Sad but so pretty - Woodowl

[eraaij]

On my quick forest-hike last Saturday, I encountered a creature that I have been frantically looking for. I always admired these silent hunters. We knew from their sound that there was at least one of these pretty birds around and my girlfriend even spotted it on one evening. I sure hope that this is not that exemplar.

I plan to fetch it and will bury it in my garden to get the bones and skull defleshed. Should make a nice skeleton project.

-Emile

 

[running bare]

any idea what it died of?? it was a beautiful creature

 

[wolf]

a truely lovely bird....did you know some american natives would run a mile if they saw that in the woods...i dont know if you do crafts,but the feathers are lovely for crafts such as shields etc,and the feathers are great for arrows as they fly silently.

 

[Wayne]

I'm not sure what the legal situation is having a wild bird skeleton?

Anyone know if your likely to get into strife?

 

[tomtom]

i think your ok to keep it unless it has a ring on it, in which case you need to report it but dont quote me on that. it certainly is a pretty thing.. was there no sign of cause of death.

 

[eraaij]

No, it did not have a ring on it. I reported it to the local "dead bird inventory project" here in The Netherlands (SOVON). I actually found this one in a patch of forest quite near a road with car traffic. So my guess is that it just got hit by a car. I"ll check the carcass for starvation marks.

It may not be completely legal to harvest, but I think that by burying it in the patch of forest in my backyard (essentially moving it from one patch or forest to another) and digging up some remains afterwards is not something that would get me in trouble. If I do not salvage it, it will rot away and no one will learn anything from it..

-Emile

 

[Stuart]

and the feathers are great for arrows as they fly silently.

they fly silently on the owl but unfortunatly not on arrows. I know somone who, using the same flawed logic fletched some arrows with owl feathers only to find that in practice they made a loud fluttering noise all the way to the target.

.

 

[Willowbark]

Don't wait too long to dig the bones up. They are fragile and disappear amazingly quickly in the ground.

 

[Topcat02]

Reading the paper yesterday there was a report of a female Eagle owl having been shot in the u.k.

Can't understand why someone would want to kill such a beautiful creature. The pair were supposed to have been located in a secret location, but a recent tv program featuring them must have raised the profile.

Real pity

 

[tomtom]

a lot of people dont like the fact that the Eagle owl is here as in holand they have been eating other birds of pray which we are pretty short of over here..

personaly i cant wait to see my first wild eagle owl in the uk

 

[ilovemybed]

That is a real shame, but then that's what happens in nature.

If you plan on making use of the carcass, I would recommend you approach it scientifically in case you discover it's been poisoned or other fowl play ( sorry, couldn't resist)

You might get an idea of what killed it if you remove the feathers first, as you will see skin damage or discolouration. Check the stomach/gizzard contents too. Once you have the skeleton you will also see any broken bones. Perhaps you can find a local vet or college Biology department to assist you?

Regards,
Neil

 

[wolf]

they fly silently on the owl but unfortunatly not on arrows. I know somone who, using the same flawed logic fletched some arrows with owl feathers only to find that in practice they made a loud fluttering noise all the way to the target.

.

i also know someone who when they fletched the arrow it flew silently

 

[British Red]

Reading the paper yesterday there was a report of a female Eagle owl having been shot in the u.k.

Can't understand why someone would want to kill such a beautiful creature. The pair were supposed to have been located in a secret location, but a recent tv program featuring them must have raised the profile.

Real pity

Sadly Eagle Owls are not protected in the UK as the RSPB does not consider them a native species

 

[tomtom]

i was under the impression the law had recently changed to include them as a protected species??

 

[tomtom]

http://www.rspb.org.uk/policy/species/eagleowl/index.asp

...Nevertheless, as a European species, the eagle owl is fully protected in Britain when they occur in a wild state, unless it can be shown they were bred in captivity.

bit sketchy on the rules