Aldo and Carson are riding out the week's frigid temperatures indoors. Aldo enjoys watching live bird feeder cams in the back office while Carson enjoys the view from the classroom.
Otto the Great Horned Owl, on the other hand, has to endure the cold weather. Why doesn't he get to come inside?
The first factor I consider is his mental health. We are not yet at a point in his training that he will choose to leave the mew with me, so removal would require grabbing him. It would be a stressful experience and detrimental to the trust we have been building over the last few months.
The next equation I considered was his physical health. Would the cold temperatures pose enough of a threat to his physical well-being to justify a stressful transfer indoors? I ultimately decided that with a little extra food, he would likely be alright outside.
Great Horned Owls live in the Northwoods year-round and are built to survive the coldest nights. An incredibly thick coat of downy feathers keeps them well insulated. One study tallied that a Bald Eagle has approximately 7,100 feathers while a smaller Barred Owl has 9,200! The owl's more numerous feathers are more densely packed and provide greater insulation.
Otto also has the advantage of living in a well-protected enclosure shielded from the harshest winds and he has a hide box that can capture any body heat that might escape. This week his eyebrows became a little frosty from his breath, but he otherwise seems to manage the cold weather with typical Great Horned Owl stoicism.
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