It looks like he has prior history of making owls regret making contact!

Richard: “Look! We have matching outfits! People will think we’re twins!”

Owl:

Nah… He really rescued this hurt Snowy. The Great Grey must be returning owl karma.

From Destination Duluth

Saving a Snowy Owl

by Richard Hoeg, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Destination Duluth

Editor’s note - This is not a typical post for Destination Duluth, but a snowy owl in October is a rare sight in the northland. Rich Hoeg tells the story of a rescue of the injured raptor below.

An hour after sunrise while hiking in an open field, looking for another rare bird, I came around a bend in the trail and found myself “face to face” with a Snowy Owl. The owl was only ten yards away.

Given it was a reasonable period after sunup, the owl appeared very sleepy, which was normal. I stayed motionless and took photographs, careful not to disturb the owl’s slumber.

Jason Mandich commented on a photo I had posted earlier today, that he saw some “orange” under the wing and wondered if the owl was injured. As the nearest road was two miles away, I felt a car / bird collision was not likely. The owl would have had to fly quite a distance to reach the area where I first discovered it in the field. Its location was normal, actually excellent habitat. However, I had also noticed the orange, and even though there was no evidence of blood on the snow, I made the decision to return at dusk. My goal of the second visit would be to determine if the owl was okay. While snowy owls occasionally hunt during the day, they are really a dusk or night time hunter. Given the number of crows and rough legged hawks around, it made sense to me that this owl would choose to wait till dark to hunt.

When I returned an hour before sundown on this gloomy Tuesday, the owl had not moved. I decided to perform some tests which one would normally never do with a bird. I yelled loudly, I clapped my hands. The owl barely looked at me. I knew this bird needed help.

My first decision was to phone Wildwoods animal shelter in Duluth. They have a history of helping wild animals and birds. Unfortunately, they were closed for the day. I then called my friend, Michael Furtman and asked what I should do. I was not willing to walk away from this wounded bird. Mike gave me the phone number for the local game warden, but also suggested I phone Frank Nicoletti. Frank is the bander for Hawk Ridge, and is one of the naturalists at Sax Zim Bog where I help out as a volunteer.

Frank told me given my remote location (35 miles north of Duluth), I would have to capture the owl myself. I told Frank I was terrified of the owl’s talons, but Frank coached me through the capture. The key was to come up behind the bird, and slowly lower a blanket over the owl. Then grab the Snowy from behind. As talons only move forward, the owl will not be able to sink its talons into you.

Frank was 100% correct. With my heat beating madly I walked up behind the owl till I was right behind it. I remembered because a pet bird I had when I was a child, that once the blanket was down over the owl, it would hopefully quiet down.

The Snowy did not struggle much, but now I needed to put the owl in my car and drive 40 miles to Wildwood. Ever had an owl riding shotgun in your car? It is an interesting experience.

Thankfully, Frank knows the head person over at Wildwood very well. Farzard from Wildwoods met me and opened up their Center. You might think all was done with my experience, but noooooooo!

A second pair of hands was needed to assist in owl surgery. Thus, I found myself at first holding an anesthesia mask over the owl’s beak and nose, and then an oxygen mask. All the while I was to monitor the Snowy’s breathing and insure it stayed constant… not too fast, or too slow indicating we might be losing the bird.

I am happy to report our Snowy, now named “Silver” by me survived the operation. Tomorrow I will drive Silver down to St. Paul and the Raptor Center where it will continue its recovery and treatment. My Snowy Owl’s outlook is good, and best yet it does not have any broken bones. The owl was not starving, which proves it is a decent hunter, but had the misfortune to meet up with a glancing blow with a car or some other hard object, which thankfully it seems to have survived intact.

During tomorrow’s drive down to the Twin Cities, the owl will be in a cage unlike this evening’s drive. Thanks to everyone who helped. I will keep everyone updated on Silver, the Snowy Owl’s recovery.

« Well, I guess I probably don’t need the binoculars anymore” 🤷

“Hooman… You have been upgraded to tree.”

/Richards speaks, owl flies away

“You ruined it…”