A barred owl decided to play Santa and drop in through a resident's chimney. While finding a beautiful bird in your chimney might seem like a rather whimsical surprise, it could also be a troubling sign that the animal's natural habitat is shrinking.
What happened?
TikToker Aaron (@aaronmonke2) posted a short video of a barred owl being rescued from their parents' chimney, apparently by an animal control officer from Minnesota's Wildlife Intensive and Critical Care Unit.
@aaronmonke2 A big Owl fell into my Parents Chimeny and got rescued this morning
♬ original sound - aaronmonke2
The owl seemed startled, letting out several shrieks and trying to nip the rescuer as it was placed in a box for transport. Still, the bird seemed quite cooperative, considering the circumstances.
Commenters marveled at the owl's beauty and had plenty to say about its "dramatic" screams.
"Wow! Incredible! Beautiful owl and she handled it so so well. Amazing," one person wrote.
"I can not even explain how excited and terrified I would be if the universe dropped an owl down my chimney," another shared.
"Poor baby. Probably so terrified!" someone else said.
In a follow-up video, aaronmonke2 showed the owl's flight back to nature.
Why is this owl rescue concerning?
While owls occasionally nest in chimneys as a means of seeking shelter from the elements, the destruction of natural nesting sites — such as hollow trees — is more likely to blame for the bird ending up in a human home.
According to the National Audubon Society, barred owls prefer to nest in mature forests that have plenty of trees with cavities. The birds have expanded their range to more urban environments but still typically choose natural habitats over human settlements. If owls nest in chimneys, it could be a sign that there aren't enough suitable trees in the area, likely due to human development and habitat loss.
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The barred owl is considered to have a low conservation concern, but other species are facing challenges. The northern spotted owl, for example, has seen a reduction of suitable habitats "by over 60 percent in the last 190 years," as noted by the Pacific Forest Trust. Rising global temperatures driven by human activity are expected to cause further habitat loss in the coming decades.
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Yes — always 💯 As animals struggle to find adequate food, shelter, and other necessities in deforested and built-up landscapes, they're pushed closer to human communities, increasing the risk of dangerous conflicts and threatening biodiversity. Across the globe, animals have been observed roaming through cities and taking shelter in homes as their natural habitats shrink. Coyotes have attacked dogs in Canada and Florida, and a man in North Carolina was charged by a bobcat outside his home.
While human-wildlife encounters may be rare right now overall, they could become more common as Earth continues to warm and animals are forced farther into civilization to survive, the BBC explained.
What can you do to help?
Conservation efforts have saved several rare birds in California and Wales from endangerment or extinction, proving that animals can thrive when people work to protect their ecosystems.
Scientists have also found that barred owls can coexist with humans in urban environments with plenty of green spaces to spread their wings.
We can help by volunteering with wildlife organizations or donating to environmental advocacy groups so they can continue the important work of protecting animals' homes.
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