Feeding An Injured Barred Owl

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This barred owl was brought to the professionals at The Raptor Center to receive care after sustaining head trauma from a car strike. Raptors are carnivores, which is why they are also called birds of prey.

In the wild, they are opportunistic feeders. Larger species sometimes find a big animal to feast on, such as a deer carcass or other roadkill. In those cases, they can eat until they are completely full, which means that they don’t have to expend energy hunting until they get hungry again. When they don’t find a large source of food to gorge on, larger raptors will eat smaller prey as they find it. In the winter, they burn more calories to stay warm, which means that they eat more food.

At TRC, each raptor patient has its own diet plan. While we do not give them large quantities of food to gorge on, we do provide an amount of food that helps them maintain their weight if it is in a healthy range, or, as is the case with many patients, put on weight they have lost from their injury. Sometimes, when patients first arrive, they prioritize their safety over their hunger and are too worried to eat on their own. In those cases, we help them get the needed nutrition by gently placing food inside their mouths as shown in the video below. In the majority of cases, it only takes a couple of feeding sessions until they have adapted to their new situation and will self-feed.