A popular Instagram video shows a baby burrowing owl lying on a scale, its eyes comically wide, and its body as stiff as a board. A woman gently picks up the owl and places it in a bucket, where it waits with several other wide-eyed burrowing-owl chicks. The hilarious face the baby owl makes undoubtedly skyrocketed the video to over 7.7 million views.
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“A (wild) baby Burrowing Owl being gently weighed in a dish after banding and before being released back into its burrow,” wrote Solai, a Masters of raptor biology student with a social-media following. “All owls are being handled for research by trained and permitted biologists.”
Solai shares many videos of burrowing owls on her Instagram account. It appears that part of her work as a researcher in training is assessing, banding, and re-releasing burrowing owl chicks. We see part of this process in the viral video.
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In response to comments suggesting the owl feels scared out of its mind, Solai wrote that when humans handle wild animals, it is undoubtedly stressful for them, but researchers “keep the handling time short [and] the environment calm and quiet.” She adds that her team promptly releases the owls back to their burrows after data collection.
“Sites with trail cams show these owls completely back to normal right after we leave the area, however confused they may be during the handling process,” she explains. “Both of the parents are nearby and return back to their chicks right afterwards.”
Watch as a baby burrowing owl makes the most hilarious face during a weigh in:
Header stock image by Troy Harrison/Getty Images
