Finn, a beloved owl
Since I announced his death on my YouTube channel, there has been an outpouring of grief from his many fans around the world on my social media channels. Named Finn by his huge following, this young barn owl was mourned by some 50 millions owl lovers around the world when he died. These fans had followed his story via cameras hidden inside his nest and had watched him grow from a goofy young owl lover into the best of owl dads. He was particularly well loved for the way he was so attentive to his partner Gylfie and their three chicks. He could often be seen standing faithfully by his family, as the clip below demonstrates.An orphan owl
I’m particularly sad because Finn is a barn owl that I rehabilitated as a young chick in 2019. He was rescued after falling from a straw stack and given a second chance at life and it’s just tragic that yet again he’s become a victim of human adaptations.
Preventable death
Worst of all is that this was so easily preventable. During the breeding season and in hot weather adult owls get dirty in the nest and need to wash themselves. Just an upside-down crate or a float can give the owls something to rest on while they wash. Natural places for birds to bathe, like ponds and streams, have shallow edges, and ditches have rough sides, and so the birds don’t expect what seem like small bodies of water to be so deep.
What you can do
I'd like to appeal to anyone who uses a water trough or open water butt for livestock to make a small adaptation to make them safe for wildlife. Birds, especially owls, often drown in these steep-sided structures because they can't get out.
Remembering Finn
For more about Finn the barn owl's character you can watch the story of his first barn owl breeding season
2 comments
I’m writing this to express my deepest condolences to the loss of our beloved Barn Owl, Finn. When I was watching the video for the first time to discover his tragic death, I couldn’t understand how such a capable bird like him could be drowned in a trough…, mainly due to my ignorance, but also the shock of the sudden loss of such an awesome wonderful loving partner and fantastic dad as he was…! I believe I left a comment on the video at that time, but now I understand better about why he died and how easily preventable his death was, I just wanted to write once again how much I am still saddened by his tragic death. And how important education is for the general public to know what we all can do to make the world a better and safer place for all the wildlife we share this planet with. Because, after all, every single species has a right to live safely and happily just as much as we humans do. The human species must fully acknowledge that we’re never any special because as the fact that we fully depend on the ecosystem of nature for our survival. Even though we are capable of creating material things, that doesn’t make us any better or more valuable than any other species. Moreover, just because we are capable of thinking and creating things, that doesn’t mean we are privileged or entitled to do whatever we want or kill anything and anyone at anytime and anywhere. No. Instead, because we are capable of logically thinking and materializing many things, we are even more responsible for being humble stewards of the environment as well as all the living beings on this planet because, at the end of the day, we’re a part of this planet, whether we like it or not, we are merely a species that is overpopulated as if it were ancient single-cell microbe that didn’t have brains, moreover the fact is that we can never survive without nature’s great ecosystem, which can only work if every species has enough space and resources to thrive in its own environment and all the species around the globe coexist in peaceful harmony as one Earthlings!!
Now, we want to prevent the senseless death of already endangered species such as Barn Owl and Tawny Owl from any preventable deaths in the future, people demand any and all ranchers and livestock owners to make a small modification to their troughs asap!!
I’m sorry for writing such a long comment.
I’m writing this only to express my deepest condolences to the loss of our beloved Finn. When I was watching the video for the first time to discover his tragic death, I couldn’t understand how such a capable bird like him could be drowned in a trough…, mainly due to my ignorance, but also the shock of the sudden loss of such an awesome wonderful loving partner and fantastic dad as he was…! I believe I left a comment on the video at that time, but now I understand better about why he died and how easily preventable his death was, I just wanted to write once again how much I am still saddened by his tragic death. And how important education is for the general public to know what we all can do to make the world better and safer for all the wildlife we share this planet with. Because, after all, every single species has a right to live safely and happily just as much as we humans do. The human species must fully acknowledge that we’re never any special because as the fact that we fully depend on the ecosystem of nature for our survival. Even though we are capable of creating material things, that doesn’t make us any better or more valuable than any other species. Moreover, just because we are capable of thinking and creating things, that doesn’t mean we are privileged or entitled to do whatever we want or kill anything and anyone at anytime and anywhere. No. Instead, because we are capable of logically thinking and materializing many things, we are even more responsible for being humble stewards of the environment as well as all the living beings on this planet because, at the end of the day, we’re a part of this planet, whether we like it or not, we are merely a species that is overpopulated as if it were ancient single-cell microbes we can never survive without nature’s great ecosystem, which can only work if every species has enough space and resources to thrive on its own