The Fur'n'Feather Gang...

[Colby and the Dwarfs]

How cute is your little family! Loving it. Keep posting pics of them!

[starshme]

WOW! You really do have a 'fur n' feather' gang. Thanks for sharing the pictures, I seriously never thought of an owl as a pet! They're gorgeous, are they friendly?

[Elaine67]

Hi,

Owls are facinating... As for 'friendly' - It's all in the interpretation. Owls can't wag their tails like happy dogs or angry cats. They do express pleasure when they see their handlers. Our owls gets seriously excited when they see one of us with a glove - he knows he's coming out of his aviary. However if they escape they don't fly home like pigeons - they require tracking and then baiting back with food. If you ever see a falconer working a bird you might notice that when the bird flies to the glove it receives a tiny piece of meat - it's flying for the meat, because it's hungry, not because it's pleased to see it's handler. To fly/work a bird if prey it first has to have it's weight dropped to a point that makes it want the reward of food.

Aside from all the 'serious behavioral' stuff they can be very funny! When excited they'll bop'n'bounce in their aviaries - heads bob up, down side to side and in big loops. They love to either fly up to shelves/perches and drop to the floor and run around like a feathery, hooting T-Rex - who was after all one of their ancestors lol!

Whilst owls are nothing like the ones in Harry Potter, they are really facinating, lovely birds. I've lost hours sitting by an aviary watching the occupant performing for me.

I'll post more photos of them next time I get some.

Thanks for your interest
Elaine

[starshme]

That's very interesting, I know they've always held a certain 'spook' factor for me but I find them beautiful all the same. We occasionally see wild owls in our village, well we see as much as they allow us to see .

[TheHamsterCher]

Wow what an amazing family of pets you have there! I have always been enchanted by owls. They're quite magnificent creatures. I didn't know you could keep them as pets!

[Saraya'n'Star]

Wow they are all amazing animals! I really like your hedgehogs!