The Screaming Woman Owl

(This all happened before cell phones and cordless phones.  We just had landlines….with cords)

A lady came to my door with an owl in a box.  She had found it on the road near her place, out in the country, and it had been hit by a car.  She told me it was pretty easy to pick up when she found it, as it was stunned, but now it was getting a bit feisty, and please, please could I take it?  I said yes, I would, and I’ll get it to our eagle and owl man as soon as I could.  She looked visibly relieved, and I thought I would be able to just leave it in the box and hand it to Paul in due course.  My smugness didn’t last long…..

I rang Paul and told him I had an owl in a box, and it had been hit by a car.  Then he said, I want you to look at the owl and see what injuries it has.  My heart sank.  At this stage I hadn’t done a “raptor handling course” and the only thing I really knew about owls was that they had enormous eyes, and even more enormous talons, that could rip holes in you.  I’ll call you back when I’ve had a look, I said, and he said, oh no, that’s ok, I can talk you through it.  Take a towel and open the box, make sure you’re behind the bird, and cover it with the towel, making sure you cover the head, and make sure you grab hold of its feet with one hand, so it can’t grab you with the talons.  Right.  I put the phone down, and off I went, armed with a large towel, in fear and trembling.  I carefully opened the box…and there was this very cross face looking at me.  Remembering what Paul said, I moved round behind the bird.  The eyes followed me, I’d forgotten owls could turn their heads like that kid from the Exorcist.  Okay, so I was behind the bird, but he was still looking at me….so I threw caution to the wind, and put the towel over his head, and body, pinning his wings to his body, so he couldn’t flap them and hurt himself, and making sure I grabbed his legs, just above those talons, so he couldn’t do me any damage.  Right.  Stage 1, now back to the phone.  The adrenalin had kicked in by this…..

I picked up the phone and told Paul I had the bird, and that I had noticed one wing was drooping.  Ok, said Paul, organise the towel so that you’re still protected from his talons, and beak, and feel the wing, see if you can find where it’s broken.  My brain was in overdrive by this…I had to do all that, and keep talking to Paul on the phone.  I was wondering whether perhaps I could quickly grow some more hands!  Somehow I managed to get my hand under the towel, and find the injured wing, and feel along the bones with one hand.  I found the break, and told him it felt to be in the equivalent of the finger bones.  Right he said, that’s good, that’s probably mendable.  Pop him back in the box, and I’ll meet you in half an hour, at our usual half way spot.

So I popped him back in the box……securing it carefully…….then I took him to the car, and drove to the meeting place…still high on adrenalin.  I met Paul, and he took the bird.  He said he would take it to the vet and get an xray, and if all looked good, he would take it home and start rehabilitating it.  He said it was a Barking Owl.

So I went home……and decided a cup of tea and a good lie down was in order after all that.

Paul rang a few days later, and I asked him how the bird was.  Well he said, I took it to the vets for an xray, and the vets had a good look at him.  The bird coped well for a while, and then decided it was all too much, and screamed like a woman being murdered.  Paul then told me that was the normal sound for a  distressed Barking Owl.

I can only imagine what the people in the waiting room were thinking……

The vets decided the prognosis was good, and Paul took him home, and several weeks later, moved him into the flight aviary, where he encouraged him to start flying again.  When he managed this successfully, he was released near where he was found….but away from the road……