The Largest Collection of Owls in the World

 
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"SUCH A WONDERFUL AND UNIQUE PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT WILDLIFE!"

senninhasenninha, tripadvisor.co.uk

 
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100+ OWLS FROM
AROUND THE WORLD

DAILY ALL-WEATHER
FLYING DISPLAYS

HANDS-ON
EDUCATION FEATURES

HOLD AN OWL FOR A PHOTO

ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND

PICNIC AREA

GIFT SHOP

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FACE TO FACE

Now you can meet face to face the birds that you've only heard as a distant Twit-Twoo. From the giant Siberian Eagle Owl to the tiny Scops Owl you can learn about their habits and habitats and how to help in their conservation. Let these awesome creatures inspire you to make a difference.

 

"WOW, WOW AND WOW AGAIN!!"

C. Kiddell, Somerset

 
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CONNECT WITH US

Although we are the Scottish 'Owl' Centre, we do house a couple of non-owl species here, too. One of those species is the Laughing Kookaburra 😍 Not only are they intelligent, inquisitive birds that are lovely, characterful birds to house - but it also provides an opportunity to compare and contrast with all of our owls. To mention a couple, although they are also predatory birds, Kookaburras employ a completely different hunting method to owls. Their toes and feet are of a different structure, and their eyes are on the sides of their heads. Kookaburras are generally a more active bird across the day compared to our owls. This isn't just because a lot of owls are nocturnal (remembering that not every owl is nocturnal, though!)... It comes down to an innate, fundamental difference in the natures of these two different types of bird 🙂 #owlsandotherbirds #kookaburra #birdsoftheworld #nonowls #dacelonovaeguineae #laughingkookaburra #scottishowlcentre #beautiful #intelligent #curious #comparisons #birdsofinstagram #birdsofaustralia Poncho, our tiny Tropical Screech Owl 😊 He is the smallest member of our display team, weighing in at 119g on an average day 🦉 Despite his tiny size, he is actually one of the oldest members of the team at the grand old age of almost 11 years old! #tropicalscreechowl #megascopscholiba #owl #owlsoftheworld #birdsofprey #tinyraptor #scottishowlcentre #owlsofsouthamerica #tinyowl #owlsofinstagram Nyala, our female Mackinder's Eagle Owl🦉The tufts on some species of owls' heads are an important form of body language. Different positions convey different moods 🙂 Tufts held at 45° angles, like Nyala's in the picture, tells us that the owl is fairly relaxed and feeling unthreatened. Tufts pressed flat on top of the owl's head, when they are not about to take off, tells us that there is something in their vicinity that they are unsure/afraid of. Tufts pointing straight up tend to be a sign of an aggravated or angry owl, and that's a warning that can be followed by aggression. Posturing and other types of body language, along with vocalisations, also accompany the tufts. As for owls who possess no tufts, they rely solely on those other forms of language to let us know how they are feeling. Understanding an owl's body language is a vital part of working alongside these birds. There has to be a mutual respect. Our owls send us visual messages and it is our responsibility to translate and respect those signals 🙂 It allows us to tailor our behaviour to avoid causing our birds any undue stress or worry. Or, by recognising the signs of a worried owl, we can trace and remove the source of that worry from their environment completely. It keeps our staff safe, too! Since any owl, whether it be a big Eagle Owl or a tiny Little Owl, is capable of causing damage #mackinderseagleowl #bubocapensismackinderi #owl #owlsoftheworld #owlbehaviour #bodylanguage #owlbodylanguage #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #raptors #mutualrespect #predators #interaction This boy did his first flying display in about 4 months today 😊 Kashmir, the Indian Eagle Owl, has had a good break to moult and relax over winter. Now we're bringing him back in ready for our Spring/Summer season. He flew like a dream today, as if he'd never had any hiatus ☺ Such a beautiful owl to work with and possesses a fierce intelligence, too🦉#owls #indianeagleowl #bubobengalensis #owlsoftheworld #raptor #fieryeyes #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #owl #flyingdisplay #owlambassador As of tomorrow, the Scottish Owl Centre will revert back to our regular opening hours, now that our owls have had a good break over the winter period ☺🦉Oulu, our Great Grey Owl in the photo, may not be too impressed with this as it means she might need to start doing some work again! 😋 From 1st February, we will be open 7 days a week. The opening hours change back to 11.30am until 4pm, with final entry being 1 hour before closing time, so 3pm 🙂 #greatgreyowl #strixnebulosa #scottishowlcentre #owlsoftheworld #owlsofinstagram #owl #beautiful #yelloweyes #snowyhunter #coldclimateowls #birdsofprey #raptors #owlsofthenorthernhemisphere
Alicanto, our Magellanic Horned Owl🦉When we name our trained owls, we like to give them a name that suits them individually or pertains particularly to their species. The Magellanic Horned Owl is a South American species, found in places like Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Alicanto is named after an ancient Peruvian legend that talks about a bird called the 'Alicanto'. The Alicanto comes out at dusk time, with bright wings that contrast with the darkening sky. It was said to have fierce, orange eyes that burned like balls of flame and it would patrol its territory as darkness rolled in. Somewhere within its territory, the Alicanto was said to have a hidden treasure stash. The legend goes, that if a human could follow the Alicanto without the bird seeing, hearing or realizing they were on its tail - it would lead them back to its treasure stash and permit them to keep its treasure. However, if the Alicanto figured out that it was being followed, it would lead the humans to the edge of a cliff and over it... to their ultimate doom 😛 There is a good chance that legend could have been based on an owl like the Magellan Horned. Owls have sparked imagination all over the world, with each culture having their own myths, legends and folklore surrounding them. Their air of mystery and grace holds an allure for so many people ☺ Conversely, sometimes owls can be painted in very negative lights due to fierce superstition. This ultimately does put them in the crosshairs in some parts of the world. Fortunately, more and more people are coming forward and making an effort to help educate about owls. This helps to correct misconceptions and alter those negative perspectives. Sadly, whether owls in the wild will ever be truly safe from persecution by humans still remains to be seen #magellanichornedowl #bubomagellanicus #hornedowl #southamericanowl #owlsoftheworld #birdsofprey #owl #raptor #mythology #folklore #uncertainty #mysteriousbirds #owls #superstition #conservation Update on our wild Barn Owl visitors🦉There are now at least two wild visitors who have taken up residence at our Centre. A male and a female who have been observed showing courtship/mating behaviour overnight on our trail cam footage! Which means there is potential they have found a suitable nest site and we might just have wild Barn Owls breeding this year within our Centre! Senior Keeper Trystan is planning a nest-box build for them to give them more options - although they may disregard it entirely and choose to nest happily in our many rafters! 😊 If they do, we will cordon off that little section to provide them with a little more security. It may not come to anything, but it is looking very promising! We shall have to just wait and see🤞🏻🙂 #barnowls #tytoalba #wildvisitors #courting #scottishowlcentre #owls #owlsoftheworld #britishowls #wildlife #raptors #birdsofprey #waitandsee #nature #barnowl Aharoni's Eagle Owl feathers 😍 The distinction between the soft and dark colours on these are just beautiful! One of my favourite moulted feathers to pick up in aviaries🦉#aharoniseagleowl #bubobubointerpositus #eagleowl #owlsoftheworld #raptors #owl #owlfeathers #moulting #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #beautiful #beautifulowls Another little home-grown produce project we had last year was a bumper crop of Sloes grown in a few of the aviaries (most came from the Tawny Owl aviary!) Hopefully, we'll have the same again this year! Once again, our multi-talented volunteer Ruth, used them to brew a batch of Sloe Gin using the harvested Sloe berries! 😄 She even went to the trouble of packaging and labelling the beverage. Ruth used a photo of Tony, our Tawny Owl, as the face of 'Tawny Tipple' a 'Strix Sloe Gin' 😊 #strixaluco #tawnyowl #tawnytipple #sloegin #homegrownsloes #scottishowlcentre #freshproduce #owl #owlsofinstagram #owlsoftheworld #britishowls #europeanowls #raptors #birdsofprey #plantingprojects Our Oriental Bay Owl female peering through some foliage🦉Last year, one of our volunteers, Ruth, came up with the idea of growing climber plants up the front of the mesh on some of our aviaries. Ruth sourced and planted things like runner beans and sweet peas. Once the plants had begun to flourish, we noticed a change in behaviour from some of our more cautious owls - like the Bay Owls. They ventured closer to the front of their aviaries and sat behind the climber plant! With just a little extra veil between them and the public, they felt more at ease and curious to come closer ☺ Staff and volunteers also got to take home the fresh runner beans to cook with them! This year, that's going to be a new focus of ours. We hope to incorporate more plants that will grow fresh, edible, sustainable produce to help to educate children on where their food actually comes from (before the supermarket! 😛) and could be grown in their own gardens 🙂 We also hope to be able to give out some of our produce at the Centre to anyone who is interested in experimenting with/using more fresh ingredients in home cooking 😊 #orientalbayowl #phodilusbadius #owls #climberplants #planting #freshingredients #sustainableingredients #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #newyearplans #raptors #owlsofinstagram #owlsoftheworld Another stunning species of tiny owl! This is the female of our pair of Indian Scops Owls🦉Her dark brown eyes look almost burgundy in certain lights 😊 #indianscopsowl #otusbakkomoena #owl #tinyowl #tinypredator #beautiful #owlsofinstagram #owlsoftheworld #scottishowlcentre #birdsofprey #tinyraptor #weeowls #wee #weebeauty Happy New Year from the Scottish Owl Centre!🦉Wishing everyone all the best for 2019 😊 To round off 2018, here are 'then vs. now' photos of the five youngsters who were reared as new ambassadors for our flying display team this year 💜 They have all been such characters and have grown into fantastic ambassadors. In order of descending age, we have: Alicanto, the Magellanic Horned Owl; Mel, the Melanistic Barn Owl; Rafiki, the Milky Eagle Owl; Grendel, the Little Owl and Sheila, the Southern Boobook Owl ☺ #magellanichornedowl #melanisticbarnowl #milkyeagleowl #littleowl #southernboobookowl #bubomagellanicus #tytoalba #bubolacteus #athenenoctua #ninoxboobook #owls #youngsters #owlets #ambassadors #flyingdisplayteam #happynewyear #owlynewyear #raptors #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #thenandnow Stunning Western Siberian Eagle Owl feathers 😍 Each one of the primaries runs the length of a human's forearm! These all came from Altai, with her 6ft wingspan🦉#westernsiberianeagleowl #bubobubosibiricus #owl #amazingowls #beautifulowls #owlfeathers #feathers #raptors #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #wingspan #huge #majestic Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Scottish Owl Centre! 🎅🏻 As always, Senior Keeper Trystan dilligently took care of all of our birds today, allowing the rest of the staff free time to enjoy Christmas at home. We're extremely grateful for all that he does ☺ #owls #Christmastime #merrychristmas #westernsiberianeagleowl #bubobubosibiricus #winterowls #raptor #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #owl #beautifulowls #owlsofinstagram You wouldn't believe that little champagne coloured floofball grew up into this stunning little Southern Boobook Owl🦉Sheila has always been incredibly photogenic 😍 In the 2nd pic she was around 4 or 5 weeks old. The 1st picture was taken yesterday and she's around 7 months old now 😊 #southernboobookowl #ninoxboobook #owl #owlsoftheworld #raptor #birdsofprey #owlet #scottishowlcentre #owls #beautifulowls Tomsk, our female Ural Owl in the snowy park last year ☺ We haven't had anywhere near as much snow this year just yet... But there's still time! 😂 #uralowl #strixuralensis #owl #snow #birdsofprey #beautifulowls #owlsoftheworld #europeanowls #coldclimateowls #winter #raptor #scottishowlcentre The ever-handsome Mr. Spock, our display team Long-Eared Owl🦉LEOs have been observed to display a fairly unique behavior in the owl world. Owls are often very solitary creatures, with even bonded pairs spending most of their time at opposite ends of their territory to one another - but LEOs will occasionally roost communally, thought to be a form of defense mechanism (safety in numbers) 😊 Sometimes there can be up to around 20 Long-Eared Owls roosting in the same tree! 🦉🌲 #asiootus #longearedowl #owls #fascinating #communalroost #owlsoftheworld #britishowls #scottishowlcentre #raptors #birdsofprey #beautifulowls #owlbehaviours
This is Grendel, our young male Little Owl ☺ Throughout history, Little Owls were often kept domestically in houses with clipped wings to act as domestic pest control for humans. However, times have moved on since then and, thankfully, European legislation was passed protecting them from being kept in this manner. Now, it's new forms of pest control that cause this stunning little species trouble in modern times🦉 Pesticide use has an extremely negative effect on the insect food supplies that the Little Owl is so reliant upon for survival. Humans need to learn from both these mistakes. Yes, insect hunters like Little Owls make a fantastic pest control service, but keeping them trapped in a domestic home environment is unsuitable. Out in the wild, they can thrive as our pest control service - if we were to stop using those chemicals that reduce and contaminate their food sources. Instead, we could try to encourage the owls' presence on our land 🙂🦉Natural insect-hunters like the Little Owl are far more effective at keeping insect numbers down than any spray, tub or pellet that humans synthesise... All we have to do is take a step back and let nature keep itself in balance ☺ That's not to say we can't also try to give natural predators a little helping hand from time to time. We could help by putting out bug hotels, or plant more flowers and shrubs in our gardens (by encouraging the prey first, the predator then follows 😊) We can also provide nest boxes for the owls 🙂 #littleowl #athenenoctua #owls #predatorandprey #conservation #trustnature #balance #raptors #owlsinhistory #owlsoftheworld #scottishowlcentre #ideas #littlethingsmakeadifference #beautifulowls #owlsofinstagram #pintsizepredator #birdsofprey
 
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"IF ONLY ALL WILDLIFE PARKS AND ZOOS WERE AS IMPRESSIVE AS THIS - IT REALLY IS ONE OF A KIND."

theglobetrotta, tripadvisor.co.uk

 
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"WONDERFUL DAY - BEST FLYING SHOW EVER!!"

P. Clockerty, Glasgow

 
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