Screech Owl up-date (1 Viewer)

From thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=53984

Very strange morning. The Owl was back on the waterfall this morning, and not looking good at all. I received several emails from the good people on the Ohio bird listserv about different rehabilitators in the area. I spoke with one, and she said to try to catch it and take it too a rehab center. I was a little apprehensive about this, but then I looked out the kitchen window and 3 or 4 Blue Jays were beginning to mob the poor little guy. I found an old butterfly net and some gloves and went to see what I could do. I tried the old snake charmer trick of trying to attract it's attention to my right hand, while slipping the net over it with my left....It was too smart for that. It went on the ground, then flew up on the fence where I finally got it in the net. Great...Now to get it into a box. To my surprise, it went right into the box without a fight. I now have it in the basement and I will take it to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, Bay Village Ohio around 10:00am when they open. I have Bob Dylan's, "Blood on the tracks" playing low on the stereo for it. It calmed right down. Maybe something for the rehab center to try. LOL! I'll keep you posted on how it's doing. Pretty exciting stuff! I hope it all comes out OK!

Mike
Owl catcher (Not certified)

It's now safely in the hands of the rehab center. We were able to stay in the room while they examined the poor little thing. The rehab specialist said it was a little dehydrated, and some loss of weight. There was definitely something wrong with it's eye. She said that their main goal is to release it back into the wild, but if it can't hunt, they have a few museums looking for a Screech Owl. She gave me a phone number that I can call to see how it's doing. I'll keep an up-date here on the forum. Hopefully in a couple of weeks it will end with some pics of it being released back in the wild! Keep your fingers crossed.

Mike

:clap: :clap:

Well done, Mike. I hope all goes well for him.

I just got an email from the rehab center about the little guy...

"The screech owl is doing o.k. He recieved a couple rounds of fluids yesterday however he did not eat the food we offered him last night (very typical) so today he will recieve three rounds of fluids and we already force fed him a mouse. His eye is open now and we are applying triple antibiotic ointment and artifical tears three times a day. We are hoping that it will not have permenant eye damage. We always try to release animals back to the area they were found.
Feel free to continue to check on its progress it will be on medication for at least a week- hopefully it will start eating on his own.
We can call you if and when we release it."

Looks like it's off to a good start!

Mike

I've been struggling whether to do this post or not, but I thought it might be good to make some folks aware of pesticides, and perhaps open a conversation on the subject. As you probably figured out from my tone in the opening sentence, the Screech Owl took a turn for the worse over the weekend, and the vet for the rehab center had to put it too sleep. They think it suffered from thromboembulism, probably from some pesticide. I never thought about pesticides much before this. I always assumed they were safer now, and not much of a wildlife health problem anymore. Are they still that unsafe? Are there any studies of how pesticides effect wildlife? I guess, if anything, maybe the little guy can make us all more aware of this! Again, they're not a hundred percent sure that was the cause..., but it makes you think.

Thanks for you support everyone,

Mike