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Hi folks,
So my sister is a zookeeper and takes care of the birds. She often sends pictures.

This is Baked Beans. He is a baby screech owl and is being raised for the zoo's ambassador bird program.
I would die for Beans.

#BakedBeansOwl #owls #screechowls #zoo

A very small, unbelievably cute screech owl baby, maybe 5 or 6 inches tall. He's old enough that his feathers have recently come in but he's still developing his adult coloration. He has enormous dark eyes and a light brown mask around them. His belly is a wavy pattern of white and light brown. You can't see it, but his back is a little darker, the color of baked beans, which gave him his name. He sits in the corner of a painted cinder block room on top of towels on the floor, with a water bowl next to him

kat donegan 🇵🇸✊

@kathimmel@mstdn.social replied · 4 weeks ago

@Artemis201 somebody's been on the crimper? is beans off to the disco?

Artemis

@Artemis201@mstdn.social replied · 4 weeks ago

Beans on a hand, for scale reference. He is just too darn cute.

#BakedBeansOwl #owl #owls #screechowl

Beans the owl is now sitting on someone's hand in a meeting room. He's slightly larger than the hand would be if it were held up vertically. He has a small leather tie attached to his leg which is also wrapped around the hand's pinky. He is looking inquisitively at something to the top right of the camera.

Artemis

@Artemis201@mstdn.social replied · 4 weeks ago

For more Beans the Owl content, follow #BakedBeansOwl. I'll post more pics on this thread as I get them (though we'll probably see a lot in the next week or so. I've got a few months backlog)
Also keep an eye out for other fun bird posts. The zoo also has a wonderful Tawny Frogmouth that I adore, and a baby flamingo that goes on walks around the zoo.
Plus I have a bunch of pictures of a baby barn owl they raised this spring. I'll try to attach them here or at least let you know the hashtag

Artemis

@Artemis201@mstdn.social replied · 4 weeks ago

Hi folks. Would you like more #BakedBeansOwl content? Because good news! We have more Beans pictures! He's about a month older in this picture and losing some of his baby appearance.
Beans is fierce! Beans is majestic! Beans is maybe 7 inches tall!
Don't mess with Baked Beans.
#owl #owls #screechowl #screechowls #zoo

The tiny screech owl, Baked Beans, sitting on a horizontal pole covered in fake grass. He is staring angrily at the camera. He has very large dark eyes with golden rings around the edges. His face feathers look like he has white eyebrows and is glaring angrily. His head is an orangy tan, and there's a dark line of brown ringing his neck. His front is mostly white with dark brown streaks.

Artemis

@Artemis201@mstdn.social replied · 3 weeks ago

Hey y'all, wanna know what a disgruntled baby owl looks like?
Well, someone opened the refrigerator near Beans. This is his disgruntled face.
Ruffled is a good word here.

#BakedBeansOwl #Owl #Owls #Zoo #screechowl

Beans standing on a leather glove. He is quite ruffled. His ear feathers (did you know owls have movable ear feathers?) are sticking straight up and the feathers on his face between his eyes and around his beak are also sticking straight out, long enough that it's kind of hard to see his beak. He's staring intently at something to the right of the camera. He clutches a small piece of meat in one claw.

Artemis

@Artemis201@mstdn.social replied · last week

This is one of the earliest Beans pictures. He itty! He bitty! He covered in baby fluff!

Look at that little round boi. If you zoom in, he is rockin that 'stache

#BakedBeansOwl #Owl #owls #zoo

A very small owl, maybe 6 inches tall. His silhouette resembles a round ball of a head on top of a slightly longer round ball of a body. His plumage shows he's very young. He's just starting to have real feathers come in. The baby fluff is a light greyish color intermixed with feathers that are just starting to show patterns of light and dark brown horizontal waves. His face is patchy light grey, light brown, and dark brown, and mostly just looks like a mess. Between his eyes looks quite spiky like pins and needles, and kind of looks balding. Besides his beak the feathers are a little more well formed and kind of look like a voluminous mustache. His eyes are very dark and somewhat squinting as regards the observer. He looks like he was recently woken up from bed. My sister calls this his "mouldy strawberry" phase.
His enclosure appears to be a travel crate filled with towels and a water dish and a wooden dowel perch, with a metal grid door on the front — A very small owl, maybe 6 inches tall. His silhouette resembles a round ball of a head on top of a slightly longer round ball of a body. His plumage shows he's very young. He's just starting to have real feathers come in. The baby fluff is a light greyish color intermixed with feathers that are just starting to show patterns of light and dark brown horizontal waves. His face is patchy light grey, light brown, and dark brown, and mostly just looks like a mess. Between his eyes looks quite spiky like pins and needles, and kind of looks balding. Besides his beak the feathers are a little more well formed and kind of look like a voluminous mustache. His eyes are very dark and somewhat squinting as regards the observer. He looks like he was recently woken up from bed. My sister calls this his "mouldy strawberry" phase. His enclosure appears to be a travel crate filled with towels and a water dish and a wooden dowel perch, with a metal grid door on the front

Artemis

@Artemis201@mstdn.social replied · last week

Baby owls, not always cute. Sometimes, they look like death warmed over, right after waking up but before the coffee is ready.
My sister calls this his "mouldy strawberry" phase.

Anyway, here's another picture of Beans taken the same day as the previous post. I don't think he's quite awake yet
#BakedBeansOwl #owl #owls #zoo

A close up of Beans. His eyes are mostly closed and puffy. You can really see the prickly looking feathers starting to come in around his face. Overall he's the color of dust from under the bed, interspersed with unstmmetric dark patches. Between his eyes the feathers are particularly prickly looking. They're tan with white tips and small black bits, and it kind of looks like he's bald there. The feathers under his eyes are dark, making him look like he has deep bags under his eyes. Overall it reminds me of a cartoon where someone might look comedically horrifying right after they wake up.

Artemis

@Artemis201@mstdn.social replied · 8 hours ago

My friends, as it is Superb Owl day, I would like to show a more recent picture of Baked Beans, taken back in January. He now has his adult plumage and is quite majestic, particularly since he's all sticky-uppy. He was being taken past the gorilla play room and did not like the gorillas.
#superb_owl #SuperBowl #BakedBeansOwl #owl #owls #screechowl #screechowls #superbowl2026

A small owl perched on a glove. It's facing forward but looking to the right towards something behind the camera. It's ear and face feathers are all sticking up in alarm. The owl is a tawny brown with white patches on its face and chest, and smaller dark patches on its chest and wings.

Pete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫

@petealexharris@mastodon.scot replied · 4 weeks ago

@Artemis201
One of the great things about Mastodon is you can often say to your partner "hey do you want so see a cute owl?" and they will of course say yes, and it's adorable.

webhat

@webhat@infosec.exchange replied · 4 weeks ago

@petealexharris @Artemis201 my partner just now: "he's so cute 🥰"

Pseudo Nym

@pseudonym@mastodon.online replied · 4 weeks ago

@webhat @petealexharris @Artemis201

Ditto. Dane response from wife. Plus "it's an owlette!"

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