Island naturalist Gus Ben David stopped by the Gazette newsroom Thursday with a new friend in tow: a great horned owlet, two-and-a-half weeks old, sitting atop straw in a purple crate.

Mr. Ben David is a well-known as a friend to the Vineyard's animals, especially the feathered variety. The former director of Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and proprietor of the World of Reptiles has raised and rehabilitated bald eagles, baby osprey, and Eurasian eagle owlets, to name a few. His rescued golden eagle Chameli, who is used for education, turned 33 on Thursday. She is too big to visit newsrooms.

His most recent charge, the great horned owlet, fell out of a nest in Milton and made his or her way to Mr. Ben David. (The owlet is likely male, Mr. Ben David said, though he is not sure.)

Great horned owls were once scarce on the Vineyard but there are now three pairs on the Island, Mr. Ben David said. They grow to have wingspans of up to 44 inches and have short ear tufts that create a "cat-like" head shape, according to Sibley's Guide to Birds. Like all owls, the owlet swiveled his head to get a good look at his surroundings. Owls have tubular eyes that can't move much, so they rotate their heads so they can see. Their eyesight is keen and they are formidable hunters.

The owlet is fed 25 mice a day as he is growing, and he will eventually be released to the wild on the Island, Mr. Ben David said. The owl doesn't have a name; Mr. Ben David is not fond of anthropomorphizing animals that he plans to release to the wild. The owlet allows people to stroke his downy feathers and will nibble harmlessly on fingers. The human interaction won't be harmful, the naturalist says. 

After the visit Mr. Ben David and the owlet were headed up-Island, to rescue a red-tailed hawk.