For owls that are superb.
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US Wild Animal Rescue Database: Animal Help Now
International Wildlife Rescues: RescueShelter.com
Australia Rescue Help: WIRES
Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy Wild Bird Rescue: wildvogelhilfe.org
If you find an injured owl:
Note your exact location so the owl can be released back where it came from. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist to get correct advice and immediate assistance.
Minimize stress for the owl. If you can catch it, toss a towel or sweater over it and get it in a cardboard box or pet carrier. It should have room to be comfortable but not so much it can panic and injure itself. If you can’t catch it, keep people and animals away until help can come.
Do not give food or water! If you feed them the wrong thing or give them water improperly, you can accidentally kill them. It can also cause problems if they require anesthesia once help arrives, complicating procedures and costing valuable time.
If it is a baby owl, and it looks safe and uninjured, leave it be. Time on the ground is part of their growing up. They can fly to some extent and climb trees. If animals or people are nearby, put it up on a branch so it’s safe. If it’s injured, follow the above advice.
For more detailed help, see the OwlPages Rescue page.
Community Rules:
Posts must be about owls. Especially appreciated are photographs (not AI) and scientific content, but artwork, articles, news stories, personal experiences and more are welcome too.
Be kind. If a post or comment bothers you, or strikes you as offensive in any way, please report it and moderators will take appropriate action.
AI is discouraged. If you feel strongly that the community would benefit from a post that involves AI you may submit it, but it might be removed if the moderators feel that it is low-effort or irrelevant.
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From Alexander Perov
Owls need to drink too
Kenya, September 18, 2025, Canon R5, 500mm, f/4, ISO 6400, 1/80s
Owls don't often need to drink. They get most of their water from their prey. Since they don't urinate, they get to keep all that excess water, mostly eliminating their need to drink as a separate activity.
Took me forever to realize this was an owl and its reflection and not some Eldritch horror
To a lot of species, it may as well be. That's a big, hungry bird. And if it's drinking, it may be a little extra hungry. I was reading something over the weekend the amounts of water per types of prey items. Mammals and birds were around 60% water and fish and reptiles were up to 80% water. Since they hold onto all that water and don't have to flush liquid from their system, they get to retain most of that for metabolism and all that good stuff.
Birds don't sweat either, so they don't lose water that way either. They do a form a panting called gular fluttering, where they rapidly pass a lot of air over a blood vessel rich area of their respiratory system. Some people theorize this owl's pink, bare eyelids also serve as little radiators.