Indian Scops Owl

[Loopy]

I should start by saying that I am not intending to buy one of these owls in the foreseeable future but I am curious about them. Does anyone have any experience of handling Scops owls? Due to their size would it be totally unrealistic to ever free fly one? I saw a pair of Indian Scops Owls in an avairy when BenC and I picked Cody up from his breeder and was totally charmed by them. It would be great if anyone can increase my knowledge in terms of keeping them.

[Tr1gger]

I have seen them been flow. Just have to be careful about the wind u no? make sure theres no breezes. Seemed to fly quite well.

[Tanith]

Hi Loopy

Alex and I looked after a Scops owl called Louis for 6 months during the winter for our local bird of prey centre.

I have to say he managed to charm the socks off my entire family.

After a couple of days because I didn't like to see him tethered to his perch we decided that he should fly free in the house. We were in the process of major renovationand so were knee deep in dust , so we thought in for a penny in for a pound.

With a bucket and cloth to hand we cleaned up as we went along.

We live with Ridgebacks and a cat and It was a bit hairy to begin with but the animals soon accepted that he was part of the furniture..

He perched mainly on the top of doors and we soon learned to look up before closing them as we had a few near misses in the early days but he soon loved his new found freedom.

We had him flying to the glove in no time, but when we flew him outside it was on the creance as he was not ours and we could not run the risk of loosing him. I have no doubt though that he would have been absolutely fine flying free.

He charmed all of the tradesman who were working on the house and one day flew into the plasterers tray of plaster. that prompted his first bath.

In the early days he would follow us through to our bedroom at night and settle on the bedpost but he proved too active (surprise surprise) and would fly around all night.

One Sunday my mother in law was sat at the table having just ate her lunch and Alex gave him a mouse. He was on top of the fridge at the time and she watched in amazement as he swallowed it tail sliding down last.

He was delightful to look after and we were very sorry when Julie picked him up in the spring to start the summer season. Of course they are precious and have to be kept indoors during the cold weather.

I like to think that in the future we would consider a scops owl like Louis as he left us with an endearing impression.

[Bubo]

that owl is just fantastic!!

[Loopy]

Thanks DG, that is exactly the sort of response I was hoping for and he is certainly a gorgeous owl! Thanks also to Tr1gger, didn't even think about the wind :)

[Tanith]

A Post script about living with Louis.

It is christmas day and my eldest son does not like xmas pud so I make him apple crunch and put in on top of the fridge to cool.

Him being greedy, he reaches up to pick at the pudding and puts what he thinks is yummy oat crunch in his mouth.

To his horror he realises he has just munched on Loius cast.

[Loopy]

uuurrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!! :lol: :vom: :lol:

[Peregrynne]

that's one where he can honestly say it tastes like shyte....lol... :vom: :oops: :vom:

[Bubo]

HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. eew that is pretty nasty haha.

[Lady-Luck]

that looks liek a white faced scops to me :) our wee scoper is super little thing great with the public and loves kids to, ever so friendly.
can anyone help me with posting pics?

[Ben C]

Ladies.....I respect and like you, but do you HAVE ANY BLOODY IDEA what I am going through at home right now????? :snakeman: :snakeman:

[Bubo]

it is a northern white faced owl if i'm correct (Ptilopsis leucotis) . I think they look like schnauzers but in owl form :lol:

The indian scops owl is the Otus bakkamoena, you can see pictures at this link. As you will see the indian scops has dark brown eyes. i do love the white faced owl though it is simply gorgeous.

http://www.owlpages.com/species/otus/bakkamoena/Default.htm

[Lady-Luck]

lol thank you bubo, i askied about posting pics as we also have a pair of those :) no luck breedign them this year thogh :( we have another owl called jimmy and we always get confused as to whether hes a western/tropical screech owl lol as many times i look him up and read his paperwork i still manage to confuse myself with the other lol :oops: im sure i have pics on my website

[Bubo]

if you send your pictures to me i will post them for you if you like.

here is the tropical screech owl (Otus choliba) http://www.owlpages.com/species/otus/choliba/tropicalscreech1.html
if you kindly ask gustavo he will provide you with ace pictures, when you see his pictures there will be no making any mistakes.

here is the western screech owl. (Otus kennicotti)
http://www.owlpages.com/species/otus/kennicottii/Default.htm I never really realised their similarity.

[Loopy]

Thanks Lady Luck, Scoper is beautiful! :D

[Kornie]

Yeah, white faced scops it is. They are very similar in character and size though. Yeah those were the days, drove me freeking cray with the constant clearing up after him. I ended up with hands like sandpaper.
Its worth letting them fly round the house, they are gorgeous to have, really great to just swit and watch.

It does of course help us having slate and wooden floors throughout.