Carolina Raptor Center Rehab Blog

Eastern screech owl orphans

On Friday, the NC Zoo transferred four Eastern screech owl orphans to us.  These siblings were found in Seagrove, NC after their nest was destroyed during a storm.  One of the babies has severe trauma to its left eye and will, most likely, need to have it removed. 

Unlike the barred and great horned owls, Eastern screech owls do not stay with their parents very long.  They are self-feeding by 10 days old and leave the nest by 30-32 days.  They are only dependent on their parents for 8-10 weeks total.  With the barred and great horned owls, parental care extends beyond 4 months. 

What’s a good day at CRC’s Raptor Medical Center?  When we release more birds than are admitted.  Today is a good day!

We released two hawks this afternoon (a red-shouldered and red-tailed) and will release three owls (an Eastern screech owl and two barred owls) this evening. 

The red-tailed hawk is (even better, WAS) patient #16575.  Click here to read a past entry about this bird. 

One of the owls, a barred owl, was admitted 141 days ago with spinal trauma/leg paralysis.  He has fully recovered.  The other barred was admitted with head trauma and eye damage and the Eastern screech owl had a femur fracture.

Our orphan count is rising. We have currently have 20, with number 21 on the way right now.

We have 10 great horned owls, 9 barred owls, and 1 red-shouldered hawk (arrived on Friday). 

barred owl, orphaned, found in Concord NC

egg tooth still present, eyes not yet open, most likely 3-4 days old.

58 grams of fierceness.  A bundle of pure hunger.

Today, six of the great-horned owl orphans moved to an outdoor mew to be with their surrogate mother, Betbait.  Betbait is one of our resident birds that resides on our display trail.  She has proven to be a great mother to orphans in the past.  In order to acclimate, the babies are separated from her by a mesh barrier for a few days before we combine them.  They grow up so quickly!

3 New Barred Owl Orphans

We admitted two siblings found in Charlotte last night and one larger orphan found in Lancaster this morning.

Osprey are migrating north from the winter homes in warm, sunny Central and South America (although, to be correct, a small number do winter on the coast of the southeastern US).  Welcome back!  Unfortunately, one unlucky osprey (patient #16913) made it to our clinic after being found injured in Asheville, NC.  She was found last Tuesday and was admitted at CRC on Thursday morning.  She was diagnosed with a left ulna fracture.

Today during surgery we found that the fracture was much worse than the radiograph showed.  There were multiple large fragments.  Our surgical plan changed multiple times (which led to a fairly stressful procedure), but in the end the fixation felt very stable and the bone ends were aligned as best as possible.  So overall we are pleased with the result.  Now she just needs to start eating on her own!  Osprey are notoriously difficult in captivity.