A family in Bolton, Massachusetts, had quite a surprise: A wide-eyed barred owl that had made its way down the chimney and was sitting in the fireplace.
BOLTON, Mass. (WCVB) — A family in Massachusetts had quite a surprise recently: A wide-eyed barred owl staring back at them from inside their fireplace.
MassWildlife responded to the home after the family reported a barred owl had made its way down the chimney and was sitting in their fireplace.
MassWildlife Central District Manager Todd Olanyk carefully removed the owl from the fireplace and examined it for injuries before releasing it outside, where it quickly flew off.
MassWildlife said that February through May, barred owls across Massachusetts begin laying eggs. The birds are cavity nesters, meaning they typically will select a hollow tree or use the nest of a hawk or squirrel to lay their eggs, experts said.
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This owl may have thought the chimney was a potential nesting cavity.
To prevent wild animals like birds, bats, raccoons or squirrels from entering homes, MassWildlife experts suggest placing a metal cap with a screen on the chimney.
In November, a worker helping set up the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York found a holiday surprise: a tiny owl among the massive branches. Read about it here:
And in more weird news ...
A candy company will pay you $30 an hour to taste test sweets, and more of this week's weirdest news
This candy company will pay you $30 an hour to taste test their sweets
This is one sweet offer.
A Canadian company is looking to pay people to try their candy and rate it. And the best part is, the job is remote.
The Candy Funhouse is an online candy store that is seeking full-time and part-time workers willing to try out, and honestly review, their candies and chocolates in a position they call a "candyologist."
The Candy Funhouse will pay you $30 an hour to taste test their sweets.
"Candidates should have enthusiasm and eagerness to try confectionery products. We are looking for honest and objective opinions on the products that will be taste tested," the listing says.
"Candidates will be responsible for tasting and reviewing from the 3000 products we currently carry."
The role is primarily going to be selecting candy for the company's first ever Candy Funhouse brand line. The candyologists will help select 10 new and original candy creations by narrowing their selections from hundreds of possible options, according to the company.
If eating candy for a living seems too good to be true, the price is even better. The part-time position is 15 hours a week at $30 an hour and the full-time spot is 40 hours at the same rate.
No experience is required and all applications have to be in by February 15 -- the day after Valentine's Day.
Man apologizes, returns handcuffs he took from LAPD more than 60 years ago
Los Angeles (KABC) -- Grandparents can pass along powerful life lessons to the next generation. One man is trying to do just that by teaching his grandchildren that it's never too late to make amends.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Police Department posted on social media that its West Valley Station received an interesting package: a pair of handcuffs, $100 and a heartfelt letter of apology. Advertisement
The Los Angeles Police Department posted on social media that its West Valley Station received an interesting package: a pair of handcuffs, $100 and a heartfelt letter of apology.
The person who sent it? A 74-year-old grandfather from Vista in San Diego County.
More than 60 years ago when the man was a teen, he was at a local Bob's Big Boy restaurant when he witnessed a scuffle involving an LAPD officer. He ended up with the officer's handcuffs after they flew off and slid toward him.
He picked them up, took them home and held on to them for all this time.
"I have felt a little guilty each time I saw the hand cuffs over the years, but did nothing about it," the man wrote in the letter.
Recently, his grandsons - ages 6 and 9 - visited him and were playing with plastic handcuffs. That's when the grandfather showed him the handcuffs he had and shared the story of how he got them.
"They were aghast and asked me why I stole the handcuffs from a policeman. I, of course, had no good explanation and I told them it was the wrong thing to do and I wasn't proud of it and then I danced around the subject," the letter says.
Feeling guilty, he sent back the handcuffs to the LAPD, along with the donation and the apology that LAPD later posted on social media.
"The note is addressed to you, but is partly intended for my grandsons," the grandfather wrote.
The letter ends with one more apology: "I am sincerely sorry."
Eavesdropping marmosets understand other monkeys' conversations
Marmosets can understand conversations between other monkeys and judge whether they want to interact with them, according to new research.
Scientists from the University of Zurich played marmosets audio recordings of vocal interactions between their peers and recorded their behavior and body temperature to gauge their reaction, the American Association for the Advancement of Science said in a news release published Wednesday.
Marmosets "understood" recordings of vocal interactions between other monkeys.
The animals reacted differently based on their sex as well as their social status -- those who have offspring, known as breeders, or those with no offspring of their own, known as helpers.
Researchers played recordings of an opposite-sex adult interacting with a begging infant, either making food-offering calls or aggressive calls, to 21 adult marmosets.
The scientists also played the begging infant, and the adult's food-offering and aggressive calls back individually as a control.
Marmosets' and other monkeys' noses change temperature according to their emotional state, with stress leading to a drop in temperature as blood flows to central organs, Rahel Brügger, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Zurich, told CNN.
Researchers measured the temperature change when marmosets listened to both the individual calls and the two marmosets interacting.
The scientists found the change in nose temperature was greater when the marmosets listened to an interaction than the sum of the temperature change when they heard the individual calls, leading to the conclusion that marmosets interpret the interactions as conversations.
"These marmosets are not just passive observers of third-party interactions, they really interpret and understand what third parties are doing," Brügger said.
In general, the helper marmosets recorded greater temperature changes than their breeder peers.
Female helper marmosets' noses got colder after listening to males interact with infants, as this indicates a neighboring group with young monkeys and the presence of competing females. "In nature, this situation would be difficult for these marmosets," Brügger said.
Male helpers' nasal temperature rose after listening to aggressive interactions or a female call by itself, because this could indicate a potential mating partner, Brügger explained.
"Different stimulus for different individuals can mean different things," Judith Burkart, a researcher at the university and Brügger's doctoral supervisor, told CNN.
The team then tested whether the marmosets would seek interaction with the sharing monkey or the aggressive monkey by opening two compartment doors simultaneously.
One door would let them return to the original enclosure, while the other opened onto an additional compartment from which a hidden speaker played either the food-sharing or aggressive interaction.
Marmosets showed a preference for cooperative adults, as they were more likely to go through the door where the food-sharing call was played, Brügger explained.
"They even are more curious about the potential mating partner if they assume (based on the playback) that the potential partner is a cooperative one rather than a competitive one," she said.
The research published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
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