Masked Owl has cleared a recent infection thanks to the teams at Raptor Refuge and Wildlife Recovery Australia. She’s active again and perching with her boyfriend Patches. Want to donate to RR? raptorrefuge.com.au/make-a-donat... Source: fb.com/reel/2056207... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I Was Sprayed by a Skunk! 🦨💨 This Great Horned Owl was temporarily blinded but thanks to multiple baths at South Plains Wildlife Rehab was cleared for release. Want to donate to South Plains? spwrc.org/donate Source: fb.com/166453610695... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Great Horned Owl is wrapped in a peach towel, the hood of which is seated behind his/her plumicorns; feather tufts that looks like ears and in this case are pointed up and a little matted. In addition to the towel, the owl wears an expression of malcontent, amplified by extra wide pupils and a steep angled brow. Unhand me human or my wrath will be swift.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This little extra terrestrial 👽 is a Collared Scops Owl at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. We don't have intake info but we know they're exceptionally cute. Congrats to WFFT for 25 years! Want to donate? wfft.org/donate Source: fb.com/101527363704... #owlsintowels 💛🦉 🇹🇭

A young Collared Scops Owl is wrapped in a vanilla towel. She has large black eyes like a pair of obsidian walnuts.

A close up of our friend, with a cut of pinkish white meat in her beak. We get more detail of her black eyes reflecting the ceiling lights, her pink-lined eyelids, and her feathers in shades of black brown and white, with no easily discernible pattern except a hint of concentric stripes.

The rehabilitator holds the bundle of owl in towel steady with their left hand, while their right emerges from bottom frame to deliver a morsel of meat to the young owl.

The E.T. owl is cloaked in the towel, still, and has her feet raised with talons ready to slice and/or puncture any who dare get close. She has a tiny chunk of food remaining on the tip of her beak.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A Spotted Eagle-Owl with unusually heavy feather fraying and a lice infestation is recovering at African Raptor Centre until a full moult restores flight. Image courtesy of ARC africanraptor.com via fb.com/135338077682... #owlsintowels 💛🦉 🇿🇦

A Spotted Eagle-Owl is wrapped in a plain cornflower blue towel. His flattened "ear" tufts and ovoid shape gives him the silhouette of a rugby ball with a tricorne. And with mouth open, tongue raised and head tilted slightly back, his expression could easily be associated with laughter, but if we're honest, that should be prefixed by "mans". Either way the rehabber is about to bear the brunt of it.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A Great Horned Owl at MARS Wildlife Rescue models how rehabilitators weigh larger birds by safely wrapping them in a towel and placing them claws-up in a box. Want to donate to MARS? marswildliferescue.com/donate-funds/ Source: instagram.com/p/DDcbsQXPGHv #owlsintowels 💛🦉 🇨🇦

A Great Horned Owl is wrapped in a loose burrito of beige towel. Her ear tufts are flat, making her head look particularly rounded. Her top eyelids are lowered a little, and she has a prominent brow, accented by light brown feathers, giving her yellow eyes an overall perturbed yet stern expression. One pupil is dilated more than the other, which (fun fact!) is something owls can do independently, allowing them to control the amount of light each eye receives.

A pair of fuzzy owl feet are bunched together and talons curled-inwards, rising up and out from a bundle of towel. The rest of the owl is obscured, so it's just feet, emerging from a white polystyrene box on a set of electronic scales.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Rescued after a car strike, this Eastern Screech Owl is resting up for a few weeks of TLC before heading back to treetop snuggles with his lifelong mate. Want to donate to Sweetbriar Nature Center? sweetbriarnc.org/how-can-i-he... Source: instagram.com/p/DVZSNpYEp7y/ #owlsintowels 💛🦉

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Rehabilitators at Erminea in Switzerland treated a Long-Eared Owl with a dislocated coracoid, posting that they were doing everything they could to get him back on his feet. Want to donate to Erminea? erminea.org/index.php?na... Source: fb.com/761827339368... #owlsintowels 💛🦉🇨🇭

A pair of lava-lamp-orange eyes are the highlight of this Long-Eared Owl's face, brighter in tone than the coral orange towel in which he is wrapped. The namesake 'ears' of his species are rabbit-like, curving outwards, but lacking fur and cartilage; they are feathers after all. His real ears are at eye-level, obscured by feathers (and cotton). His beak and eyes are open: slightly and very, respectively. A complete look of indignation.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A road-rescued Boobook is Burrito'd by rehabber Josh who notes "No wing damage, just a rough day and a bit stunned. Looking bright enough to give the wild another crack." To donate to Josh Neille (On Ya!) visit thewombatguy.com.au/make-a-donat... Source: instagram.com/p/DVB_MlCktGv/ #owlsintowels 💛🦉

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Red Wolf Sanctuary posted this Eastern Screech Owl with the caption: "This towel is warm. I was just fed. My face is still messy. Red Wolf is taking great care of me. I'm gonna take a nap now." Want to donate to RWS? redwolf.org/general-dona... Source: fb.com/102603184628... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A gray-morph Eastern Screech Owl has eyes like golden kiwifruit. Her feathers fuzzily fluctuate between shades of ashy white and black granite. She's wrapped in a white towel, or, it would be white if not for the spillage of contents from her most recent meal; a mess of mouse juice soaking across her beak, chin bristles, and towel. Culinary etiquette aside, she's cute as a button.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This Burrowing Owl had 3 surgeries following severe barbed-wire injuries. Thankfully Ojai Raptor Center gave a bright prognosis saying "he/she is looking good for recovery and release!" Want to donate to Ojai Raptor Center? ojairaptorcenter.org/donate Source: fb.com/333877986956... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A bright-eyed BUOW, or Burrowing Owl if you're not into the whole brevity thing, is wrapped in a baby blue fabric, held in the thick-gloved hand of a rehabilitator. The owl's eyes are lemon yellow, and his/her plumage is white across the eyebrows and chin, and tan to dark brown everywhere else, featuring light speckles across the forehead. The wrap forms a high upturned collar like Dracula. Dracowla? Draculowl? We'll keep working on that.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This Screech Owl injured his leg quite badly after getting it wedged in the gap of a tree. Thankfully there was no fracture and the rehabilitators at Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge expected he would recover. Want to donate? hobbitstee.com/donate.php Source: fb.com/103529687864... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A grey, black and white Screech Owl with the faintest tinges of tan here and there, is cloaked in a white towel. The most colourful part of the photo is the blue bandage around his right leg. His plumicorns (raised tufts that look like ears) are at full mast, and his talons are clenched. His eyes are grey-green, dilated, and express a sentiment best described as nope-nope-not-happy.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"Just the back and sides, please." Photo: ANNIE MARIE MUSSELMAN www.anniemusselman.com Original text: "a rescued Northern Saw-whet Owl at a wildlife rehab center near Seattle where I worked and photographed for 7 years.❤️❤️❤️" Source: instagram.com/p/B9-VpQOg1a1/ #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Saw-whet Owl is wrapped in a textured vanilla towel, held upright by the spread digits of a rehabilitator in aqua-blue scrubs. The owl's eyes are dilated, and lids relaxed, giving an expression of sedate nonchalance. Irises appear as half rings of cadmium yellow. The shape of the wrap is trapezoidal (a wrapezoid?), or in 3D a frustum, which combined with the owl's feathery orb of a head makes an outline like a chess pawn, or an old-timey keyhole. Or a patron at the barber.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 4mo ago

What Big Eyes You Have! A Place Called Hope (Center for Birds of Prey) posted this Great Horned Owl with the caption "Owl In A Towel…Don’t know HOO started this trend but… here ya go!" Want to donate to APCH? aplacecalledhoperaptors.com/donate-today/ Source: fb.com/821693210428... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A close-up of a Great Horned Owl wrapped in a vanilla-beige towel and held by a rehabber with thick black gloves. The owl has distinct rictal bristles around her graphite-black beak, and bulbous eyes, lemon yellow in the brightly lit indoor setting. Her top eyelids are 90% open, but the slight droop gives the impression that she is tired or forlorn. Her plumage is barred across the chest, alternating dark-brown and white, with sporadic bursts of caramel.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 5mo ago

A Little Owl was rescued after falling down a chimney. South Essex Wildlife Hospital reported he was "dirty and dehydrated but soon on his way back home". Want to donate to SEWH? southessexwildlife.org/donate Source: fb.com/555952912555... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Little Owl is bundled in a baby blue towel on a table with an expression of malcontent. His eyes are squinted and slightly crossed, and match his waxy yellow beak in colour. He appears chinless, recessing his head into his body; eyes at the same level as his shoulders and squashed as though someone had tried resizing him in a Word document and forgot to lock the aspect ratio.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Iain McGregor captures this adorable shot of a Ruru/Morepork being cared for at Christchurch's South Island Wildlife Hospital in Episode Two of the stuff.co.nz series 'This Is How It Ends'.⁠ Want to donate to SIWH? wildlifehospital.co.nz/help-us/ Source: instagram.com/p/CVwzuBIMn-n/ #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A close-up of a Ruru / Morepork. A fluorescent tube light is reflected in each of her big round shiny eyes; black pupils ringed by irises of honey-yellow. She is wrapped in a light lavender-blue fabric with what looks to be a very soft material and stitch pattern. The Ruru's feathers are dark brown with streaks of tan, and an X-shaped bridge of cream above the beak and between her anime-character eyes.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 5mo ago

How to Burrito an Owl A guide by @barnowltrust.bsky.social shows how to wrap owls like burritos so they can be more easily be examined, treated and fed by a wildlife carer. More detail at owlsintowels.org/how-to-wrap-... Donate to Barn Owl Trust barnowltrust.org.uk/support-us/d... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A grid of photos 3 by 3 showing the steps to wrap an owl in a towel. It starts with our model Barn Owl face-down, legs straight on a flat folded towel on a tabletop, and ends with the rehabilitator sitting on a stool with a perfect burritowl wedged securely between their knees. The benefit of this procedure is the rehabber now has both hands free to administer fluids, food, and medication.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Burrowing Owl 'Marathon' in Arizona received laser treatment for a leg injury when one of the volunteers snapped this cute picture. Want to donate to Wild At Heart Raptors? wildatheartraptors.org/donate/?refe... Source: fb.com/526080430065... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Burrowing Owl wears a bright green towel or towel-adjacent fabric like a headscarf. His eyes are wide and yellow, with oval pupils reflecting a trio of ceiling lights. Feathers are brown and white, with a thatch of tan across the chest. His rictal bristles around his pale yellow beak are damp and pink, presumably from his latest meal, but due to lack of time / awareness / shame / napkins he has been unable to clean himself for the photoshoot.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Blue Ridge Audubon recently awarded a grant to study Northern Saw-whet Owl migration in the Appalachian Mountains. Funding will provide GPS+radio tags to help track this secretive forest species. Want to donate? blueridgeaudubon.org/donate Source: instagram.com/p/DSYbKGojVDH/ #owlsintowels 💛🦉

An amber-eyed Saw-Whet Owl is contained in a draw-string pouch with a green and white zigzag pattern. On the table behind and out of focus is a pair of red handles, most likely belonging to a banding tool used for attaching a metal bracelet to the owl's foot. Researchers assign each band a unique code to help study species movements, migration and population estimates. The bands are lightweight and do not impact the owl's natural day-to-day living.

Owls in Towels @owls-in-towels.bsky.social · 5mo ago

A Burrowing Owl was evacuated shortly before hurricane Milton flooded CROW campus in Sanibel, FL. The wildlife hospital continued triage at a temp site until the waters receded and power was restored. Want to donate to CROW? crowclinic.org/support-crow Source: fb.com/106815280135... #owlsintowels 💛🦉

A Burrowing Owl is wrapped in a brick orange towel, facing the camera with a curious expression. He has wide pupils ringed by sunflower yellow irises, framed by plumage of brown and ashy white. The pattern is in spots across the forehead and bars across the chest. His feet are turned to the side and raised, claws outstretched like it's thriller night. An unseen hand is holding him from behind, or he would probably not be upright for the photo.