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anon6789 @lemmy.world

RIP Hootie šŸ˜¢ (and some pics of the other owls at the park)

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!

18 comments

  • Annabelle

    She was annoyed I kept interrupting her nap, but she was less vocaly grumpy with me then normal.

  • Otis

    I went back to Otis 4 times, and this is how he looked every single time... He's a shy guy.

  • šŸ˜„ RIP Hootie. At least he got to live a long, spoiled lifeā¤ļø

  • Hootie looks like the cool grandpa. You know the one that just kind of lets you get away with stuff as long as you don't burn down the barn.

    Also the the one that leaves you his gin still.... (we won't get into that.)

    • Let's make us some Old Blind Owl booze!

      • I.... happen to have grandpa's recipes for gin. I don't think i saw that in there... but there were explicit instructions to add my own.

        actually... so his dad and grandad both were gin makers during prohibition... the recipes started with them. When I was in highschool he showed me some of it... it was kind of a secret from grandma though I have no idea how she didn't notice all the pint sized mason jars going missing... cuz he'd pass them out to his friends as gifts...

        In any case, when he passed and we were (me, my parents, grandma,) were cleaning out his barn, they shuffled to the back and were like "What the heck is that?"... "Oh. that's the still..." That only prompted, uh, more questions.

  • Margough was up and about when I got there, but that was right before nap time.

    Didn't take any pics of them, but there must have been at least 50b black vultures hanging around the park.

    I talked to the one lady working there for at least a half hour. We recommended some raptor books to each other. She was happy I was a vulture fan.

  • 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! šŸ˜®

    • 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....

  • OK, you've baited us in with photos of handsome Hootie, now show us the Blowfish!

18 comments