The first babies have arrived!

Описание: Just ahead of the start of our annual Baby Shower fundraiser, The Raptor Center received a call about two baby great horned owls (owlets) which had been on the ground of the finder's backyard since the night before. One of our expert baby volunteers arrived on the scene soon after to assess the situation. About 30 feet above, mom and dad were still in the nest with a third owlet and, based on a few remaining food scraps, were continuing to feed the grounded nestlings. However, further observation by our volunteer found potential injuries that required both owlets to come to TRC’s hospital for a complete physical exam..

Our goal is to always get babies back into their nests with their parents ASAP if medically cleared. One owlet, however, sustained a severely broken wing. Based on the complexity and location of the fracture, it was not going to heal properly and would lead to painful arthritis; sadly this owlet did not survive.

Fortunately, the other baby owl survived their critical first 24 hours of care and was eating well, despite a fracture of the jaw (mandible) and a couple of fractures in its left wing. Luckily, all of these fractures were well aligned, and because baby raptors grow incredibly quickly at this age, were well on their way to healing in just a few days with rest, supportive care, and pain management. At this point, we decided it could spend the last few days of its healing more comfortably in its nest under the care of its parents. This baby great horned owl arrived weighing 570g and in less then a week with us is leaving weighing about 700g. Baby raptors grow so rapidly that despite being about one third the size of an adult, they eat about twice as much!

Four days after being admitted, the baby great horned owl was medically cleared to return home. With the help of our expert volunteer arborist, we replaced their nest with a larger artificial one, reinforced it to the tree, and the little owl was carried back up to its new nest and placed alongside their sibling. Our hope is that this second chance will lead to a long life and one day this baby will raise chicks of their own.