From Jack Halloway

While rounding up 9 Great Horned Owls to be released tonight, one of them was determined to not be caught. In his obstinency to avoid capture, he would hang like a bat instead of landing on one of the perches in reach of my snatching hands.

Ultimately, all were secured and released at multiple locations along the Salt River. Each looked strong in their rehabbed flight.

As a side note of personal entertainment to me, one excited onlooker at the last release site was surprised at how “small” these Great Horned seemed. “Small?”, I queried. “They’re the largest owl in Arizona.”

She confidently - and most adamantly - proclaimed one owl near her house has an 8-foot wingspan and is at least “this tall” as she held her hand just below her waist. Despite that being more than twice the actual size, I just smiled and said I’m glad she enjoys her wildlife.

I am always impressed at how magnificently people misjudge the size of animals at a distance versus up close.

My most memorable rescue of, what the caller described as, “an eagle in my backyard that comes up to my thigh” turned out to be an American Kestrel - which is the smallest falcon in the US standing at 8 inches tall.

Sometimes it’s just best to skip the education part and just smile and nod.

      • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
        4·
        3 months ago

        It’s so loud when they smack on that roof! I think I recall our “baby” GHO doing this when I came to feed it a few times, and the hawks do it a lot. I hate when they latch on like this to the inside of the door, since it puts both of us in a bad position! 😑

  • JetpackJackson@feddit.org
    8·
    3 months ago

    Hey I mean, we once had a huge hawk at our house (we knew how tall it was cause it was next to a wood post for the chicken coop that was a certain height) and it looked like a normal red tailed (or red shouldered) hawk, except it had a zig zag on its chest like Charlie brown! We stumped a renowned ornithologist with that when I went on a birdwatching field trip

  • BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip
    6·
    3 months ago

    We had two of these perched above our apartment one night, I can understand why someone might overestimate their size. They seem huge when you’re looking up at them.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      4·
      3 months ago

      This is my buddy, Elliot. He looks not so big from far away, but when he’s ready for you to leave, he gets big very quickly! Perceived size of a bird of prey seems to have a parabolic curve related to distance. Larger either the closer or further it gets… 😅

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      4·
      3 months ago

      To be fair, the dog probably listens 100x better, but the owl really cranks up the unpredictability factor and may be immune to mind control.