This site is a great reminder that almost everyone visiting Hacker News has a set of skills which can be put to beneficial use for causes you care about - this is a small, simple, cheap site (and I mean that in a good way!) that attracts attention, awareness, and donations to something the author cares about. It’s easy for us, but it’s magic for most people. Don’t let your tech industry imposter syndrome fool you - we can do valuable things to forward causes we care about.
I've stopped using the word "cheap" to describe situations like this as the word has too many negative connotations. I tend towards "inexpensive", "cost-effective", or "low-cost". I find it better describes my intent to describe something as not costing much but not speaking to poor quality which I feel like the word "cheap" has come to imply.
This is a beautiful demonstration of how technology can be simple and powerful for amplifying a message at the same time -- no matter the silliness or seriousness of the message. Very "Old Web" vibes.
Anyone who's worked on random enterprise CRUD REST apps earlier in their career (myself included) knows the pain of wishing that you were doing something a little more helpful or positive for humanity.
I guess English needs different words for the German "Günstig" and "Billig". They both translate to cheap, but "Günstig" means something like cost-effective/affordable (but I guess not quite?), and is positive, while "Billig" is strictly negative.
That's something I've done a few times! Mostly from having lived in a wildlife shelter (LPO Ile Grande) for 2 months, since they have quarters for volunteers who wish to stay. Out of all the birds that collide and are unable to fly, you'd be surprised at how many recover, and I mean it's not as grim as some people make it out to be.
That shelter was especially interesting because it's near the nesting grounds of marine birds that are relatively rare in France or even Europe overall. Cargo ships in the English channel illegally dump oil waste all the time, and the oiled marine birds just float helplessly to the beach, still alive. People pick them up and bring them to the shelter where we literally hand-wash them with soap and put them in a bird drying station. The numbers could get overwhelming and we would have to make "bird washing assembly lines" on occasion.
It's a whole discipline with specialized equipment, passed-down knowledge and passionate people!
One brand of American dish soap, Dawn, has a duckling as a mascot, and has for some years advertised its grease-cutting capability (and gentleness on living things) by showing that it is used to clean oil off waterfowl who have been caught in a slick.
Years ago we found a large heron with a broken wing on the road outside our house in Wales. It had probably hit a power cable, and was hopping around dragging its wing. It was basically a homicidal needle beak, obviously not in the best of moods.
An elderly lady come out to see what the fuss was about, saw the bird, went back inside and then reappeared holding a block of polystyrene foam. She marched up to the bird, which very soon after found itself with a lump of foam on the end of its beak. That gave others the opportunity to wrap it in a blanket (bit big for a towel) and take it to the vet.
I love this. The web used to be a place filled to the brim with people making sites about stuff dedicated to some niche thing that brought them joy. Glad to see that vibe still survives out there.
Edit: to be clear, this site is connected with an organization and probably exists to help promote it, but it still gives that “look, this is cool!” passion to me.
Is it connected with an organization? I don't see any evidence of that in the About page or anywhere else. The donations page says to find a local wildlife sanctuary and donate to that, then links out to two options if you really can't find one of your own. But I see no evidence that it's associated with either one of those entities it links to.
I've had to do this several times, it's really the best way to handle birds and bats that get into your home -- just toss the towel on top of it and pick it up. Another trick if a bird flies into your window and stuns itself, you can pick it up with a towel and place it in a (closed) cardboard box outside in the shade so they can recover without a ton of sensory input/stressors, you just have to make sure predators don't get into it.
(If you ever have to relocate a bat, don't just leave them on the ground, they can't take off from there and will almost certainly die. Put them in a tree or somewhere higher up)
As a PSA: if you’re in North America, do not handle bats. They are the primary rabies vector and due to their tiny sharp teeth, it is possible to be bitten unknowingly. Rabies is (almost) 100% fatal once you have symptoms. Leave it to the professionals who are vaccinated and know how to handle them safely. In the US, local animal control can usually help.
The consistency in the quality and sharpness of the photos isn't lost on me. There's obviously lots of curation in this collections, must be some work!
Owls are like the cats of the bird world. It's too bad they don't get to talk. I think they'd have a lot to talk about... night time hunting, the size of mice and other rodentia, hairballs/pellets...
This is the kind of project that always used to be its own website, but these days largely exists only on a social media platform where it's stuffed between other content and the usual barrage of ads.
Which is a roundabout way of saying: I love that this is a website.
Especially when you consider that places like Facebook or Linkedin are not even a website any more, once their web address takes you nowhere and they are useless without "signing in".
Such amazing animals. Everytime I see one I am so thrilled. Saw a snowy owl this winter and they are so gorgeous. Also really weird how easy it is to anthropomorphize an owl. They generally look very surprised or very angry. Love it.
Do you think this kind of internet nuggets will still exist in our soon to be post-AI world ? We won't be able to know who sent a real vs. a fake picture
I guess we will have to rely on extra-net signals: Meta clues from the real world.
For example, the website creator doesn't seem to be looking for profit, nor did they add much oin terms of personal info that would point to him looking for internet clout.
The FAQ page comes across as genuine and, as another commenter put it, whimsical.
It's also all self hosted, and on a unique domain, while mass-content-farmera prefer prefer the zombified audiences of Tiktok and Facebook.
All those signals combine into a high probability of everything on the site being genuine.
Honestly my first reaction to seeing these photos was to wonder if they were AI-generated (I'm not suggesting they are, I just have that response quite often now).
PSA: Many (I mean many) bird injuries are from window strikes, including in this adorable list. These are often fatal even if the bird appears to fly away. My partner is a bird biologist and does work specifically on this area. Unfortunately, fancy modern glass buildings (including that which is in style at universities and other techy campusus) are brutal for this, because the birds can see through the building and think they can also go through. This is not minor, it is actually an existential threat to some species in some urban areas.
There are some very effective and cheap solutions if you have a window birds are hitting. Wavy lines on the window with a bar of soap work well. Even better are strings hanging in vertical lines outside the window. Believe it or not, your brain gets used to these and you stop noticing them very quickly. They cut down on bird fatalities a TON.
It reminds me of how people make a "purrito" by wrapping a cat in a towel or small blanket in order to safely handle the cat (administer pills, injections, etc.).
And since owls are pretty much just the bird versions of cats, it's fitting.
Indeed. Cats and owls are a fantastic example of convergent evolution: two species on pretty far vertebrates branches that occupy a similar niche (ambush night predators, small preys) and end up with the same physical appearance- colors, head and eyes shape, even the outer ears shape!
Such cute owls! Do they need to be wrapped in a towel because it gives them a sense of security? Just like babies, they sleep better when wrapped up tightly. Rescuing small animals is such a meaningful thing to do.
Burritoing a bird is a safe and relatively easy way to restrain it while handling it. It can't flap its wings to fly away, it can't claw you with its talons, and it is far less likely to hurt itself resisting. And yes, they do appear to be more calm, or at least more resigned to the situation.
One mentioned glue traps. What’s that and why is it used?
Glue traps are used to catch mice and rats. The owl sees its prey struggling in the trap, and tries to eat it.
Many birds of prey die due to eating poisoned rats and mice. Most famously, Flaco, who escaped from the Central Park zoo and entertained New Yorkers for months before eating a poisoned rat.
Question - what is the lowest cost way to do something like this? Imagine one was prepared to go in whatever direction, regardless of difficulty. Can the pros weigh in here?
I went to a presentation on the reintroduction of the bald eagle to New York state. When handling young eagles, the presenter (then much younger) found the best way to immobilize them was stuff them into the leg of her pants (not when she was wearing the pants, mind you.)
She had to constantly do this as they fledged, since they couldn't get back up to the platform where the nest was. In the wild, the parents would continue to feed the young after they left the nest but before they could fly, but that wasn't practical for her to do.
The process of raising raptors from eggs is called "hacking", so it's entirely appropriate for this site. Normally done on hawks, this project showed it would work with eagles too.
roughly|9 months ago
This site is a great reminder that almost everyone visiting Hacker News has a set of skills which can be put to beneficial use for causes you care about - this is a small, simple, cheap site (and I mean that in a good way!) that attracts attention, awareness, and donations to something the author cares about. It’s easy for us, but it’s magic for most people. Don’t let your tech industry imposter syndrome fool you - we can do valuable things to forward causes we care about.
Also, it’s adorable!
imposterr|9 months ago
jxf|9 months ago
Anyone who's worked on random enterprise CRUD REST apps earlier in their career (myself included) knows the pain of wishing that you were doing something a little more helpful or positive for humanity.
patates|9 months ago
I guess English needs different words for the German "Günstig" and "Billig". They both translate to cheap, but "Günstig" means something like cost-effective/affordable (but I guess not quite?), and is positive, while "Billig" is strictly negative.
pierrec|9 months ago
That shelter was especially interesting because it's near the nesting grounds of marine birds that are relatively rare in France or even Europe overall. Cargo ships in the English channel illegally dump oil waste all the time, and the oiled marine birds just float helplessly to the beach, still alive. People pick them up and bring them to the shelter where we literally hand-wash them with soap and put them in a bird drying station. The numbers could get overwhelming and we would have to make "bird washing assembly lines" on occasion.
It's a whole discipline with specialized equipment, passed-down knowledge and passionate people!
bitwize|9 months ago
julian_t|9 months ago
An elderly lady come out to see what the fuss was about, saw the bird, went back inside and then reappeared holding a block of polystyrene foam. She marched up to the bird, which very soon after found itself with a lump of foam on the end of its beak. That gave others the opportunity to wrap it in a blanket (bit big for a towel) and take it to the vet.
Those old ladies are tough!
rkagerer|9 months ago
josh-sematic|9 months ago
Edit: to be clear, this site is connected with an organization and probably exists to help promote it, but it still gives that “look, this is cool!” passion to me.
lolinder|9 months ago
https://owlsintowels.org/support/donate/
aaron695|9 months ago
[deleted]
hungmung|9 months ago
(If you ever have to relocate a bat, don't just leave them on the ground, they can't take off from there and will almost certainly die. Put them in a tree or somewhere higher up)
indoorcat|9 months ago
kristopolous|9 months ago
lenerdenator|9 months ago
Owls are like the cats of the bird world. It's too bad they don't get to talk. I think they'd have a lot to talk about... night time hunting, the size of mice and other rodentia, hairballs/pellets...
susam|9 months ago
mortenjorck|9 months ago
Which is a roundabout way of saying: I love that this is a website.
fuzzfactor|9 months ago
cogogo|9 months ago
ColinWright|9 months ago
https://owlsintowels.org/gallery/
Finishes with:
"That's owl the posts"
Yes, this is the internet/web I needed today.
shellerik|9 months ago
ttoinou|9 months ago
GreenWatermelon|9 months ago
For example, the website creator doesn't seem to be looking for profit, nor did they add much oin terms of personal info that would point to him looking for internet clout.
The FAQ page comes across as genuine and, as another commenter put it, whimsical.
It's also all self hosted, and on a unique domain, while mass-content-farmera prefer prefer the zombified audiences of Tiktok and Facebook.
All those signals combine into a high probability of everything on the site being genuine.
abstractbill|9 months ago
iainctduncan|9 months ago
There are some very effective and cheap solutions if you have a window birds are hitting. Wavy lines on the window with a bar of soap work well. Even better are strings hanging in vertical lines outside the window. Believe it or not, your brain gets used to these and you stop noticing them very quickly. They cut down on bird fatalities a TON.
Example: https://www.birdsavers.com/
tharakam|9 months ago
0xDEAFBEAD|9 months ago
tonyedgecombe|9 months ago
bitwize|9 months ago
And since owls are pretty much just the bird versions of cats, it's fitting.
ChrisMarshallNY|9 months ago
How to Give A Cat a Pill: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC372253/
throw310822|9 months ago
fankt|9 months ago
uneekname|9 months ago
[0] https://earthstream.social/@owlsintowels
jwilk|9 months ago
Caelus9|9 months ago
pavon|9 months ago
sandruso|9 months ago
tarkin2|9 months ago
ayrtondesozzla|9 months ago
Ok ok, you got me! Delightful!
stefanka|9 months ago
reaperducer|9 months ago
Glue traps are used to catch mice and rats. The owl sees its prey struggling in the trap, and tries to eat it.
Many birds of prey die due to eating poisoned rats and mice. Most famously, Flaco, who escaped from the Central Park zoo and entertained New Yorkers for months before eating a poisoned rat.
rcastellotti|9 months ago
deadbabe|9 months ago
chedar|9 months ago
wila|9 months ago
https://earthstream.social/@owlsintowels
bandedetrappes|9 months ago
DidYaWipe|9 months ago
arkey|9 months ago
simpaticoder|9 months ago
julianz|9 months ago
D-Coder|9 months ago
vldr|9 months ago
fuzzfactor|9 months ago
Although in this case it's technically neck-and-neck :)
unknown|9 months ago
[deleted]
ayrtondesozzla|9 months ago
fallinghawks|9 months ago
(Nylon stockings are commonly used when transporting a wild bird for an hour or two).
pfdietz|9 months ago
She had to constantly do this as they fledged, since they couldn't get back up to the platform where the nest was. In the wild, the parents would continue to feed the young after they left the nest but before they could fly, but that wasn't practical for her to do.
The process of raising raptors from eggs is called "hacking", so it's entirely appropriate for this site. Normally done on hawks, this project showed it would work with eagles too.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hack#dictionary-e...
rob74|9 months ago
vitorfrois|9 months ago
masnick|9 months ago
> 2022-2025 Owl Rights Reserved
sentrysapper|9 months ago
OrangeMusic|9 months ago
lippihom|9 months ago
unknown|9 months ago
[deleted]
yflin|9 months ago
fitsumbelay|9 months ago
rekabis|9 months ago
youareabitch|9 months ago
[deleted]