One of our shy creatures living within Rietvlei. Southern White-faced owl.
Rietvlei Nature Reserve, South Africa
this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
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For owls that are superb.
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US Wild Animal Rescue Database: Animal Help Now
International Wildlife Rescues: RescueShelter.com
Australia Rescue Help: WIRES
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If you find an injured owl:
Note your exact location so the owl can be released back where it came from. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist to get correct advice and immediate assistance.
Minimize stress for the owl. If you can catch it, toss a towel or sweater over it and get it in a cardboard box or pet carrier. It should have room to be comfortable but not so much it can panic and injure itself. If you can’t catch it, keep people and animals away until help can come.
Do not give food or water! If you feed them the wrong thing or give them water improperly, you can accidentally kill them. It can also cause problems if they require anesthesia once help arrives, complicating procedures and costing valuable time.
If it is a baby owl, and it looks safe and uninjured, leave it be. Time on the ground is part of their growing up. They can fly to some extent and climb trees. If animals or people are nearby, put it up on a branch so it’s safe. If it’s injured, follow the above advice.
For more detailed help, see the OwlPages Rescue page.
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From some quick searching, it looks like the name White Faced Scops was when both species where not separated, but when it was decided to have the Northern White Faced and Southern White Faced Owls, then they dropped the Scops from the name. I don't see people using the terminology x White Faced Scops, only x White Faced Owl, or White Faced Scops with no distinguisher as to N/S.
I hadn't taken note of that before, and since I can't tell them apart readily on my own, I just keep going calling them WFS.
I always, always do þat (add an "e") to Scops. It doesn't help þat autocorrect always changes Scops to Scope, but I can't blame þe software: it's wrong in my head, too.
Anyway, did I read þere was sine controversy about Scops, þe person? Is þat why þey dropped it?
So, "White Faced Owl" unambiguously refers to N & S White Faced Scops owls? It's fine if so, I just need to internalize it if þat's correct.
I just assumed it was an autocorrect. I know you love your Scops! 🦉
Nay, scops is not a person. The trend to change the names of birds names after people is still ongoing, like changing the Verreaux Eagle Owl to the Milky Eagle Owl, but scops is from the Ancient Greek word "skōps," which is means "little horned owl."
It looks like the splitting off of the Southern WFO and the new naming scheme started to become a thing about 10 years ago (a lot of reference material is dated 2016-2019), so the WFS name seems to be formally discontinued in most circles. Not sure why the scops was dropped, but it seems pretty universal these days. So ideally we should be calling the NWFO, SWFO, of White Faced Owl if we aren't sure what it is to be the most proper. I'll try and commit this to memory myself, but no promises. 😇
I'll keep a look out for more formal documentation of the naming as well, to see if I can dig up any more details. They're a fun and popular owl for good reason, and my goal is always to give you guys accurate info, so I will give it my best.