isaacgreen.org / Great Horned Owl Hatchling

This little great-horned owl (GHOW) was found on the ground on Johns Island the day after Easter. My sister, Nora, and her husband, Adrian, were visiting, but I abandoned them to go check on the owl. The people who found him named him "Shem" because they didn't know if it was a "She" or a "Him". Little Shem was cold and frieghtened, but otherwise in fine shape. His mom and dad were obviously still around because Shem was found with a frog log. His nest was fairly obvious in the tree next to where he was found. It appeared to be 30-35' up. Since he was in good shape, the decision was made to put him back in the nest without taking him to the clinic first. Here are a few shots of him tucked in while we decided what to do with him.

I did not have my climbing equipment with me, so I was thinking I would have to take the owl with me and return later in order to put him back in the nest, but I was in luck. Gerald, who works there, said he had a 60' lift and could get me up in the tree no problem. Sure enough in five minutes time he brings on up the JLG lift seen below and up we go. Gerald is an excellent lift driver, and I had me at the nest in no time flat!

My ride up!
Shabby Nest

Kind of a shabby looking nest

Great horned owls don't build their own nest, but borrow one they find suitable. This looks like it might an old hawk's nest, but it had definitely seen better days, which is perhaps why Shem fell out of it in the first place. This picture shows this was certainly the right place. There are great horned owl feathers and giant casting. So, without much fanfare, I plopped the little guy back in. He was feisty and vocal as I put him back which is a good sign.

Home again!

As you can see, he takes up most of the nest. Good thing there weren't any siblings! It is hard to tell scale, but the owl weighed about one pound and was a little bigger than the size of my hand.

Brrrr!

It was fairly cold and windy up that high. I was wearing a shirtshirt and still cold. I was worried about the owl because of the wind. Above, you can see the wind blowing is feathers. I was hoping he wouldn't be by himself too long. Normally, after putting a baby back in the nest (or on a nest platform), I like to back off and watch for awhile to see if the parents come back. If we cannot visually verify parental care, we have to retrieve the bird the next day and weigh it. If it is gaining weight, it's parents are feeding it. This day, I had to get downtown to teach a class, so I had leave as soon as we were done. Later that day, I called over to see if we could stop back by and check on the baby. I made Nora, Adrian, and Erin delay our dinner plans so I could check we could see if everything was alright. They didn't seem to mind. When we first walked up, all I could see was the white fuzz of the baby owl. On closer inspection, he had company. This was the perfect outcome, and I was glad he wouldn't be spending the night cold and alone!

Snuggled under mom

I want to thank Martha and Gerald for all their concern and help with getting this little guy back to his mom. They were both really great. Having a lift on-site made this the easiest nest replacement ever. I think I need one for myself. Perhaps I will put it on my wish list!