From World Bird Sanctuary
Social interactions among owls can look a lot more aggressive than what we humans are used to. In Great Horned Owls, biting at each other’s faces, sometimes referred to as ‘beak fencing’, is a behavior seen between courting adults, parents and their offspring, and between siblings. While the biting can appear a bit violent, it is not done with the intention to harm and is actually a social bonding behavior. If an owl wanted to show aggression, they would use their feet, which cannot only do more damage, but are less risky to use as a weapon than their beak which puts their highly valuable eyes at risk of injury.
In this video, our trial foster parent, 23-571, is seen beak fencing with one of the babies, who then goes to beak fence with another baby. You can also tell that this is not an aggressive action by the relaxed posture of both birds. 571 has been doing very well as a foster parent and has been seen regularly coming to perch near the babies still on the platform as well as preening the older ones that have left the platform and come to 571’s preferred perch. With all the positive interactions we have seen between 571 and the 9 babies they are now caring for, we are applying to add 571 to our permits as a permanent foster parent! As long as the application is approved, 571 will receive a name and will remain with us to foster future generations of orphaned and injured baby Great Horned Owls!
9 step kids is a lot! 571 sounds like one truly superb owl!
What a champ!
Beak fencing sounds like the cutest thing. Reminds me of dogs and cats play fighting.
It does have a great name.
I thought about dogs and cats also. In addition to being playful, for a wild animal it probably is just as much, if not moreso training for their success. It builds up their muscles, it gets them practice attacking and defending in a safe environment, and is preparing them for what lies ahead. Kind of an all-in-one gift from an animal parent.
I don’t know if animals feel love or pride for their children, but there’s got to be something there. Watching the GHO nest this year really showed me the intense dedication and peril it is to try to have babies in the wild, even as a top tier predator. You have to feel something to put your life on the line for another being…
That definitely reads as nipping/biting on first glance. But I guess if you’ve devoted one pair of your appendages to something as highly specialized as flight, and the other pair are giant murder claws, then your options for demonstrating affection are somewhat limited lol
You gotta work with what you have! 😂
