Got out of work early, so I went to the park to check on the owls. Annabelle and Otis were there doing their thing, but I didn’t see old Hootie. I was hoping they had moved him inside or something since he was so old, but when I talked to the staff, they said he was not doing well the day after Thanksgiving, so the vet took care of him.
Hootie came there as an adult over 20 years ago. He had half a wing removed, lost one eye to disease a few years ago, and lost vision in his remaining eye this year. He was a tough old owl.
The staff was sad to lose him, but as he was close to 30, the lady said he must have enjoyed his stay there to be around as long as he was. They couldn’t tell his exact age, but he was definitely well into his 20s. Wikipedia says there are only 6 recorded captive owls that lived to 30, so Hootie was around pretty darn long.
The photo is the last one I took off him near the end of October. I will miss you Hootie! You never did much or really even moved when I was there, but you were always there doing your thing!
Hootie was inconsolable after he found his turkey wife on the table as the main course.
Oh no, I didn’t go to the other side of the park to count the turkeys! 😮
So… funny story from yesterday. Driving into work I was listening to a shortwave episode about bio-mimicking drones that were meant to spy on other animals and stuff (cuz, like normal drones scare elk.) now, they started off the episode talking about the “birds aren’t real” stuff and kind of making fun of it.
the road at the time was blocked by turkeys just chilling in the road, glaring at me like their operators just… knew…