After a very windy night I woke up early in the morning to go and sieve the leaves out of our swimming pool only to find a very wet and tired juvenile owl that was caught in our overflow well. I quickly rescued the bird and assessed it to see if was damaged in any way. Fortunately it was not but it was drenched to the bone and fatigued. Initially I placed it on a branch to let it recover but the continued high gusting winds proved a bit problematic. I then found a large cardboard box and a piece of dead wood as a perch and placed the owl inside the box to recover quietly out of the wind. As it was very wet I then used my wife's hairdryer to carefully dry out the feathers. This also had the added benefit of warming the owl up nicely. I then left it inside the large box until I heard it getting a bit restless which I took as a sign it had regained some of its strength and was perhaps ready to be released again. I took it outside and placed it back on a branch to see what would happen next. It fluffed up its feathers, regained its bearings and after a quick pause took off and flew a short distance before landing on the ground. It had one last look back before once again taking off and flying away, a very happy ending indeed A very drenched and bedraggled looking juvenile Spotted Eagle Owl which I had just pulled out of the swimming pool well Trying to stay perched on the branch in very high winds whilst drenched to the bone proved a bit problematic Back outside on the branch after being warmed up and dried out with the hair-dryer Portrait of a juvenile Spotted Eagle Owl All good to go once again just prior to take-off A final glance back before this magnificent Owl flew off again. A very happy ending indeed
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