New Year's Day Rescue of a Great Horned Owl on the Saltmarsh TrailJan. 4, 2010.Photos & Story by David C. Steve M. (this page) Subsequently, I called Hope Swinimer of the Hope for Wildlife Shelter to inquire about the status of the rescued owl. She told me that the owl had been X-rayed and had no broken bones but his tail feathers were quite a mess and a couple of flight feathers were broken from a crash landing. He will have to stay at the Hope For Wildlife Animal Shelter until some new ones grow in. Hope described the owl, now named Adam, as "the feistiest Great Horned I have seen". Hope also forwarded to me photos and a story that she had received from from Steve Mitchell, the gentleman who had rescued the owl. Steve likewise gave us permission to post it (see below). Thanks to all for sharing the story & photos and especially for taking care of this lovely creature. - David P. (Website Editor)
Steve Mitchell wrote: January 1, 2010
"At 3 p.m. today, Steve, Geisha and I decided to go for our New Years Day walk on the Salt Marsh Trail. Usually we walk only to the first bridge, but today we decided to look for the Snow Buntings which meant we walked to the ready-aye-ready bridge. We noticed numerous crows out on the marsh and we wondered, out loud, why there were so many. We also noticed two people with a dog coming from the opposite direction. As we approached the bridge, Geisha turned and began to growl and bark at something in the rocks. We both thought it was a porcupine it was so puffed up. We then realized it was not a puffed up porcupine but a puffed up owl, obviously hurt. It also made a hissing and clicking sound to keep us away. "After some discussion we called Leigh at home and had him goggle the phone number of, The Hope for Wildlife Society, a volunteer group in Seaforth run by Hope Swinimer. We left a message. Figuring there was not much more we could do, we waited for the other couple to arrive to give them a heads-up so they would keep their dog on the leash. The owl, at this point, had hopped a short way out onto the marsh and it was now obvious it could not fly. We talked to the couple for a good ten minutes, wished each other Happy New Year and went our separate ways. They headed to Cole Harbour and we headed back down the trail. We had walked twenty yards when suddenly we heard cawing.
"Saint Steven of Bellefontaine knelt down and slowly approached the owl; he spoke softly and reassuredly. I was not reassured but the owl seemed reasonably calm. We then came up with the brilliant idea that I would give up my down vest to use as a means to cover and capture it. It took a couple of tries because the owl began to hop out onto the open marsh again. "Now we found ourselves back up on the causeway with an owl wrapped in an Eddie Bauer vest, cradled like a baby in Steves arms with its talons encircling Steves fingers and its beak six inches from his face. I must add here that Steve was wearing his new MEC, good to -17 degrees, gloves. The label said nothing about carrying owls. We were over three kms from the car with really only one choice: we headed to the car. Then the phone rang. It was Hope. She had heard our message and wanted to know if the owl was in a tree. Not quite, I explained. She agreed to meet us at the car in, we figured, 20-25 minutes. Its difficult to estimate walking time when one is carrying an owl!
"Hope was waiting at the parking lot with a laundry basket and a blanket. She approached Steve and cooed at the owl. She had figured we would be carrying a Barred Owl and was surprised to see that it was instead, a Great Horned Owl. She put the basket on the ground next to Steve, picked up the blanket and gently placed it over the owl. Steve knelt down and placed arm and owl into the basket. Hope figured the owl would relax and let go. Guess what? The Great Horn Owl had been relaxed! It now proceeded to clamp through the new MEC, good to -17 degrees but not so good for transporting an owl, glove. Now this really brought Steve to his knees; actually, I think he had his forehead into the gravel and was rocking back and forth all the while trying to relax his hand as the owl tightened its grip. Hope kept apologizing and saying that they would just have to wait until the owl let go. Hope also happened to mention that she had seen people pass out from the pain of bird talons piercing skin. They removed the blanket and brought the owl up to an upright position. Thankfully, it let go and started to hop away from the basket. Hope gently put the blanket over the owl, placed it into the basket and stored it safely in her car. She left us with the promise of a call tomorrow to let us know how our friend was doing and the question, has Steve had a tetanus shot? Guess where we went?… Today, when the doctor came into the cubicle at the emergency department he said, I hear you had a hoot! |
