This is Athena, one of the two burrowing owls at the raptor refuge I volunteer at on the weekends. She was hit by a car and had a wing amputated. As well, she has cataracts making her blind. Named after the Greek Goddess of Wisdom (who was strongly associated with small owls).

I decided to do a little badge of her first. Badges are so very easy to whip out and I felt like drawing. Within the next couple of weeks/months I will be able to hold her on my fist, and she'll be my first of the 8 birds at the refuge. I do have an actual picture of her, but I'm reluctant to post it online. This not-very-close rendtion will have to do.

EDIT: Sadly, Athena passed away maybe a year after I drew this. I found her in her cage, still warm, and the volunteer coordinator said she had probably had a stroke not a couple hours beforehand. She was very, very old for a burrowing owl in captivity though. I did ultimately hold all the birds within a few years of this drawing, though I quit two years ago to attempt to focus on school. Many of the birds had also passed away in that last year though, and it was hard to keep going when I was just doing hospice care. That's what blows about knowing animals--you know that they will not be with you for your entire lifetime, so you really have to learn what you can from them before they go. It sounds cheesy, but from Athena I learned patience and hard work.