Great question! I haven’t really read much about owl intelligence directly. From various readings and talking to people, I know owls are stubborn and hard to get motivated, so they’re a little bit tricky to really assess their intelligence, because we don’t always know how to get them to go along with our little tests.

An important question to ask is what animal intelligence means to us. While owls don’t demonstrate curiosity or complex problem solving like corvids famously do, owls have learned to adapt to life in nearly every climate around the world. They have learned to stockpile food, or even to “farm food” to some extent. Little owls will leave meat scraps to attract insects for them to eat, and burrowing owls will bring dung to the burrow to cultivate beetles. They remember their favorite roosts. They can analyze the things they hear with their fancy 3D hearing, and keep track of the location of things they can’t see. Much of their brain is dedicated to that sight and hearing that makes them such successful predators. Burrowing owls also mimic rattlesnakes to ward off predators of their own. They even understand each other’s vocabulary and greetings and warnings, to know if another owl is known or a stranger to their territory.

It seems this vent should at least stand out as not a great hiding spot. It seemed like a nice protective space, but after being left with its toosh hanging out and then being drug away by humans, the experience hopefully was educational for little Nigel. Owls demonstrate at least an average amount of bird intelligence, Also thinking about it, we’ve seen many stories of owls getting stuck down chimneys, but I’ve never come across one that repeatedly got stuck in at least the same chimney twice! 🤪

They may not be crows or ravens, but they definitely seem good at things to make a successful owl!