Furby
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Furby is a Northern Saw-Whet owl.
A fledgling yet, as you can see.
At this time Furby stood about 4 ½ inches tall.
The Northern Saw-Whet will gain it’s adult feathers/marking after it’s first year.
He/she should look something like this at that point.
There is an abundance of information regarding the Northern Saw-Whet owl online. I’m not going to even attempt to duplicate any of that here.
As the story goes we found this fledgling owl about the same time our cats discovered it.
Mamma was nowhere to be found. Our options at that point were to leave “Furby” alone (at the mercy of our cats) or raise him/her the best we could until he could make it on his own.
At the time it made sense to bring him in.
This next picture was taken that night. We were handing Furby with gauntlet gloves as if he was a wolverine or some such maniacal animal. We discovered, although he had very sharp talons he was actually very gentle.
Looking back at this picture later we realized that Furby was most probably very sick (or starved) and would not have made it long on his own.
The next morning we hit the phones seeking help. Hell, we didn’t even know what kind of owl Furby was.
I somehow got the mistaken impression; from his size and the fact he was found on the ground, that he was a burrowing owl.
The nice lady at the Audubon Society informed me that such
creatures are not indigenous to
We were given a few contact numbers of Audubon Society members who were involved in animal rescues and adoptions.
One of these members (quite correctly, I now realize) curtly stated that the best place for Furby is with his mamma and we should not waste any time getting him back where we found him.
Considering the cats making a small meal out of Furby, we didn’t think that was for the best. Besides, we couldn’t find mamma the night we found Furby or any of the following nights.
After some research on the web we found the Saw-Whet is quite fond of mice. They will eat insects but their favorite food of all is mice.
So, I go buy feeder mice and some crickets.
Furby had little trouble with the crickets. We would turn them loose in the bathtub and Furby would run around an gobble them up.
The mice, however, were a different story. Furby didn’t seem to care for food which bit back.
Back I go to the pet store for some frozen mice. What is offered, if you care to know, are “pinkies” and “furries”.
I will leave the reader to depend on imagination as to what is meant by that.
Furby enjoyed the very small “pinkies”. He could quite easily chow down half a dozen in a sitting. But, at a dollar a pop this didn’t seem like such a good deal for me.
Eventually, after being left alone with a live mouse trapped in the bathtub, hunger and instinct grabbed hold of Furby and he had little trouble swooping down and making a meal out of a mouse.
He would only eat one a night and, at $1.50 each, it seemed like the best bang for my slender wallet.
Meanwhile our bathroom is getting seriously messed up by this owl.
That was a small price to pay knowing we were helping such a cute creature get back to health.
At first, Furby didn’t seem to mind us. He would gladly step up on an extended
finger or brush handle and allow himself to be moved about.
That didn’t last long. Once Furby was feeling better the attitude, that wild animals quite naturally should have, set in.
I’m sure it didn’t help matters any that Furby like to perch on top of a partially open door. Twice my wife bounded into the bathroom and ended up with Furby landing on top of her head. I would like to believe the poor bird was more scared than Melissa. One would question that fact after hearing her screams.
Quite soon he did not want anything to do with us. I’m sure he viewed us as keepers rather than the caretakers.
When we came in to the bathroom to see Furby longingly gazing out the window we realized that he was going to have to take his chances with Mother Nature.
That night I took the screen out of the window and left the rest up to Furby.
The next morning Furby was gone, never to be seen again.
The Northern Saw-Whet is not a common bird to see. Evidently most bird watchers consider seeing one a “once in a lifetime” experience. This can be attributed to the fact that the Saw-Whet is silent except during mating season.
Maybe next May or June we will be hearing from Furby.
John Black
August 11, 2004
***UPDATE***
8-26-04
Our son, Josh, went down to “The Jumps” (a series of percolation holes the neighborhood kids spent a great deal of time building bicycle jumps out of) around dusk and claimed he spotted Furby. This was about two weeks ago. “The Jumps” are located at the edge of our neighborhood in about 150 to 200 acres of undeveloped wooded area.
Good spot for a young Saw-Whet owl.