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To the unthinking, or inexperienced person,
chancing upon such a situation, the parent owls are assumed to have abandoned
their young. With the noblest of intentions, the person interferes with the
whole future life of an owlet by capturing it, under the mistaken notion that he
is "saving it". In the last five years alone, we at the Owl
Rehabilitation Research Foundation have been the dismayed recipients of over one
hundred of these fledglings, all around four weeks of age, all uninjured, all in
good flesh (i.e. well fed), and all taken from the wild because the parent owls
were not actually with them when they were encountered. Furthermore, several
days have usually elapsed before the owlet is admitted here. This delay plus the
circuitous route to our premises have then effectively precluded our returning
[the bird] to parental care.
How should the chance encounter really have
been handled? Let's go back to the nesting area and look at the options.
If the owlet has developed to the point of
being aware of his surroundings, with focused vision, and is able to remain
upright and to move around - especially if he is able to lift both wings above
his body in defence - do not approach the owl but instead leave the immediate
area as quickly as possible. If you can afford half an hour of your time in the
interests of the owlet's whole life, post yourself as far away as you can while
still keeping the owl's vicinity in your general view - ideally with binoculars.
Stand still, making no noise, and both watch and listen for activity near the
baby. Usually the owlet will be making food cries or unhappy chittering sounds
when he perceives that he is alone; many will seize the opportunity to hide
behind something or climb up off the ground in this interval. If you cannot stay
in the area for purposes of observation, try to make sure that someone returns
in less than an hour's time to check on developments.
After this time lapse, if the owlet is still
grounded, still very obvious and more or less in the same place, and there is no
evidence of parents in attendance, you should examine the owlet itself. Gently
but firmly, holding both feet above the toes, turn him on his back. Feel the
long bones of his wings and legs for possible fracture and feel the connecting
joints for gross swelling, such as would be caused by dislocation. Doubtless the
owlet will be loudly protesting these indignities, but you will likely discern a
special cry of pain if there is some problem. Gently pull open the wings and
legs to full extension, and then watch how quickly and naturally they are drawn
back and folded against the body.
The other test easily performed is to check for
emaciation. This is best gauged by the amount of muscle mass on either side of
the sternum. (Think of the keel bone down the middle of the breast of a chicken,
from either side of which the white breast meat is cut.) If the sides of
this keel of the sternum can be felt between the thumb and forefinger, as one
would feel the sides of a blade, then the bird is indeed emaciated and has been
without parental support for several days. Since parent owls do NOT abandon
able-bodied fledgling young, the owl's plight suggests a terminal separation
from his parents caused by external factors such as their deaths or recent heavy
storms. Obviously, if he is to survive, he must be brought out to foster care.
If the only apparent problem is a certain
degree of thinness, without evident weakness, give the owlet one more chance to
make it in the wild. Set him up off the ground in the fork of a tree or tall
shrub and vacate the area to watch or to return. Once off the ground, he may be
left for several hours or even overnight, if necessary, but do ensure that
someone goes back to check. Finding a thin owlet on the ground a second time,
and making no effort to elevate himself above danger, is pretty indicative of
the loss of the parents. However reluctantly, there is now a case for human
intervention.
Any fracture or dislocation, or other obvious
abnormality, is also just cause for bringing the owl out to professional
attention. He will not survive without it, and the parent owls, sensing his
disability, will no longer feed him. Bring the owl to your home, put him in a
warm, dark, confined place (a big carton at room temperature) and contact a
rehabilitation facility without delay. Nourishment for the owl, during the brief
period before transfer to the centre, is a commonsense affair. Although small
rodents, cut into appropriate sizes, are the ideal food, adequate sustenance can
be provided by mincing raw, lean stewing beef and rolling the pieces in powdered
eggshell.
Whether the owlet now briefly in your
possession has already developed a safe sense of his own identity is a matter of
age and some individual variation. At six weeks of age he may safely be
considered to have imprinted on his own species and no longer be at risk in this
critical matter of relationship formation.
We have been reviewing alternative actions for
the person finding an early fledgling owl displaced from the nest or its
adjacent elevation. Suppose now that the owl you have found is unquestionably a
real infant, unable to stand alone or to focus his eyes, if indeed they are even
open. The choices here are much simpler, if you feel it should not be left to
die, as it surely will, you can - ideally - try to replace it in the nest it
fell from, or you can - less ideally - take it with you to a foster situation.
Replacing the owl in the nest can entail some
athletics if the nest is high, and some risk if the parent owls are of a large
species and misinterpret the generous nature of the climb to the nest. But when
possible, successful replacement is the most effective course of action from
every standpoint. Assuming the parent owls are still in a period of response to
food cries (usually maintained by other siblings in the nest), have no fear
about acceptance of the replaced infant. Anything in the nest, making the right
noise, will be fed! Of course, if the nest itself is destroyed or impossible of
access - or if the nestling is visibly damaged - the options are to leave it to
die or take it home.
It is important to understand, in the
manipulation of nestling owls, that the phenomenon of imprinting is not in
itself an aberration, but rather a natural phase of the young owl's social
development; he attains the perception of his own species. Therefore, an owlet
deprived of any visual animate "model" during the relationship
formation stage is as poorly equipped to perform in a socially acceptable way
with his own kind as if he were actually imprinted on an alien species. Raising
the owl in a relationship vacuum (such as in a big box, with no view of other
animate life) will not postpone imprinting until the right model is available
since the phenomenon is specific to a certain time-phase in his development and
will not occur once it has passed....
Unfortunately for baby owls, they are
invariably appealing to the average human who encounters them in the woods or
fields.
Some spring day, somewhere in the fields or
woods, confronted by the irresistible ball of fluff, sitting so innocently in a
rapacious world, each of us must weigh the alternatives for himself. On behalf
of all owls everywhere, may I make this final plea? If you are not prepared to
follow through and deal effectively with that tender life, leave it alone and
let nature take its course.
For more information contact:
Katherine McKeever
The Owl Foundation
21st Street, RR 1
Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada LOR 2EO
(905)562-5986 Fax (905) 562-7938
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