Fledging TIme for Great-horned Owlets

Happy Earth Day Everyone!



( Photo: This Great-horned Owlet was on the ground at a local cemetery and caused some concern among folks that came upon it. Photo by Steve and Evie Fisher)

There is nothing cuter than a baby owl. No matter what the species, they are fluffy and almost round in appearance. They look a lot like a stuffed toy rather than the wild, well-armed future predator they are.

We have received several calls this past week from people who happen upon these adorable little balls of fluff. This is the time of the year when Great-horned Owls fledge, or leave their nest and become mobile.



( Photo: A young Great-horned Owl has the distinctive yellow eyes of its parents, which identify the owl species before the chick has feathers.)

Great-horned Owls are our earliest nesting birds in WI. It seems a contradiction; however, the adult owls are often on nests by late January when the winds are howling and snow covers our northern landscape. Great-horned Owls do not build their own nest. Instead, they choose an old nest of a crow, hawk, or even a squirrel to call their own.

When the young owls are 6-8 weeks old, they begin to venture from their nest. This is before they can actually fly. Nature's method provides owlets opportunities to develop their leg muscles that will very soon be catching their own prey. In a natural setting owlets that appear to have fallen from their nest actually have fledged. In a natural wooded area, bushes and smaller trees provide a ladder of sorts and allow the chicks to climb to a higher perch until they can fly. When owls nest in a city with concrete below them rather than a soft forest floor, problems arise. That is also the case with a well-manicured park or lawn setting that has nothing that can function as a ladder for the tykes.

Our job at REGI is to resolve which owlets are actually in trouble and need to come into captive care and which are doing as nature intended. This year we have had several calls with young owls on the ground. All have thus far ended up being normal owlets with parents at the location. They just need to be left alone so the adult can tend to them.
No matter how good the wildilfe center is, the owlets' natural parents are always the best choice to raise them.



( Photo: Adult Great-horned Owl guarding her chick. (Photo by Steve and Evie Fisher.)

When owlets come into captivity at REGI, they are raised here by a foster parent. The foster is a non-releasable adult of their own species. That allows the little ones to grow up to be owls and not imprinted to humans. While the little ones are adorable, they quickly grow up into real honest-to-goodness owls. If they are hand fed or associate food with people during their nestling period, the young owls become human imprints. They identify with people and not owls. It is a condition that is not reversible. Imprinted birds are very aggressive once they reach maturity. Some of the most dangerous birds we have are imprints. Because of the extreme aggression, they are never able to be released to the wild.

Owlets can eat between 13-17 mice per night when they are about 3-4 weeks old. They are little mouse-eating machines until their growth levels out. An adult owl eats about 4 mice per day.



( Photo: Great-horned Owl foster parents raising a wild youngster last spring. They are protective and great parents even to babies not their own.)

If you find a young owl, leave it where it is, unless it is in imminent danger. Give us a call and let us help you decide if the adults are in attendance and the chick is just fledging naturally or if there is something wrong with the little one. Remember, owls are nocturnal for the most part and are not easy to see during daylight hours. Mom and dad could be very close and yet be so well camouflaged they are hard to see.

If a nest tree has been cut or blown down, artificial nests can be used so the owl parents can continue to care for their young.

Have a great day everyone.

Marge Gibson © 2010

Great -horned Owl "BEAN" Released in Mosinee,

( Photo: The Great-horned Owlet that became known as "BEAN" was tiny and helpless when she was found.)

In late April I received a call from Wildlife Rehabilitator Nicki Christianson. Nicki is a friend and State of WI Mammal Wildlife Rehabilitator near Wisconsin Rapids. She has been a tremendous help for years helping us many times with injured birds and often serves as an overnight facility for birds until they can be transported to REGI in Antigo. REGI cares for injured birds from a large area of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As a mostly volunteer organization getting transport for our patients sometimes from several hours away in not always easy. That is especially true during bad weather or at night. Without Nicki, we would not have been able to help many birds from the Wood and Adams County areas. On this stormy evening the call was about a tiny, wet Great-horned Owlet that was on the ground during a storm. The words below are from Nicki as she describes the call she received on the night of the major storm.



( Photo: That is a Great-horned Owlet under that down. They camouflage very well. If it wasn't for his single black talon showing this baby would virtually "disappear" from vision especially on a background of leaves in the woods.)

Nicki writes:
I got the call a few hours before a bad storm was to hit. I was told that they (The Beans) had seen the little owl earlier in the day on the ground under some tall trees. They thought it best to leave her alone, in hopes mom was still around. But after most of the day had past, the little owl still sat alone. They knew she needed help. That is when I got the call. I went out to check the situation. The little owl looked like a fuzzy melon with huge feet. We searched the entire area, no parents were found. We found two nests one had the bottom falling out the other was empty. We even tried a crow call in hopes a worried parent would show up fearing there youngster was in danger.
The storm now on us I called Marge at REGI ask what we should do. She advised I take the little one back to my facility, feed her and put her in an incubator. If the weather broke we would try again to take her back. The owlet was very cold, starving and sick...and the weather did not break. The rest of the story is REGI's.



( Photo: Tiny "Bean" meets her foster mom Great-horned Owl soon after she arrives at REGI. Foster parents raise orphans,of their species, so the babies are not imprinted to humans and can be released to the wild. )

CHECK BLOG ON MAY 2, 2009 for the day Bean was admitted to REGI.

Summer passed. The owlet was raised by two non-releasable Great-horned Owls. The adults are not able to be wild but serve their species by raising orphans every year here at REGI. We don't have much contact with the youngsters during their growing up stages because we want them to be wild and not comfortable with humans. Not much contact means not many photos are taken during the process either. Pretty much the young birds hardly know they are in captivity.

Great-horned Owls stay near their youngsters until October when they begin to think about their next family. Like many birds, Great-horned Owls mate for life. About a month before the release Bean went into a large flight area to begin her hunting training. She excelled at rodent control in our flights. The time had come to set her free. Fred Lane, Wausau business man and friend of REGI had a perfect site for her release. It was his farm in Mosinee. They have horses and therefore lots of mice and rodents hanging about. A local Great-horned Owl would be a valuable addition to the area. it was a safe place to release BEAN as they use no rodent poison in the area.



( Photo: Don Gibson with the now grown Great-horned Owl "Bean" in her last minutes at REGI after her physical for her wild release.)



( Photo: Onlookers including a local Boy Scout Troop had the opportunity to see and photograph this beautiful Great-horned Owl up close and personal before her release.)


( Photo: The young Great-horned Owl was full of vigor and more than ready to be a wild owl. She gets some last minute instructions from Marge minutes before she was released to the wild.)



( Photo: Fred Lane had the honor of releasing Bean into the wild. We hope he is the last person ever to touch her. )

We love stories that end on a positive note. Everything went perfectly every step of the way for this young owl to to fly off last night as a wild owl. Bean would not have lived had the Bean family not noted her situation and wanted to help. She would not have survived the first night without Nicki Christianson giving her emergency care on that cold April night. Once at REGI the foster-parent owls raised her to assure she know she was a Great-horned Owl and be able to be released to the wild. REGI staff checked and made sure the owls were getting enough food and enough mice for the owlet. Great-horned Owl chicks can eat up to seventeen mice each night when they are growing the fastest.

Bean is a wild owl tonight thanks to so many.

I am confident the owl formerly known as Bean, is having a grand time tonight happy to be free of humans and on her own. She is a huge strong Great-horned Owl a with an equally strong personality. We have no concerns about her ability to fend for herself and attract a mate when the time comes.

Thanks everyone.
Have a great night everyone.
Marge Gibson © 2009

Busy REGI Day with Babies, Birthday and Releases

(Photo: Six week old Great-horned owl when admitted to REGI.)

Babies are springing up all over these days and tumbling into the REGI facility.

Tis the season for Great-horned Owlets to leave their nest. Young Great-horned Owls hatch in February in our region. They are the season’s earliest nester. Owlets typically leave the nest before they can fly. There are lots of biologic reasons for that and it works out to their advantage once the owls reach adulthood. The problem occurs if they are in an area that is close of human population centers. People cannot help but notice these adorable little fluff balls. As a result they are often picked up and taken into captivity. We have taken many calls this spring about Great-horned Owlets. Most of the time our role ends after advising the finders it is a natural part of an owlet’s life. We encourage people to try to make certain the little one is healthy and in no imminent danger from domestic animals such as cats of dogs and then to leave the area and let the youngsters be cared for by their parents. The parent birds are after all the best ones to raise their own babies. If the owlet has been injured, has truly fallen from a nest site too early and cannot be put back, or is an orphan, we can rear it here at REGI. All raptor orphans that come into REGI are raised by foster parents of their own species. They hardly know they are in captivity, and are not imprinted to humans, but there is no way that we can ever hope to do better than their own parents. It is a very costly process just in terms of supplying the young owls with enough natural food until they are hunting on their own and can be successfully released in October Mice cost us about $1.00 each. Great-horned Owls at age 4 -6 weeks can eat up to 13-17 mice a night each. They are little rodent eating machines. That is one reason they are so wonderful for the environment. When you do the math of how many days it is from April to October, you can see the dilemma.

We have one owlet in at this time. He is about six weeks old and is from the Wisconsin Rapids area. He is the victim of having fallen from a weak nest site which collapsed during a storm. The storm raged on and he was on the ground for thirty six hours. That was time to take action and bring him into captivity. We are very lucky to have Nicki Christianson; a State of WI permitted mammal rehabilitator in the WI Rapids area that helps out in emergency cases such as this. She took him in for the night during the storm and was able to give him emergency care and a safe place to be until her could be transported to REGI in Antigo the next morning.

Were it not for Nicki and other rehabilitators throughout the state and country with whom we network and our transporters, in this case Judy Marshall, that bring patients to Antigo, many patients would die before they ever got to REGI.

The owlet from WI Rapids had some internal bleeding from the long fall and was weak from his adventure, but within a day was placed with his foster parents. He will have minimal contact with us from now on. We supply food to the enclosure and the adults do the rest. We could learn so much about being parents from the wild avian world. The adults both male and female take over feeding and caring for young quickly and without question. Most importantly the youngsters need not be their own.

( Photo: Foster mom Great-horned Owl with injured GHO owlet)

We will handle the little one only when he has intermittent physicals to chart his growth rate. We will share photos of those events on this blog.


It is also the season also for ducklings to be hatched. Four newly hatched mallard ducklings found themselves in a storm sewer in Wausau, WI yesterday morning. A city of Wausau Police officer was their hero andn ours when he took time to get them out of the sewer. Mom and the other young had long since left the area so they were brought to REGI to be reared until they are old enough for release. They are eating well and we expect all will survive their harrowing beginning. A big thanks to the Wausau Police Department and the Marathon Country Humane Society for their help. ( Photo: Four Mallard ducklings warming up after being admitted to REGI)


Our long time friend and environmental educator, Steve Fisher had a birthday earlier this week. The REGI team is as close as many families. We use every opportunity to celebrate and have cake and goodies so birthdays are celebrated with great enthusiasm here. Congratulations Steve!
( Photo: Steve and the REGI team gather to celebrate Steves birthday.)


Releases are always a time of celebration. Several birds were released back to their wild home yesterday. Some we don’t have photos yet and will share during the upcoming week. A male Coopers Hawk in the photo below could hardly fly with the crop filled with food I gave him before her left REGI. He is just a year old and still has brown plumage and yellow eyes. Once he is an adult his feathers will be gray in color and his eyes dark orange. It is great to see them well and back out on their own.



It is stacking up to be yet another event filled day. Spring is HERE!

Best to all,

Marge Gibson © 2009