Welcome
Updated: Aug 30
Welcome to my new updates page! A huge thank you to everyone who has made the move over from Facebook. Since that page is now retired, I wanted to ensure my very first post here was a special one.
Some of you will remember the young tawny owl I took in from another rescue last year. Because the owlet had become deeply imprinted on humans, "she" (whom we named Claudia) was far too tame. She spent a few months in my care before moving to the outdoor aviary to learn how to be wild. We fed her completely out of sight to break the human connection, and by August 2025—the natural dispersal season—we decided it was time for release.
It wasn't an immediate success!
Claudia still associated humans with food, frequently flying over my head in the evenings to wait by her old feeding station. This is a good example of why all wildlife needs to be rehabbed carefully. Though we worried about her progress, we chose to step back and give her space to adjust. It worked. Her visits grew further apart, and by December, she had disappeared into the wild, allowing us to finally stop supplemental feeding.
Since then, around our house has been filled with the calls of male and female tawny owls. We always hoped it was her. Recently, their late-night duets right outside our bedroom window have been waking us up, and we even spotted a male perched in our ash tree.
Curiosity got the better of me on Wednesday. I put the old feeding platform back up, left some food out, and set up a trail camera. By Thursday morning, the food was gone. When I checked the footage, there she was!
Except "she" is actually a "he," so please welcome Claude! For those unfamiliar with owl calls, the females make the sharp "twit" sound, while the males answer with the classic "hoooooo."
I am absolutely thrilled that he has survived a full year on his own after such an uncertain start. I don't know exactly what brought him back to the platform—the dry weather may be making natural hunting difficult—but providing a little extra support during this stretch feels like the least I can do.
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Awesome xxx