From The Raptor Center

They continue to grow up so fast 🥲

This is a barred owl who came into our care as a hatchling only a few days out of its egg. On April 15th, we received a call that this owlet and its siblings were found along a pedestrian trail where their nest had fallen. Unfortunately, this little one was the only survivor and the parents could not be found, likely due to all the foot traffic on this popular trail.

Luckily, this little one did not sustain any injuries. While we would ideally have released the baby immediately, a foster nest was required, and at that time the known nests we were monitoring did not have young ones of a similar age. Because of this, the baby had to stay in our care through the start of May.

The young barred owl spent many of its first days with us inside of an incubator to help maintain its body temperature, something its mom would have done by brooding -laying gently on top of it to keep it warm. Staff wore ghillie masks and dim headlamps when feeding to prevent the owlet from imprinting on humans and making any association between where food comes from and people. Lastly, a stuffed companion, and later a mirror, was placed with the owlet, both tools often used to further help young raptors appropriately self identify with their own species while in our care.

Arriving at 67g and leaving at a whopping 340g, our young barred owl grew at a normal healthy pace and a suitable barred owl foster family was found - a placement that will set this owlet up for success in the wild.