Adonis
Height about 12 inches (feet to head) Weight Approx 300 grams (1.3 pounds) Wingspan 3.5 feet Color: White with gold and brown and grey Species: Tyto Alba
Age:10 - 14 yrs
Injury: Adonis the Barn Owl was raised in captivity. He can fly and do anything a wild bird can do, but he does not know how to hunt or survive in the wild. When another refuge could no longer take care of him, they asked us to keep him. He now stays with us at the American Wildlife Refuge and is one of our most popular visitors in schools and educational shows
Common Barn Owls are one of the most widely spread owls in the world. These human looking ghostlike birds are likely the origins of many legends around the world.
Adonis joined us in 2004
Adonis can hear the heartbeat of a mouse at 100 feet.
Adonis is also an owl who can not hoot or call; he can only scream.
Adonis eats mice and other small animals. He can eat 5-8 mice each day.
Adonis, our Barn owl is one of the most beautiful birds we have ever seen. He is also one of the meanest. It is not uncommon for Adonis to attack anyone going into his cage, which he considers his domain. Adonis was bred for education, by a refuge that went out of business, and when they closed their doors, they needed someone to take care of him. Adonis can not hunt as he does not understand wildlife. He was raised in a cage, so food to him is something people drop into his cage.
Barn owls are are different from all other owls. Barn owls never hoot, they only hiss, scream and chatter. Barn owls are most known for their ghostly appearance and silent flight. Although the most beautiful of the owls, they are also the rarest to see. Barn owls have extremely good hearing, so they avoid noise , and humans are very noisy to them.
Barn owls are mostly nocturnal. They only hunt in the day when they have babies in the nest. Their black eyes are just as capable of sight as ours. They hunt mostly by sound. Barn owls have the ability to hear the heartbeat of a mouse at 100 feet.
Adonis is a beautiful example of a Barn Owl and he always turns heads wherever he goes. Barn Owls are named for their habit of making their nests in barns and abandoned buildings. Their reproduce quickly, often laying 4-6 eggs in a clutch, but their habitat is threatened. They are basis for the legend of the banshee because of their silent, pale white appearance resembling a ghost, accompanied by a blood-curling scream that can be heard for 3 miles.
