His right eye is still a bit droopy but DITCH has made great strides in recovering from whatever had put him on the ground. He can now see, can find his own food and loves his rats and has enough balance to be able to perch and even fly a bit. I'll never know what brought him down but his improvement has been amazing to watch.
The second photo is of BUDDY. I believe he's a baby of this year that was hatched very early in the season because as you can see he has "ears". He also was on the ground for an unknown reason altho he does have a wound on his right foot. He can use it and the swelling is going down so he may be alright in the end. He was very starved, probably because the hurt foot kept him from catching all the food he needed to maintain his weight. As I've mentioned before, 80% of baby birds don't make it through their first year for many reasons and injury is one of them.
I certainly hope these two baby owls defeat the odds and become old and wise as they are depicted in history.
GO Ditch! It looks as though he is coming long nicely.
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