It’s time to look back on 2023! Check our blog between Christmas and New Year’s for a variety of stories and memories of 2023 from the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
My favorite patient of 2023 has been a juvenile Barn Owl who came to the Wildlife Center on May 15, after its entire nest fell off a conveyer belt. Unfortunately, all four of the young owl’s siblings died on site and although the remaining owlet was very dull, it made it to us alive! Luckily, the Barn Owlet did not appear badly injured on its intake exam; the veterinary team found that the bird had subcutaneous emphysema and bruising. Since the owl – patient #23-1147 – was a juvenile, the rehabilitation team took over its care.
We fed the bird chopped mice multiple times per day, while silently keeping our faces covered since baby raptors are prone to habituation. This bird healed quickly and was able to move to one of our smaller outdoor raptor enclosures on June 12. We continued to care for it daily until it was time to move to a flight space and begin exercising before release. We started flight conditioning on June 25 and on its very first day of exercising, our staff noted some typical clumsy first flight attempts. Although the first day of exercising seemed a little rocky, this bird absolutely excelled after that. After only two weeks of exercise, it was very clear that this juvenile was flying beautifully and ready to get back out to the wild. Not only did this bird have perfect feathers, it was completely silent in flight, which is crucial for owls to be released.
The final step for our raptors before release is live prey testing, also known as mouse school. We give our juvenile raptors three days to catch live mice out of a tub so that we know they will be able to hunt and catch food in the wild. Barn Owl #23-1147 did not catch any of the mice on the first day, making staff a little nervous, but it calmed our nerves by catching all of the live prey offered for the next two days!
This patient was special to me because we only get a handful of Barn Owls in care each year. Barn owls often do a unique head-bobbing and hissing action whenever they feel threatened, which used to terrify me when I first started working with them but I have since grown to love their defensive behaviors. While this bird was only in care for just over two months, I was so happy to see it grow and succeed in every way, especially considering the other four juveniles in its nest didn’t make it. I was lucky enough to take this bird to release on August 17. I chose an open farmland habitat near a wildlife management area and released it at sunset. Not only was it the most beautiful landscape, but the bird only took seconds before springing out of the cardboard box and taking flight across the wide-open field towards the tree line. It was a release I will always remember!
– Mac, Rehabilitation Team Lead