Saturday, January 5, 2013

Eruption

This photo was taken just after he was spotted on the ditch bank.



That's what it's called when dozens and dozens of Snowy Owls move south out of Canada into the US. It happened on a grand scale last year, this year, not so much. Today I got a call from Cindy Lentsch (her husband is the WGF warden in Worland) saying she got a call about a downed snowy.

I met her about halfway and gathered up an extremely starved, absolutely beautiful, what I believe to be an immature male. He was very weak and by the time I made the 45 minute drive home he was unable to hold up his head and died about an hour later.

This is the first snowy owl I've received and he is the first bird arriving this new year. I am so saddened by his loss. As there are no broken bones I assume he just couldn't catch enough meals to keep his strength up. That made it doubly difficult to catch whatever he did find. And so on and so on until he just gave up.

I feel priviledged to have had him in my care for even such a short time. Thanks Randy, Caleb, Stacey and Cindy for taking the time to try and save him.

1 comment:

  1. Susan, this is Stacey, Randy DeCroo's wife. We want to thank you for trying to save this beautiful bird! She touched our lives deeply for the short time she was alive after we found her! Caleb is only 14 and has been deeply moved by this experience! She was truly beautiful!

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