Owl clings to ambulance roof for trip to Bridgend A&E

2 December 2019

An owl flew into an ambulance heading to a hospital - then clung on to the blue lights until it arrived.

The bird was on the roof when the ambulance stopped at the A&E at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend at 04:00 GMT on Sunday.

Staff said the bird seemed a little stunned and had damage to its eye, but was otherwise unhurt.

Maes Glas vets agreed to look after the owl, which is now being cared for at the Gower Bird Sanctuary.

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48-Million-Year-Old Fossil Owl Is Almost Perfectly Preserved

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | October 23, 2018 08:19am ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — About 48 million years ago, an owl swooped down to catch its prey, not by the light of the moon but in broad daylight.

How do paleontologists know this fowl wasn't a night owl? They found the exquisitely preserved remains of an owl, and its skull shares a telltale characteristic with modern-day hawks, which also hunt by day, the researchers said.

The finding is extraordinary, largely because it's rare to find fossilized owls, especially one that has so many preserved bones, said project co-researcher Elizabeth Freedman Fowler, an assistant professor at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, who dubbed the specimen "the finest fossil owl." [Whooo Knew? 10 Superb Facts About Owls]

"There is no fossil owl with a skull like this," Freedman Fowler told Live Science. "Bird skulls are incredibly thin and fragile, so to have one preserved still in three dimensions, even if slightly crushed, it's amazing. It even has the hyoids at the bottom, the bones that attach to the tongue muscles."

The skull is in such good shape that the researchers noticed that the supraorbital processes (the regions above the eye sockets) have a bony overhang, making it look as if the owl had a mini baseball cap on top of each eye, according to the research, which was presented here at the 78th annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology on Oct. 19. The study has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

This overhang "gives you shade so you don't get dazzled [by the sun]," said project lead research Denver Fowler, a curator of paleontology at the Badlands Dinosaur Museum in North Dakota. This feature is weak or absent in nocturnal owls, but it's common in modern hawks and daytime owls, he noted.

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Owl attacks joggers and steals their hats - update

Friday 6 February 2015 01.55 GMT

Oregon officials are warning early morning joggers and park visitors in the state capital, Salem, to watch out for an owl that steals hats after at least four people were attacked in a month.

No one was seriously hurt in any of the incidents but Brad Hilliard, 36, is one of the joggers who have lost headwear in a brush with the bird.

“It was kind of amazing how it just swooped down and grabbed my hat like that,” Hilliard said.

“It just pulled it right off my head like it was nothing!”

Keith Keever, the city’s parks superintendent, said officials had never heard of a case like it before.

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Man says owl attacked him, 5 others

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- It is majestic, but it's terrifying. Neighbors in Jacksonville Beach say something is terrorizing the neighborhood from the sky and even attacking people. First Coast News reporter, David Williams, and photographer, Jimmy Marlow, saw the owl first hand.

Jack Weyer, of Jacksonville Beach, said the owl attacked him recently.

"Out of the blue, it just came right down on the back of my head," He said. 'I just felt like, two talons right on the back of my head, grab and kid of pull away."

Eight- year-old, Sophia Forte, said she had an owl ordeal of her own 2 weeks ago.

"It flew down and hit my inside my eye and inside my hair and on my forehead," She said, as she described what she says happened to her.

Her father told us he wound up in the emergency room, but she is OK now. So far neighbors told First Coast News the bird has hurt 5 kids plus Weyer. The bird of prey has people on their toes and it has them freaked out.

"They're nervous," Frank Forte said. He told FCN his daughter was attacked. "They're going outside...the kids are going out with helmets on. Umbrellas. Even when I go take the garbage out at night. I got a cardboard box over my head."

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Owl attacks hawk at Vermont LL Bean store display

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The grand opening of an L.L. Bean store in Vermont has ruffled some feathers, with an owl attacking a hawk in a shopping mall display.

Officials say a European eagle owl attacked a Harris's hawk Friday in Burlington's Town Center Mall.

The Burlington Free Press reports witnesses said the owl squeezed the hawk in its claws for several minutes, causing the hawk to shriek.

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Camouflaged bird sparks owl hunt at Chatsworth

Popular Peak District photographer Villager Jim has captured the owl’s art of camouflage in this fantastic picture.
As masters of disguise, the owl can only just be spotted waiting for their prey in the early hours at Chatsworth but they could not escape Villager Jim. The creatures used a wall, a tree and a barn doorway as cover.

Villager Jim said the owls are getting used to him now so they don’t fly away.

http://www.matlockmercury.co.uk/news/local/camouflaged-bird-sparks-owl-hunt-at-chatsworth-1-6874098

Owl Enters 10th Story Apartment, Kills Canary

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Aug 18, 2014, 12:25 PM ET

An owl flew into a 10th story apartment in Coeur d'Alene, apparently opened a bird cage and killed one of two canaries inside, the residents said.

Sue Sausser said she awakened Sunday to find bird droppings and feathers all over her apartment, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported (http://bit.ly/1riwYfi).

Sausser found the brownish, yellow-eyed owl between the wall and the chest of drawers on which the bird cage sits. It flew out the door and perched on their balcony railing long enough for them to take a few pictures. Don Sausser estimated the owl was 6 to 8 inches tall.

Sue and Don Sausser found one of their canaries dead in the cage. The other seemed jumpy and anxious, they said.

Beth Paragamian, wildlife education specialist with for Idaho Fish and Game and the Bureau of Land Management, said it's strange that an owl would be flying so high in an area without many tall trees and surprising that it would enter a residence, much less open a bird cage.

"That is very unusual," she said.

Don Sausser said they'll likely still leave their sliding glass door open on warm summer evenings, but plan to use twist ties to secure the door on the bird cage.

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Information from: Coeur d'Alene Press, http://www.cdapress.com

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Owl recorded in Oman could be a new species

Ornithologists working in Oman say an owl discovered in a remote, mountainous region could be a new species.

Wildlife sound-recordist Magnus Robb told BBC News that he heard the bird's call whilst trying to record the call of another type of owl.

After repeated trips to the remote site, he and a colleague - naturalist and photographer Arnoud van den Berg - captured photographs of the bird.

They have published their observations in the journal Dutch Birding.

Mr Robb's first recordings of the bird's unfamiliar hoot were a serendipitous discovery in March of this year.

"I was listening through my headphones, when I suddenly heard something completely different [to the owl species I was there to record]," he told BBC News.

"I know the other Arabian owl sounds quite well, and this was clearly something that didn't fit."

The bird call expert said he had a "good inkling straight away that this could be something new".

"I even phoned a colleague a few minutes later and said, 'I think I've just discovered a new species of owl."

read on

Minerva the owl is a real head turner: Bird spins her head 180 degrees during photoshoot

This owl may have been left wondering if turning her head completely upside down was a very wise thing to do. 

The intrigued bird spun her head around as she listened to a camera busily snapping away at her. 

The owl, called Minerva, twisted her head in confusion and continued until it had moved a full 180 degrees.

Owls cannot move their eyes in their sockets because of their large size that enable them to catch prey in the dark. 

Therefore, they rely on a deceptively long and flexible neck that enables them to rotate their heads. 

As the sound continued Minerva turned her head a full 180 degrees

The birds can move their head up to 270 degrees in either direction to see their surroundings. 

Photographer Lisa Kee, 48, caught the painful-looking pose on camera. 

She said it was the first time she had seen an owl fully rotate their head. 

Ms Kee said: 'Minerva was turning her head from side to side quite intrigued with the noise from my camera and then just flipped it upside down.

'I have watched birds of prey turn their heads all different ways but to see one completely upside down like this was a first. 

'I had to double check my camera to see it actually happened.

'The photo has become my most popular I have ever taken over the years.

'I get many compliments but also people who think it's not real and that I photoshopped it because it is so unusual.

'That's not the case and I'm pleased I had my camera with me that day to capture something so funny.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317480/Owl-captured-camera-spins-head-180-degrees.html#ixzz2S34JYFPa

Owl attack terror in Inverness - via Lindsay Selby

By Jenna Conti

A MAN was rushed to Raigmore Hospital after he was left bleeding from the back of his head following a bizarre attack involving an owl.

The incident took place in a built up area of Inverness near to the city centre.

John Mackay (58) was taken by surprise when he claims the large bird of prey, believed to be an Eagle Owl, knocked him to the ground and attacked the back of his head on Saturday evening.

The incident happened just outside the Masonic Club on Gordon Terrace in Inverness at around 9.15pm.

If you have seen the owl in our around Inverness city centre or in a built up area contact the Highland News on 01463 732230 or emailnewsdesk@highland-news.co.uk

For the full story, see this week’s Highland News.

http://www.highland-news.co.uk/News/Owl-attack-terror-in-Inverness-24012013.htm

Miracle owl survives head-on collision with pickup truck

A miracle owl lived to fly another day after surviving a head-on collision with a moving Ford pickup.

The brown feathered bird was left with its head lodged firmly in the grill of the truck following the accidental smash in Addison County, Vermont, on December 11.

‘I received a call from the driver a little after five in the morning explaining that he had hit an owl,’ explained biologist David Sausville, of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

‘He said that the owl was still alive and was lodged in his truck.’

The man slowly drove the bird eight miles to where he worked before calling for help.

After Mr Sausville arrived at the scene, the pair worked together to free the tangled up owl who was hit as it swooped down on some prey.

Using a pair of thick welding gloves, the animal expert held the owl by its talons while the driver worked to remove its head from the grill.

Continued:  http://metro.co.uk/2012/12/20/miracle-owl-survives-head-on-collision-with-pickup-truck-3325467/

Gandalf, the agoraphobic owl, is given his own brick house

Gandalf the great grey owl peers out of a window at Knowsley Safari Park 

Photo: Mark Bridger / Rex Features

An owl who is afraid of flying outside in big open spaces has been given his own red brick house.

Gandalf the Great Grey Owl gets scared flying out in the open so his owners have built his aviary inside a brick shed.

He now spends his days watching the world go by out of his window.

"He is a bit of a wuss as he doesn't like flying in big open spaces," said owner Janet Southard, who runs the Wild Arena photography company, based inside Knowsley Safari Park near Liverpool.

"When we moved here we put him in the shed temporarily while we built his aviary outside.

"But he didn't want to move so now he has an aviary inside the lovely red brick shed.

"He loves sitting at the window and watching the other birds."

But amateur photographer Mark Bridger, 44, from Kent, had quite a fright when he saw the big round face at the window.

"I looked around and saw this face at the window, then suddenly realised it was an owl. It gave me quite a shock.

"You don't normally expect to see an owl in a house. He looked quite ghostly."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9647925/Gandalf-the-agoraphobic-owl-is-given-his-own-brick-house.html#