From Center for Wildlife
Gaia and Galileo have laid their first eggs of 2026!
This sweet, permanently injured ambassador couple have been a bonded pair at CFW since Gaia’s arrival in 2011. We are honored to report that Gaia and several of our other female ambassadors lay eggs each year, which is a sign of their health, low stress levels, appropriate nutrition and access to sunlight. The eggs are not fertile, and due to Gaia and Galileo’s injuries, it is virtually impossible for them to achieve fertility. Although we have never seen any fertilized eggs from our ambassadors, we always candle our ambassador’s eggs first to be sure - checking the eggs in the dark by holding a light up to them to look for a yolk sac indicating fertilization. Once the eggs are confirmed infertile, we hollow them out and use them as educational tools!
Although the eggs that Gaia and Galileo produced weren’t viable - try telling them that! They maintain all their wild instincts to fiercely protect their babies, but we can’t let infertile eggs sit in their enclosures where they will eventually go bad. So, our ambassador caretakers must embark on an intimidating expedition…
They must “Indiana Jones-style” switch the eggs out for lacrosse balls! That way, Gaia can feel like a good mother warming her eggs, while we don’t have to leave any real eggs in there to become rotten. While a caretaker takes Gaia for a walk and weight check, another staff member swaps out the eggs. Allowing them to go through the motions of nesting, laying and incubating eggs allows them to go through their natural cycles and processes, something we always try to foster with their outdoor enclosures and habitat setups. Once her maternal hormones have subsided, we can safely remove her “eggs” (lacrosse ball babies), and she can return happily to her child-free life until next year’s breeding season!
Good job Gaia and Galileo!
I initially read that as “unreasonable owls”.
The unreleasable Great Horned we have would definitely qualify as unreasonable!
They need to get me a sweet owl I can do presentations with. I am supposed to do my first owl show in May, but right now we don’t have any owls that wish to be cooperative enough for that. Just my luck! 😔
Me too!
Is that a wing between them? Like, a not alive wing?
Lol it is alive. That is Gaia’s wing. She fell from her nest as a baby and broke it. It must have healed before people found her, and now it permanently sticks out at a funny angle. Here are some somewhat better angles to see it.
So she may look a little funny, but she’s gotten to live a happy and productive life and has raised over 40 babies at the center instead of what could have happened to her had she not been found. She’s one heck of an owl!
Oh good. That is so wonderful that they’ve been able to foster. I don’t feel so sad about her sitting expectantly on lacrosse balls.
It really increases the odds for the babies to have real owl parents. They really earn their keep, and probably have a great time doing it. They’ve both gotten such a wonderful second chance in life!
Is Galileo missing an eye?
Ah, nice, they have a profile page!
Galileo came to the Center in 2006 after an injury that left him blind in his left eye. Gaia was admitted in 2011 after falling from her nest and fracturing her wing. Gaia has settled in well with Galileo, and has taken to grooming his feathers and calling beside him. They can be heard calling in the late afternoon/early evening from November through February, and are happy to oblige participants of our owl prowls. Together they have fostered over 40 owlets!
I did a good write up about the procedure, but it was modestly icky. The eye is not technically removed, as it would cause a lot of problems since the eye is both physically so large and can also damage sight in the other eye or make them deaf, as the eyes protrude into the ear canal.
They basically remove the front portion that is not inside the skull and then they close the wound. That way the eye still serves all its internal structural purposes, while the damaged portion is removed.
Kinda creepy, but also kinda cool. I can link the writeup with some diagrams if you’d like, or this is about as PG as I can make it.
Poor Galileo - thanks, I’d love the link
Found it! It’s not as gruesome as I recall. I remember writing it on the plane coming back from my honeymoon, so I guess I kept it light and not too gory! 😆
This is the article I referenced for the post. I don’t think I left anything out, I just tried to present it in everyday language. There’s a before/after pic of the Screech the article’s procedure was done on, but there’s no blood or anything like that. The eye is just cloudy in the before, and it looks great afterward!
Thanks!
I’m afraid i can’t read the article, since I’m not subscribed. Nevermind, i enjoy reading your posts more anyway.
And yeah, eating and pooping are always good signs, regardless of species.
Edit: very interesting, the way owls eyes are only “shut down”, so overall bone structure is preserved.
Hmmm, maybe the pop-up blocker on that computer got around the paywall.
Yes, it’s crazy how much space the eyes take up internally. I remember the article said there’s such limited space between the nerves going to each eye that trying to remove one eye often destroys the nerves to the other eye. Also the ear canal is designed around that eye being there, so it screws with their acoustics. And finally if those sclera around the eye collapse, the face really sinks in and throws off their balance. So much trouble is avoided by only removing the damaged globe. It’s really crazy to see how important the eyes are for more than just vision.
Looking at a great horned’s skull, you can see how much the eye matters
I found another pic of this lovely couple. Galileo’s muted eye is more visible.
Btw: I read in another comment about your first owl presentation in may. Please let us know!
What a cute family 😍 Good job cuties 👍
They are very cute together!
Gotta respect the firmware!
