From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center

Today on Fix 'em Friday: one of the challenges of working with wildlife is that we don’t always know the story behind what caused a bird to need rehabilitation. With this Eastern screech owl, we know exactly what happened. Notice the perfect imprint this owl left on the window after striking it. The imprint was caused by feather dust shaking loose from its feathers and onto the glass upon hitting it. Feather dust is created as the feather sheath keratin breaks down, a natural process.

Remember that birds often can’t see window glass, instead seeing the reflection of the sky and believing it is a safe place to fly. Preventative deterrence measures include placing stickers, decals, tape or dots on the outside of the window, or marking the window with tempra paint or soap.

This owl is continuing to recover from a concussion and should be released soon!

I’m glad this little one is doing ok now! 😧