Last Updated: Friday, April 11, 2008 11:01 AM CDT
Young owl rescued
By Daily News Staff
Nancy Schmidt had an unusual encounter Tuesday afternoon. Schmidt, of Rhinelander, stepped out onto her deck and found herself face to face with an owl.
“The two of us stared at each other, neither moving, for about 5 minutes,” Schmidt wrote in an e-mail to The Daily News. “Finally I broke away to research what species it was and discovered that it had to be a baby Great Horned Owl. It was obvious by then that it was unable to fly.”
Schmidt called the DNR and was referred to the Northwoods Wildlife Center in Minocqua. Pat Krause, a volunteer driver from Rhinelander who is trained for wildlife rescue, showed up right away. Krause could immediately tell that the owlet was healthy but too young to fly.
“After talking to Mark Naniot, the center’s rehab director, I found out that this little owl hatched much earlier than normal. The egg must have been laid the first of January and hatched the first of February. She is eating on her own and weighs 1230 grams, which is what owlets normally weigh in May or June! Owlets this time of year typically weigh 420 grams. Pat assured me that the little owlet will be well taken care of. The center has a resident surrogate Great Horned Owl mother with an injured wing who has diligently taken care of as many five owlets at one time. In October or September, this owlet will be given a soft release. The cage will be kept open so that it can go back and forth for food until she is able to find food on her own.”
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Great Horned Owl is the only animal that regularly eats skunks. The Great Horned Owl will take large prey, even other raptorial birds. It regularly kills and eats other owls, and is an important predator on nestling Ospreys.
When fully grown, Great Horned Owls can have wingspans up to 57 inches and can weigh five and a half pounds.
The reintroduction of Peregrine Falcons has been hampered in some areas by owls killing both adult and nestling falcons.
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