Wesley The Owl

Chronicles the author's rescue of an abandoned barn owlet, from her efforts to resuscitate and raise the young owl through their nineteen years together, during which the author made key discoveries about owl behavior.

The New York Times–bestselling memoir of a biologist’s life with an unforgettable owl “will captivate animal lovers” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). On Valentine’s Day 1985, biologist Stacey O’Brien first met a four-day-old barn owl—a fateful encounter that would turn into an astonishing 19-year saga. With nerve damage in one wing, the owlet had no hope of surviving in the wild. O’Brien, a young assistant in the owl laboratory at Caltech, was immediately smitten, promising to give him a permanent home. Wesley the Owl is the funny, poignant story of their dramatic two decades together. With a tender heart and a scientist’s eye, O’Brien describes how Wesley grew from a helpless ball of fuzz to a gorgeous adult owl with an outsized personality. She also brings us inside her research community, a kind of scientific Hogwarts where resident owls flew freely from office to office and eccentric, brilliant scientists were extraordinarily committed to studying and helping animals. As O’Brien gets close to Wesley, she makes important discoveries about owl behavior, intelligence, and communication: he did not tolerate lies, held her to her promises, and provided unconditional love, though he was not beyond an occasional sulk. When O’Brien develops her own life-threatening illness, the biologist who saved the life of a helpless baby bird is herself rescued from death by the insistent love and courage of this wild animal.

Every child needs to have a pet. No one could argue with that. But what happens when your pet is an owl, and your owl is terrorizing the neighbourhood? In Farley Mowat’s exciting children’s story, a young boy’s pet menagerie – which includes crows, magpies, gophers and a dog – grows out of control with the addition of two cantankerous pet owls. The story of how Wol and Weeps turn the whole town upside down is warm, funny, and bursting with adventure and suspense.

On Valentine's Day 1985, biologist Stacey O'Brien met a four-day-old baby barn owl - a fateful encounter that would turn into an astonishing 19-year saga. With nerve damage in one wing, the owlet had no hope of surviving on his own in the wild.

A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 Longlisted for the National Book Award Winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and the Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction A Finalist for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award Winner of the Peace Corps Worldwide Special Book Award A Best Book of the Year: NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Globe and Mail, The BirdBooker Report, Geographical, Open Letter Review Best Nature Book of the Year: The Times (London) "A terrifically exciting account of [Slaght's] time in the Russian Far East studying Blakiston’s fish owls, huge, shaggy-feathered, yellow-eyed, and elusive birds that hunt fish by wading in icy water . . . Even on the hottest summer days this book will transport you.” —Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk, in Kirkus I saw my first Blakiston’s fish owl in the Russian province of Primorye, a coastal talon of land hooking south into the belly of Northeast Asia . . . No scientist had seen a Blakiston’s fish owl so far south in a hundred years . . . When he was just a fledgling birdwatcher, Jonathan C. Slaght had a chance encounter with one of the most mysterious birds on Earth. Bigger than any owl he knew, it looked like a small bear with decorative feathers. He snapped a quick photo and shared it with experts. Soon he was on a five-year journey, searching for this enormous, enigmatic creature in the lush, remote forests of eastern Russia. That first sighting set his calling as a scientist. Despite a wingspan of six feet and a height of over two feet, the Blakiston’s fish owl is highly elusive. They are easiest to find in winter, when their tracks mark the snowy banks of the rivers where they feed. They are also endangered. And so, as Slaght and his devoted team set out to locate the owls, they aim to craft a conservation plan that helps ensure the species’ survival. This quest sends them on all-night monitoring missions in freezing tents, mad dashes across thawing rivers, and free-climbs up rotting trees to check nests for precious eggs. They use cutting-edge tracking technology and improvise ingenious traps. And all along, they must keep watch against a run-in with a bear or an Amur tiger. At the heart of Slaght’s story are the fish owls themselves: cunning hunters, devoted parents, singers of eerie duets, and survivors in a harsh and shrinking habitat. Through this rare glimpse into the everyday life of a field scientist and conservationist, Owls of the Eastern Ice testifies to the determination and creativity essential to scientific advancement and serves as a powerful reminder of the beauty, strength, and vulnerability of the natural world.

The author reflects on his fifteen-year relationship with a tawny owl, an unlikely companionship marked by their incredulous neighbors, books, and unique care challenges.

'A CLASSIC OF WILDLIFE WRITING' – THE FIELD Listed as one of its five best nature books - 2010 Country LifeWhen Jonathan Franklin takes two baby tawny owls back to Eton, he has no idea how chaotic the following months will be. The birds show no respect for Etonian routine and tradition. They trash his room and rule his daily life, and are known throughout the school as 'Dum' and 'Dee' . Although a keen naturalist, Jonathan struggles to understand his charges and to find the right food for them; at first meat and feathers, soon mice and rats. Even so, they nearly die of malnutrition on two occasions. Frantic, he searches for natural food. How to keep them alive is a constant worry. He watches them grow from ugly balls of fluff into beautiful adults, every change of plumage and behaviour noted. They play truant, they shock others, and lead Jonathan into hilarious adventures. They charm his housemaster and everybody who meets them. Best of all is seeing them flying about over those famous playing fields. All the time, Jonathan works to train them for eventual return to the wild. Will that be possible? He is never sure whether he will succeed. Now updated by the author to tell the end of this extraordinary story, Two Owls at Eton – very British, very witty, yet always close to the rawness of the natural world – is a story to delight everyone – whether they ever trod those playing fi elds, or have never wished to set eyes on the place.

I was born in 1977, and had led a normal childhood up until May of 1982. My being involved in a bicycle accident that had left me paralyzed on the right side of my body. I too had attained a Traumatic Brain Injury in which I had lost 1/3 of my brain. I had lost the ability to walk and talk, and in truth all other things. It took years of physical therapy, speech therapy and still to this day I go to physical therapy to do strength training. From 1982 to present day I have always walked with a limp, but truthfully haven’t allowed my disability to stop me from living my life. While I attended college at Davis and Elkins, in Elkins, West Virginia I swam quite a bit, and played basketball for the school for 2 years. After college I returned home, and held several jobs around my home town of Herndon Virginia. I am currently employed as a Special Education Assistant very close to where I live with my wife Maureen, and my son Christopher. Determination, patience, and the willingness needed to at least try something new have always streamed through my veins. I hope to encourage other likeminded people to do the same, and often time have shown them what has best worked for me. I think it is everyone’s responsibility to share their gifts, poetry is one of mine that I have done for 26 years.