If a few more days had passed, the weeks-old hoot owl perched on a backyard chair in Stockton’s waterfront Brookside neighborhood probably would have starved to death.
But the home’s resident got in touch with Tri County Wildlife Care in Jackson, which took the big baby bird — a great horned owl — into its care Saturday.
“It was sitting there for over 48 hours, and she got concerned and called us,” said Susan Manning, president of Tri County.
The staff quickly determined the owl was undernourished. It was easy to tell by feeling how the the bird’s breastbone protruded from its chest. It had been deprived of water as well.
The owl “would not have lasted another 24 to 48 hours,” Manning added.
Manning believes the baby owl most likely fell or glided from a tree branch to the ground. Appearing to be about month old and still too young to fly, the owl was stuck in the suburban backyard.
Despite its sorry state, the underage avian was healthy enough to raise a ruckus with those trying to save it. Not exactly a feathered friend, the feisty baby owl snapped and clacked at its caretakers. All in all, the bird was “not happy to have our attention,” Manning said.
Yet the owl still had an appetite, devouring chopped mice with gusto. The bird will be banded and will learn to fly at the 2-acre wildlife center before being released back into the wild.
Though a hoot owl, it still is not old enough to hoot.
“We will give him a little more weigh and a little more growth, and we take him back where he came from,” Manning said.
State law requires the bird be released within 10 miles of where it was found, close enough to the wildlands where an owl can live a happy life. She said the bird could grow to about 2 feet in length.
Showing how busy the center is this time of year, the volunteers who transported the owl to the center also stopped by the home of Stockton Councilmember Michael Blower to pick up a litter of baby racoons. Blower said he found them in his garage, having been abandoned by their mother. He said he took great care to recover them.
Whether it’s the owl or raccoons, their recovery and release will be more success stories for the not-for-profit Tri County Wildlife Care, which has saved thousands of wild animals over its 31 years. The center takes in about 1,200 wild animals a year, from chipmunks to eagles, with the goal of healing them and returning them to their natural habitats.