OK, so last Sept 5, I was out on a 25 mile bike, getting ready for IM Wisconsin one week later, when I spied a bundle of feathers on the side of the road. It turned out to be a barred owl, and to make a long story short, I managed to capture the owl and transport him to the Glen Helen Raptor Center near Yellow Springs, Ohio (click here for the original story and pics of the rescue: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2489724;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread ). So, this might be a bit OT for the tri forum, but hey, I was prepping for IM Moo when I found him, so I think this should still count!
This Friday, Susan and I got a call from Betty Ross, asking if we wanted to come and get Mr. Owl, and release him where I found him. We were both surprised and thrilled, because the original prognosis was that Mr. Owl’s injuries, which included a permanently blinded eye, would preclude him from every being released into the wild. We readily agreed, and made plans to pick up Mr. Owl at 11:00am Saturday.
Nick and I drove up to the Raptor Center, and found Betty. Although she had already gotten Mr. Owl into a cardboard box for transport, she very graciously got him out so that I could take a picture of her, Nick, and Mr. Owl. While we were doing that, she gave us me some more information on Mr. Owl. When he first showed up back in September, he had weighed 460 grams; today he was over 800! It was pretty obvious that he had grown quite a bit, and she said it would be a while before he needed to eat again. She also told us that they had named him Caesar, since I had found him near Caesar’s Creek State Park. He had been put into a pen with Henry, who apparently was a pretty badly injured barred owl, and didn’t much like our Mr. Owl since he seemed to catch most of the mice they put into their enclosure.
She told me that if we wanted good pictures of Mr. Owl before we released him that I should bring some good, heavy gloves, and pick him up out of the box, since he was likely to fly away immediately. I thought about this for about a nanosecond before deciding that I would probably hurt him or myself in the process, and to just rely on my trusty Nikon D90 to get some decent pics as he flew to freedom. And so with that, we loaded Mr. Owl in his box into my car, and headed for home in Springboro to pick up my wife Susan and other son, Jack.
We drove out and parked at the exact spot I had found Mr. Owl at, and proceeded to walk the box containing our owl about 50 yards into the field (not wanting to release him close to the road). We got our cameras ready as Susan prepared to open the box, and prepared ourselves for an owl explosion. Susan carefully opened the box, and…nothing. Mr. Owl sat there, blinking at us. We were thankful as we got some really nice pics, and then sat back, waiting for him to fly. And waited. Nothing. So much for flying immediately away.
Susan suggested tipping the box slightly, which seemed like a good idea, and as she did, Mr. Owl burst out of the box and flew immediately into a tree. Jack, who had been maintaining a rather large distance away from the proceedings in case of imminent owl attack, yelled “Fly free, owl!!” Mr. Owl flew into a tree, and looked down on us, then flew into a slightly loftier perch. I snapped a bunch of pics of Mr. Owl in his new, open air surroundings, and then got back into the car, where Susan and I immediately fist-bumped, and proceeded to wear silly grins on our face the entire drive home. All in all, it was about a 3-hour evolution and almost 100 miles of driving, but it was oh so worth it. Fly free, indeed, Mr. Owl.
Nick, Mr. Owl, and Betty Ross at the Glen Helen Raptor Center.
Mr. Owl…he looks waaaay better than the last time we saw him. Eye on his left is permanently blind.
The family getting ready to release Mr. Owl. I found him right next to the road behind Jack (orange-yellow shirt).
Susan opens the box; Mr. Owl decides he’s not quite ready to fly yet…
Mr. Owl looking up at the big blue sky for the first time in 6 months.
Still not quite sure what to do yet, but I appreciated the opportunity to get this close up with out having to handle him.
And he’s off!!
Mr. Owl’s first perch after flying out of the box.
Mr. Owl decides to head for a higher vantage point. Check out those talons…
Mr. Owl as we left him this afternoon. Godspeed, Mr. Owl, and try to stay away from trucks whilst
hunting at night…
Spot
