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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

A very odd birding experience (1 Viewer)

I had an odd birding experience tonight, around 8:00 as I was driving home from work, just as I went through the tunnel on 88 from Kin to Onna, a bird flew right in front of me and hit my car with a thud.
"Oh crap, I've killed a pigeon" was the first thing that went through my head, quickly followed by, "wait dummy, it's 8:00 PM, no pigeons out at this hour, you've killed an owl". I drove about 50 yards and then decided to make a "U-turn" and looked for a sprawled out bird corpse on the roadside. Sure enough, there lying on the side of the road was a dark shape which turned out to be a Brown Hawk Owl.
I felt just horrible for the poor little guy and though he desrved more than to rot on the roadside so I picked him up and brought him home in a plastic bag. All the way home I'm thinking of, maybe I could bring him to a vet, if he's dead, I can give him to Yambaru wildlife center for their exhibit and other ideas of what to do with a dead owl. I arrived home and told Iku what had happened and brought the bag up to the porch to show her and take a few photos. Well, much to our surprise, the owl was alive and semi-alert. As I took him out of the bag, he flapped around a bit and went just inside our doorway which had Iku screaming and running into the kitchen. I picked him up and placed him back outside on a planter and turned off the lights and let him be, fairly sure there would be a dead owl on my porch the next morning. Some 90 minutes later, I just had to take a quick peek at him before I went to bed. As I opened the door and looked out, he was sitting upright, in a perched position, turned his head and looked at me and then flew off! Wow, I was delighted and relieved and hope he makes a full recovery!
 
I've had a similar experience with a pygmy kingfisher in South Africa that flew into a window - though he was revived by dipping the tip of his beak in brandy. Apparently its an old safari guide remedy for stunned birds. As weird as it sounds, it was immediately effective.
 
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