From South African Wildlife Rehab Center
It's not often we receive these White face owlets as tiny babies.. Fledglings arrive fairly often, but these itty bitty bundles of fluff (or in this case, "pre-fluff") are rare treasures.
This little character was taken in by Leanne Hezlett after being found and (very kindly but mistakenly) fed mince. Now, mince may fill the belly, but it's missing the critical ingredients... calcium and other nutrients needed to build bones, organs, and the all important owl swagger.
Once in Leanne's care, the owlet was immediately upgraded to a proper five star "owl menu"... one packed with everything her growing body needs. Over the next few weeks, this slightly scruffy baby will morph into a sleek, strong, beautiful night hunter. (In fact, give it a week and it'll be trading its "punk rock chick" look for the classic fluffball cute everyone expects from baby owls).
From there, it's just a matter of time before she is out in the wild, practicing pounces, and proving that those oversized talons really do mean business.
The Owl Rescue Centre has now taken over care of this tiny tot (plus another older White Faced Owlet fledgling). Over the coming weeks, they will ensure both get the best release site, support food, and a fair shot at ruling the night skies as the fierce little predators they were born to be.
Huge thanks once again to Owl Rescue Centre for collecting from us and for making sure even the scruffiest of beginnings can grow into the fluffiest, fiercest of futures.
His beak looks like a bird skull. Cool
Owls have really fun looking beaks. I always like when the photo lets you see that bird face.
The nostrils are called nares on birds. Owls have round ones, but other types of birds can have either round, oval, or linear openings.
The fleshy bit the nares go through is called the cere. Its function isn't totally understood, but most think it's got some function related to smell. Some species also have a cere that can become a different color depending on certain hormones. This can give a visual indication of what sex a bird is. No such luck for owls though.
Prime example for this are budgies. Usually it's possible to tell male and female budgies apart (though there's a lot of false info for pet budgies around). The cere can also clue you in on a budgie's maturity and especially on a female's hormonal status. A broody hen will develop a brownish and crusty cere.
And because the cere colour depends on hormones it can also indicate health problems.
The budgie was exactly my reference! I remembered we had some budgie people here, but you showed up even faster than I expected. 😀
It's amazing how much info you can get from them just from that tiny bit of skin.