The surviving Musketeer

He now has a name....This is d'ARTAGNAN. ATHOS, PORTHOS and ARAMIS didn't make it. He seems to be feeling better altho he's still not eating on his own. You'll notice a mouse on his foot, I'm hoping he'll actually eat it after dark as they are totally nocturnal owls. Think of someone hitting the drivers side of your car. Your head snaps to the left and hits the window very hard. That is what happened to this tiny baby. His nest cavity was about 30' above the ground in the top of an old cottonwood tree. When the logger cut the tree down the top slammed into the hard earth with four of these young birds inside. Because this person waited until the next day to call me about them, and by the time I got to the site, only one little owl, d'ARTAGNAN, was there. The rest were probably taken by marauding cats, dogs or wildlife during the night.

You'll notice that d'ARTAGNAN has his eyes closed, is very thin looking and has his tiny ears standing up. That's so you can't see him. Of course it loses something in the fact that he's not up against the grey bark of a tree but you get the idea.

I was called back to Burlington on Wednesday night because it was thought that maybe there were other babies still alive. Alas when I drove the 37 miles to the site I found it was just the adults calling for their missing babies. I certainly hope this strong little fellow will survive and be able to return to the wild.