Baby Eagle Owl At The Aviary

Baby Eurasian eagle owl at the National Aviary, 18 Jan 2019 (photo courtesy National Aviary)

Super Bowl Sunday is “Superb Owl Sunday”

Hatched at the National Aviary on 12 January 2019, this Eurasian eagle owl chick is growing up fast. In the photo above he’s six days old.

His parents are education birds at the National Aviary and he(*) will be, too. To prepare him for this role he’s being hand-raised with lots of love and attention and began close encounters with a few Aviary visitors at the tender age of 17 days.

By the time he’s four weeks old he’ll look like this owlet — one of his siblings from 2013.

Baby Eurasian Eagle Owl at the National Aviary, April 2013 (photo courtesy of the National Aviary)

When he grows up he’ll look like his parents. By then he’ll be a very big bird.

Eurasian Eagle Owl adult at the National Aviary (photo courtesy National Aviary)

Eurasian eagle owls (Bubo bubo) are virtually the world’s largest owl. Native to Europe and Asia, they can weigh up to 10 pounds with a wingspan more than six feet long. That’s 1.5 times larger than North America’s great horned owl. You can tell the difference between the two species — even in photographs — when they open their eyes. Adult Eurasian eagle owls have orange eyes. Great horned owls have yellow eyes.

Watch the owlet grow up at the National Aviary‘s Avian Care Center window or schedule a close encounter to meet him in person. Participants can touch the chick’s downy feathers, take photos, and interact with him under the supervision of National Aviary animal care experts. The number of encounters is limited and available for only a few weeks. Click here to sign up for an owlet encounter.

(photos courtesy of the National Aviary)

(*) I said “he” in this article but we really don’t the owlet’s sex without a DNA test!

3 thoughts on “Baby Eagle Owl At The Aviary

  1. Speaking of birds of prey…

    Heathrow Airport hawk stolen outside hotel

    Police are actively looking into the incident after CCTV footage released shows three men smashing the window of the van while it was parked outside a hotel next to the airport, and grabbing the six-year-old hawk, Sky News reported.

    The Harris hawk, Milo, was used to scare away other birds at the airport to prevent bird strikes from occurring.

    Milo’s owner Layla Bennett was checking into the Mercure hotel when she left the hawk in the backseat. When she went back to retrieve him, he had been taken, Sky News reported.

    According to the video footage, Bennett said Milo would not go with the men at first.

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