When Kelly Poole found a familiar owl in her shed looking sick and lethargic, she contacted Ringgold VA Wildlife Rescue, who helped get him to Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke for an evaluation.
Experts discovered he was actually healthy and going through a “catastrophic molt,” and after being released, he was later spotted nearby with his feathers grown back and looking like himself again.
Source: https://www.thedodo.com/daily-dodo/woman-calls-for-help-when-she-finds-scrungly-owl-in-shed
Molting Screech time is one of my favorite times of the year! 😁
I released two a few weeks ago that look a smidge better than this, but I look at them and it’s like, you look worse than when you came into the clinic!
They can lose all those head feathers at once because it doesn’t impact flying. It’s during the warm months, and they probably appreciate the breeze. All the other feathers they lose one or two at a time from the wings or tail so they don’t lose their aerodynamics and have their flight ability messed up.