Basement Intruder

He’s flyin’ in your windows…snatchin’ your rodents up…tryin’ to take ’em so y’all need to hide your rats, hide your mice…

Yesterday I rescued an owl intruder who was stuck in someone’s basement, amongst loads of boxes. But he didn’t come in through the window

The only tiny window was closed. He got in through some kind of duct, but we’re not sure.  And he was trapped for 2 or 3 days. There was only one way out – for someone to catch him and escort him out.

The guy who called said the owl was ‘big’. I asked, “Fire hydrant or coffee can’? -Two size comparisons for the 2 most common owls around here: Great Horned and Screech. Depending on which type of owl it was, it could be a simple rescue or a scary one.  Great Horned Owls are nothing to mess with. Their amazing knifelike talons are attached to some of the strongest feet out there:500 – 1000 psi of crushing power.  Screech Owls, on the other hand, are tiny little meanies. The guy couldn’t tell me if it was a coffee can or a fire hydrant, but he said, “It’s big. Like 14 inches”. He was too scared to even go near it himself.

So I brought my supplies for a Great Horned. A huge net, and a huge box, duct tape and heavy duty gloves. I brought a small net, too, so he could help me direct the owl into my big net.

I went into the basement and…this little guy was staring at me (note the window behind him, which he did NOT enter through. It’s sealed shut)

It was a Screech. Screech Owls are about 6 inches tall. One point of this story is to always estimate down when a man describes in inches how big something is.

The owl looked at me, then flew off, flying beautifully around the boxes, banking corners like the expert flyer he is. I went upstairs to get my smaller net, and the homeowner called out, “Don’t forget to close the basement door…” and the owl flew up, into the living room, then into the kitchen, onto the countertop. He was cornered, and I grabbed him. The homeowner was impressed. Really impressed. But honestly, I could teach anyone reading this how to do it in 5 minutes.

The owl was clacking his beak at me, telling me emphatically, “Put me the *@&@$% down!” and I examined him quickly. I could see into his mouth. He had viscous, stringy saliva from the tongue to the roof of his mouth, a sure sign of dehydration. He had been in the basement 2-3 days. So I put him in a box (a huge box, the one I had brought for a Great Horned!) and took him to the clinic, where I injected fluids under his skin (Sub-cutaneous) to re-hydrate him quickly, and put him in a quiet, dark enclosure with a mouse for his dinner.  The next morning, he looked bright and alert and he had eaten the mouse. So he is ready to be released. I’ll update when we release him tomorrow!

Update: He was released and flew away beautifully, back into his territory!

American Bittern

We recently received an American Bittern. He is a wading, fishing water bird similar to a heron. Things to know about Bitterns: they have  a spear on the end of their faces, for fishing, and they can literally take an eye out (and they would love to – they go for anything shiny, like fish or the human eye), and they make a noise that sounds like the scariest monster ever.

This guy was thin, dehydrated and has a problem with one of his leg joints. We gave him fluids and tube feeding, and the avian vet will look at his leg. I think these pics are amazing showing the precautions we had to take, and yet, he’s just a scared bird in a totally alien environment. I’ll keep you updated.

 

 

Great Horned Owl

Today a Great Horned Owl was admitted to the wildlife clinic.  Someone was kind enough to bring him. Here he is (click for a better look):

I looked into the container and saw those huge yellow eyes looking up at me. He was beautiful, but he looked weak.

My boss and I examined him. First, my boss held those dangerous feet (red tail hawk talons can put you in the hospital, but Great Horned Owl talons can do even worse) while I prepared fluids to give him. My boss stated that the owl was emaciated and dehydrated. Suddenly, we saw the feather flies on his body. Feather flies are evil. They dart and scurry around and you see them for a second, and get ready to grab one, and they go bury themselves deep in the feathers again, disappearing. First, my boss grabbed a fly and smashed it with his thumb. CRACK, it went, spewing the owl’s blood on the white exam table sheet. Then I saw one and grabbed it and did the same thing with my thumb. CRACK.  The blood spewed, and I swear the thing came back to life. I had to take my thumb and mash and mash and mash it onto the white sheet to finally kill it.

I got out the feather lice/fly spray and sprayed the owl all over, under the wings, on his back, near his vent, all over. Then we went back to preparing the fluids. Suddenly, the flies got angry at the chemical killer, and started coming out of the owl en masse. They scooted all over the owl. They flew off him onto my shirt, into my boss’s eyes, into my mouth. I spit them out and killed them. My boss picked them off his cheek and shirt.  We worked on killing them with our fingers, my boss one handed since he still had the owl’s feet (the owl’s head was covered to reduce his stress). We killed about 40 feather flies with our fingers, leaving 40 bloody smears on the sheet, as they flung themselves off the owl and onto us.

My boss flipped the owl so his feet were down so I could access his back. I parted his feathers to give him an injection of fluids. His beautiful pink skin was riddled with red feather fly bites. I wanted to cry for this poor creature.The flies continued to jump out and we continued to search and kill them. Then I parted the feathers on his neck and saw…maggots.

Flies love to lay their eggs on a compromised, sick bird, and they go deep into the blood feathers (a blood feather is a feather that is still growing, so still has a blood supply). My boss removed as many maggots as he could physically with hemostats (metal grabbers)

My boss then transferred the feet to me  and I held them while he left the room to prepare some oral rehydration fluid, L-Glutamine, and Capstar (which kills maggots from the inside of the animal). I was super aware. I had the claws of one of the most powerful, dangerous animals we handle, and I was restraining him. It may seem strange I wasn’t wearing gloves. Not for bravado purposes, but your bare hands have more control. It’s easier for a powerful animal to slip out of hands you can’t feel.

So, while he was out of the room, it was just me and the owl. He was on his back, his head covered, with me holding his powerful feet. Flies were getting irritated and leaving his body, flying up into my face, smacking me in the eyes, hitting my tongue as I took a breath. I spit one out on  the floor as I remembered not to let those talons go. I was able to kill 5 or so flies as I held the feet with one hand.

My boss came back and we transferred the feet to him. He pried open the owl’s mouth and I inserted the long tube down his throat, made sure it was in place, and pushed the plunger. Then he put the owl face down and I gave him his fluid injection.

The poor dear owl, once the most fierce killer,  looked like he had given up. He must feel so sick, and on top of that, predators are grabbing, poking and prodding him. His head slumped and he closed his eyes. I thought he might die.  I always say to these animals, even though they can’t understand, “I won’t hurt you. I am trying to help you. I am sorry about this.”

Because we sprayed him so heavily, he was wet. So there was a danger of him becoming hypothermic in his condition. We put him in an incubator and covered it to make it dark. In a half an hour, I checked on him. He had lifted his head. He looked brighter. He started actually clacking his beak at me, the universal owl signal for “*@*&*) off”!

We had made some progress.

(Post Script: The owl is eating, perching, and hooting. He has started to really recover, and he’s been moved outside to a flight recovery cage!)

(Post, post script: owl recovered, and was released! He is now healthy and flying free as an owl should be!)