cover image Messages from an Owl

Messages from an Owl

Max R. Terman. Princeton University Press, $55 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-691-01105-9

In the spring of 1988, Terman found a young great horned owl in a town park in Kansas. A professor of biology at Tabor College, he took the starving bird to his laboratory and nursed it back to health. Then the owl, Stripey, became the subject of a long-term behavioral study using radiotelemetry. Terman gives an engaging account of his experiences in training and tracking a captive-reared great horned owl. Once Stripey proved he could capture prey, Terman attached radio tags and set him free. For six years, he observed Stripey-leaving home, establishing a territory, finding a mate. In 1993, he discovered the owl incubating two eggs; Stripey was a female! She has remained tame with Terman, yet is a completely independent wild creature. Readers who enjoyed Bernd Heinrich's One Man's Owl will want to add this book to their library. Photos. (Feb.)