Friday September 26th, 2008 Great Horned Owl Rescue call

Friday September 26th, 2008 Great Horned Owl Rescue call.

Friday evening at 5:38 pm, We received a call from a Good Samaritan who while jogging saw this owl seemingly resting beside the road as she jogged by.

(Click on any image to enlarge) On her return jog back home she looked over at where she had seen the owl. Sure enough, it was still there. It hadn’t moved an inch. It seemed to be struggling in the foliage. It tried to fly but seemed exhausted or injured.

Although this owl seemed like it was well camouflaged in the brush,the Good Samaritan could tell something was wrong.

She ran home and had no luck finding any emergency services that were willing to help. She stumbled across our phone number and was able to get thru to us. We made calls to local Fish and Wildlife officers but no return calls.
It was now past 6:30pm and this Good Samaritan could not bear the thought that the owl would fall prey to coyotes or the possibility of it climbing up onto the road, so she called us again and begged us to pick it up.
When I first examined the bird, it was obvious that it had suffered a head injury. If you look closely in a later pitcure you’ll notice the right eye is closed.
I believed it to be a female juvenile Great Horned Owl that flew that into the bushes full of stickers at least 24 hours prior. She was struggling to get out of the sticker patch, but may have run out of energy to free herself.
Upon further examination I noticed that the owl had over two dozen briar stickers about 1 inch long, completely covering her body. And...she had an obvious head injury.
(Click on image and look closely at the left eye).
I also removed eleven stickers from between the wings and the body of the bird. This seemed to be the main problem at first. The stickers acted like Velcro tape preventing this bird from opening its wings.
In addition she was very tired, weak, dehydrated and seemed very hungry.
If you look closely below, you will notice one of the owl’s eyes is extremely dilated. From my experience, her eyes showed that she had apparently suffered a head injury.
It took over 30 minutes to separate the thick stickers, grass and branches that held her wings to her body. Then she was able to stretch her wings.
Then after a brief rest…
... and the removal of most of the stickers, she was immediately hydrated.

(Click on image to enlarge)

I removed the remaining stickers
and she took a rest.

Then she took a short nap before being transported to her new restaurant.

Now she was happy to see a familiar face.
"A field mouse!"
She instantly gobbled it down.

Then another one.
Then a third mouse was, going, going, Gone…

Ahaaaaw.. Fresh warm chicken liver, followed by chicken hearts.

At one A.M she was happy to gobble up everything new on the menu.

This was followed by yet another familiar face...
a fresh warm mouse to top off the meal.

And another...

At three a.m. she was happy to have supper delivered.

At five a.m. room service was right on time.

At 8:00am I received a return call from a wildlife veterinarian who concurred with my diet and treatment. We arranged to have this female owl delivered to their facility on Sunday morning, after it could regain enough strength for traveling.

8:00pm - this two-hour feeding ritual started again.

Midnight's menu was of a combination of chicken hearts and fresh mice.

This menu was continued from 8p.m. 10p.m. midnight then 2am, 4am, 6am and 8am.

Larger portions this night...

It seemed like she winked at me...

At 8:00 am Sunday morning the owl was transported to the doctor’s office. At 10:00 pm I received the diagnosis that it was obvioust to the doctor that this owl was a victim of a recent fire. The doctor discovered that the bird had numerus burnt feathers and smelled of smoke. This explains why the bird appeared to be a juvenile.

In addition, this bird’s eye injury was at least a year old.

It will take some time in rehabilitation until this fair feathered friend can fly again.
If you look close at this photo, you will notice that this owl is missing its right horn feathers from the fire.
(Their ears are used for hunting & hearing prey).
Many thanks to the alert jogger, rescue volunteers and a dedicated vet. This is another life saved.Farewell my courageous and trusting fair- feathered friend....

Saturday September 11th 2008 ~ UPDATE ON Yacolt Quakers

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Saturday September11, 2008 A Visit to Yacolt for Updates

It was a warm & windy 89 degree afternoon driving into Yacolt. We have had mixed reports about the surviving Yacolt Quakers.

As I approached town it seemed like I was driving to a summer camp.

As I was approaching town I saw a sign announcing the annual Halloween event.

Arriving at Yacolt, showing the blue skies.

On the corner of Yacolt and Hubbard it seemed that YPPA has yet to find time to install their second site’s nest platform.

Camouflaged behind a fruiting apple tree you can still see the third YAPPA pole.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

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Looking across the street I noticed that YAPPA’S fourth
pole was still standing and rocking a bit in the wind.
A closer look at the nest platform on the corner of Hubbard and Twin Falls Rd.
(Click on image to enlarge.)
(Click on image to enlarge.)

Below is a short video clip of the wind rocking this YAPPA platform.

We hope they secure it before the winter winds arrive.



Arriving at NWBR’s nest platform number one on this warm day,

I was greeted by Glenn Welker.

(Click on image to enlarge.)
The platform looks great and seems to be holding up well.

(Click on image to enlarge.)
Glenn had a surprise for us. This new chain saw birdhouse was installed by him eariler in the day for the other wild birds in his yard.

There were no birds present in his back yard,
so we went on a tour of the town to scout out the Quakers.

No Quakers spotted at nest platform # 4 near the park.

(Click on image to enlarge.)
No Quakers spotted at nest platform # 3 on Jones Street.

No Quakers spotted on the corner of Yacolt and Hubbard.
(Click on image to enlarge.)

As we traveled north on Hubbard street I noticed that YPPA has yet to erect their third pole. It was still lying on the ground in the same location as six months ago.
(Click on image to enlarge.)
Then I heard a Quaker. As I looked up, I spotted two Quakers near the corner of Hubbard and Twin Falls Rd.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

More Quakers were heard.
(Click on image to enlarge.)

I spotted a total of four Quakers before they flew off.
(Click on image to enlarge.)

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I followed them to the corner of Jones & Railroad Street where they landed in an apple tree.
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Apparently the Quakers have been feasting on the apples there for quite some time.

If you look closer you'll notice the parrots bite marks in the apples.
(Click on image to enlarge.)

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Before I could follow the Quakers again, I received an emergency call.

I needed to return to Vancouver, Washington. As I left I asked Glenn to continue the search.


As I was leaving town I wondered about the remaining Quakers.

Had the count dwindled back down to just four?

Did more perish?
(Click on image to enlarge.)
Or are they flying the valley enjoying the good weather? As I was driving out of town I realized that the Quakers have plenty of room to play.
(Click on image to enlarge view.)
(Click on image to enlarge view.)
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(Click on image to enlarge view.)

Crossing the bridge back towards Vancouver, I needed to switch my frame of mind to the upcoming rescue.

As I was crossing the bridge, I received a call from Glenn Welker.
I was approaching a thick patch of trees, I could barely hear Glenn’s voice announcing the good news.As I cleared the woods,
I could heard Glenn’s faint voice repeat the words that he had seen 10 birds.

This was good news to hear.

I'll be back with camera in hand to film all ten Quakers soon.