This is a melanistic tawny owl (Strix aluco willkonskii), picked up from Lazarevskoye (a suburb of Sochi). They are found in the south of Russia.
This owl was found with fractures and infection and was transferred to avian veterinarian Maria Markina for treatment. Since the medicines have to be taken daily, Maria brought the owl with her to St. Petersburg.
Artyom asked Masha for photos with an owl on his shoulder, and Max wanted the same. Not a single Artyom and gypsy was injured during filming.
Everything is fine with Yolka; she sent greetings from Moscow.
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Details of the owl, from Maria Markina's post on VK:
5 - 2020 (62)
Last year, the melanistic tawny owl of the Caucasian subspecies S.aluco willkonskii, selected in the vicinity of the village of Lazarevskoye (a suburb of Sochi) on January 20, arrived at our hospital on the 24th.
Upon arrival: weight 404 grams, fatness index - 4.
At the moment: 458 grams, fatness index - 5.
What exactly led to the injuries remains a mystery, because the owl at the time of arrival had a rather strange set of pathologies of traumatic genesis: a fresh double fracture of the left branch of the clavicle and long-standing minor injuries of the clavicle plus a scarring local ~ 2 mm corneal ulcer of the left eye. Perhaps she chose an unsuccessful territory of residence and was attacked by birds of prey / corvids, maybe flew into the glass, ... many questions, few answers. :))))
In addition to injuries, we have a mysterious chronic focal pneumonia and aerosacculitis - it’s still difficult to determine the genesis (mycobacteria, mycoplasmas, chlamydia, salmonella, cryptosporidia were not detected by analysis); molds are probably the root cause, and bacterial pathogens isolated from crops (E. coli and S. aureus) only accompany the main problem. There are parasites to the heap: hemoproteins and capillaries.
Slowly raking up the problems, later we will re-x-ray, control the crops and look at the dynamics.
Read more about melanism of birds in Russia here: wall166...