Short-Eared Owl – Owls in Towels https://owlsintowels.org/ Mon, 12 Oct 2026 07:15:00 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 https://owlsintowels.org/content/media/tBNh7to.png Short-Eared Owl – Owls in Towels https://owlsintowels.org/ 32 32 Alaskan Short-Eared Burrito https://owlsintowels.org/alaskan-short-eared-burrito/ https://owlsintowels.org/alaskan-short-eared-burrito/#respond Sun, 11 Oct 2026 23:00:00 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=4930 Pictured from above is a Short-Eared Owl wrapped in a tight and thick pink-grey towel like an upside-down turban. His/her pupils look upwards, dilated, with crescents of yellow left and right. A lion's mane of tan and brown chin feathers overhang the wrap, and between the eyes is a cream mask in the shape of a rabbit's head 🐰 (with an owl beak where the rabbit's face would be). Also, sighted people tell me if I'm wrong - it might be the non-angular brow shape, or it could be some kind of reverse imprinting - but SEOWs somehow always look placid, as if they are incapable of expressing anger. A wild animal yes, but one must ask: “If not friend, why friend shaped?”

12th of Owltober!

A Short-Eared Owl Burritowl (a.k.a. Patient no. 26-532) was admitted to Bird Treatment and Learning Center last week. He or she is still at the clinic and the prognosis is hopeful.

Original post – 02 Oct 2026 (supplied)
by Bird Treatment and Learning Center

Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
located in Anchorage, Alaska, US 🇺🇸

Link to donate to Bird TLC for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared OwlWiki link
]]> https://owlsintowels.org/alaskan-short-eared-burrito/feed/ 0 Donut Startle Me Like That https://owlsintowels.org/donut-startle-me-like-that/ https://owlsintowels.org/donut-startle-me-like-that/#respond Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=4522 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.

Original post – 28 Sep 2025
by Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital

located in Ithaca, New York, US 🇺🇸
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Original text:

Within the walls of our hospital, we see only one of the many steps that a wild animal often goes through from the time it is first found until it is released back to the wild.

In late November 2024, one of our faculty veterinarians was fortunate enough to participate in many of the steps to recovery for a short-eared owl patient. When she was alerted by a family member about an owl on the ground in the front yard of an acquaintance, she drove over to help. She scooped up the short-eared owl that was laying in a ditch next to the road and brought it to the hospital for treatment of its broken wing.

A couple of days later, she repaired the small bone at the tip of the owl’s wing that was fractured into multiple pieces. After several weeks of healing, followed by several more weeks of flight conditioning at Kindred Kingdoms Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Dr. Childs was thrilled to release the bird in the same location where it was found.

In New York State, short-eared owls are listed as endangered. Open grasslands that support populations of the small rodents that these owls hunt are essential for their survival and recovery. The Finger Lakes region, where this owl was found, is an area in NY where short-eared owls tend to concentrate in the winter. Now that it is fall again and migration is underway, we are hoping that this owl is on its way back home to the Finger Lakes!

Link to donate to Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared OwlWiki link
]]> https://owlsintowels.org/donut-startle-me-like-that/feed/ 0 Yellow Parentheses https://owlsintowels.org/yellow-parentheses/ https://owlsintowels.org/yellow-parentheses/#respond Wed, 10 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=2725 A Short Eared Owl is bundled in a brown towel. The owl's eyes - wide in size and narrow in focus - appear mostly black from the pupils within, and are flanked by crescents of yellow, like bright parentheses. He has white feathers about his face, punctuated by a black beak and surrounded by a mane of caramel, brown and charcoal feathers.

Original post – 04 Dec 2021
by Discovery Bay Wild Bird Rescue
located in Port Townsend, Washington US
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Original text:

This is a short-eared owl. He weighs 310 grams-so not very big. A female might weigh up to 500 grams. His name refers to two small feather tufts on the top of the head. This cute guy was caught in a barbed-wire fence and tore a large portion of his right wing open. Dr. Ginny Johnson was able to surgically suture soft tissue back together. We did it right here at our facilities new surgical suite. Your donation dollars at work! We put a new anesthesia machine, wet table, and surgical light to use. These owls are disappearing all around the country and are endangered in some states. Here, they are a species of great concern. Habitat loss and predation are the main causes. His recovery depends on how well his wounds heal. We are providing expert care and hope he gets to be released!

An oblique close-up of the owl in an enclosure with natural light. A purple bandage takes up the bottom left of frame, wrapped around the owl's wing. The owl's attention is off-camera somewhere. The owl's eye is a black circle surrounded by a narrow ring of yellow, like a solar eclipse.
Same owl, different towel. The rehabilitator wears a blue hoodie and holds the owl lightly to their chest, with the owl's legs locked between their fingers. The owl's talons are in grabby mode. His expression is, despite everything, fairly neutral. Maybe a little grumpy, but a neutral kind of grumpy.

Link to donate to Discovery Bay Wild Bird Rescue for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared OwlWiki link
]]> https://owlsintowels.org/yellow-parentheses/feed/ 0 Short Eared Burrito https://owlsintowels.org/short-eared-burrito/ https://owlsintowels.org/short-eared-burrito/#respond Sun, 26 Oct 2025 08:00:00 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=2364 A Short Eared Owl is in a tight burrito made from a plain white towel, held by a rehabilitator with blue medical gloves. Clinical equipment is laid out in the background, including scales and a feeding syringe. The owl's yellow eyes and black beak poke out above the edge of the wrap to face the camera. His features are compressed a little by the wrap, giving the outline of his head of a Goomba-like shape. His dark brown plumage looks like thick hair rather than feathers and it's reasonable to say he could be mistaken for Chewbacca the Wookiee, which raises a lot of portmanteau potential. Chewbagoomba? Goombacca? Woombie?

26th of Owltober!

A Pueo, also known as a Hawaiian Short-Eared Owl is wrapped up in a towel for his morning treatment at Hawai‘i Wildlife Center.

Original post – 05 Aug 2025
by Hawai‘i Wildlife Center
located in Kapa‘au, Hawai‘i
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Link to donate to Hawai‘i Wildlife Center for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared OwlWiki link
]]> https://owlsintowels.org/short-eared-burrito/feed/ 0 Hawai’ian Owl Rescue https://owlsintowels.org/hawaiian-owl-rescue/ https://owlsintowels.org/hawaiian-owl-rescue/#respond Mon, 04 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=2004 This Pueo's mane-like feathers are mottled with streaks of tan copper and dark brown. He is hooded by a plain white blanket or pillowcase, lifting one feather at the top of his head like a cowlick. His pupils are dilated--reflecting rectangles of light in the office environment--and circled by a pair of thin yellow irises shining at the camera. His focus is narrowed to a point slightly right of frame, perhaps at the rehabilitator holding him. The feathers around his eyes are darkest, though his brow is accentuated by creamier feathers, giving him an expression almost certainly matching his inner world, that he is perturbed by all of this.

Original post – 07 Oct 2021

by Hawai‘i Wildlife Center
located in Kapa‘au, Hawai‘i

Website | Instagram | Facebook

A native Hawaiian Short-Eared Owl, known locally as Pueo, was found injured on the island of Lāna‘i and brought to Pūlama Lāna‘i’s conservation team. After emergency care and a flight to the Hawai‘i Wildlife Center, he was treated for trauma and a broken collarbone from a car collision.

Six weeks later he was ready for release (see video).

The Pūlama team took the Pueo back to his home near Twin Peaks. On the dirt road, after the cover of his carrying crate came off, he sat there for a while, uncertain of his next step. After a little bit of coaxing from the Pūlama staff, the Pueo took off flying, perched on a nearby tree, and turned its head to give one final look at its rescuers.

Link to donate to Hawai‘i Wildlife Center for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared OwlWiki link
]]> https://owlsintowels.org/hawaiian-owl-rescue/feed/ 0 This Burrito Bites Back https://owlsintowels.org/this-burrito-bites-back/ Sat, 15 Mar 2025 23:00:30 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=1221 Original post – 23 Aug 2024 – Source

by Hawai‘i Wildlife Center located in Kapa‘au, Hawai‘i

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Just a quick checkup for this Pueo (Hawaiian Owl) patient and back to the aviary she goes for quiet time.

Link to donate to Hawai‘i Wildlife Center for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared owl1Wiki link

  1. One of the 11 subspecies of SEOW; the Hawaiian Short Eared Owl, Asio flammeus sandwichensis
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueo
    ↩︎
]]> Thick Gloves for Short-Eared Owl https://owlsintowels.org/thick-gloves-for-short-eared-owl/ https://owlsintowels.org/thick-gloves-for-short-eared-owl/#respond Sat, 11 Nov 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=743

Original post – 08 Nov 2016
by Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation

located in Madden, Alberta, Canada 🇨🇦
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

“Your Monday morning muse: Short-eared owl currently in care.”

For those willing and able please consider helping fund AIWC at the following link to MAKE A DONATION. Your generosity ensures the best possible care for their animal guests.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared owlWiki link
]]> https://owlsintowels.org/thick-gloves-for-short-eared-owl/feed/ 0 20 Miles Out at Sea https://owlsintowels.org/20-miles-out-at-sea/ https://owlsintowels.org/20-miles-out-at-sea/#respond Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://owlsintowels.org/?p=627

It’s possible this Short-Eared Owl was windswept, in search of food, or just plain lost, but then again SEOWs are known to travel long distances. Whatever the case this one was looking for a place to rest, and so perched itself atop a fishing rod, in this 2023 viral video:

The two fishermen in the video managed to get the owl into a blanket, and later released it back at the Sarasota shore in Florida.

Original video – 10 Jun 2023
Posted and edited by Paige Galdieri (@paigegaldieri on Instagram and TikTok). Andrew Galdieri, Paige’s sibling, is the one in the video holding the owl.

As an aside, this owl’s been doing the rounds online. In a post at r/BeAmazed somebody mentioned r/owlsintowels. This one comment brought 1200 or so new subscribers – so thank you to u/Virtu-92 for the shout out!

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Asio flammeusShort-eared owlWiki link
]]> https://owlsintowels.org/20-miles-out-at-sea/feed/ 0