Messages from an Owl

by Max R. Terman

When zoologist Max Terman came to the rescue of a great horned owlet in a Kansas town park, he embarked on an adventure that would test his scientific ingenuity and lead to unprecedented observations of an owl's hidden life in the wild. In Messages from an Owl , Terman not only relates his experiences nursing the starving owlet, "Stripey," back to health and teaching it survival skills in his barn, but also describes the anxiety and elation of letting a companion loose into an uncertain world. Once Terman felt that Stripey knew how to dive after prey, he set the owl free. At this point his story could have ended, with no clue as to what the young bird's fate would be--had it not been for Terman's experimentation with radio tags. By strapping the tags to Stripey, he actually managed to follow the owl into the wild and observe for himself the behavior of a hand-reared individual reunited with its natural environment.

Through this unique use of telemetry, Terman tracked Stripey for over six years after the bird left the scientist's barn and took up residence in the surrounding countryside on the Kansas prairie. The radio beacon provided Terman with information on the owl's regular patterns of playing, hunting, exploring, and protecting. It enabled him to witness the moments when Stripey was bantered and mobbed by crows, when other owls launched fierce attacks, and when a prospective mate caught Stripey's eye. On occasional returns to the barn, the owl would follow Terman around as he performed chores, usually waiting for a handout.

Until now, scientists have generally believed that an owl nurtured by humans becomes ill-adapted for meeting the challenges of life in the wild. Terman's research proves otherwise. Stripey surpassed all expectations by becoming a totally independent wild creature. With Terman, however, Stripey remained tame, allowing the author to explore something one rarely sees in a warm interest in humanity. Terman engagingly re-creates this dimension of Stripey as he describes with humor and compassion the daily challenges of probing the life of a "phantom winged tiger."

Originally published in 1996.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Genres: Birds

248 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 1996

Reviews

[Peter]

A fascinating book , reads like a nature study-detective story. Having studied biology I ve found this book extremely fascinating, but the author,s narrative is so appealing that makes the book interesting for any reader. Incredible story of how a man and owl built a powerful connection , a great reminder. I m looking forward to read the other books written by Mr. Terman.

[Elly Sands]

I truly did not expect to read this book in it's entirety. I brought it home from the local library just to glance through it and read the "important stuff". I ended up reading every single word. The author is so likeable and his writing is almost like reading a very excellent novel. He is a zoologist and rescues a great horned owlet and the reader follows him on this remarkable journey of how he raises it, eventually releases it, and follows "Stripey's" adventures. Totally educational and never boring.

[Simone]

The author is a zoologist from Kansas. One day, he rescues a great horned owlet and decides to try and raise it. Many biologists believe that this is a futile try, as most hand-raises owl are never capable of surviving on their own, let alone be a normal functioning member of their species. Terman tries anyway and we follow him on his adventures. By the end of the book he has told us all about the ecology and life history of the great horned owl. He doesn’t forget the more general science education either. The best is that he manages to teach all these things without me noticing it. I was so drawn to Stripey’s story. We get to know this owl through all the stages of life, making me feel very connected. By interweaving his own experiences with his knowledge, the author managed to make this a very pleasurable book.
The writing style was engaging and had a nice flow. The academic background of the author shines through his sentence construction and word use, but this doesn’t make it unnecessarily complicated.

My favorite quote was actually a quote of the ecologist Richard Brewer that Terman put in the book: ‘We have the responsibility for protecting the earth not because every species is kin but because we are the only one that knows it.’ Little addition from my side: maybe we should also save them because we are the ones destroying their world.

Being a biologist myself I might be a tad biased, but I think that anyone who is even remotely interested in owls or nature should give this one a try!

[Tm]

Beautiful story about the scientific observations and emotional relationship the author makes with a rescued horned owl. He was the first and perhaps only person to radio track an owl, and the first to be able to release a great horned owl to the wild, after a long and laborious parenting process. His joy in the process is obvious, and it opened up a world I never knew, although I have always been intrigued by owls.

[Christine]

Fascinating and moving account of a biologist's rescue of an owl and how he is able to return her to the wild. Touches the heart as well as the head. He raises interesting questions about imprinting learned behavior, as well as telling a great story about his experiences.

[Louise Chambers]

How a biologist raises a barn owl from a chick.