Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Barred Owl

When a bird breaks a bone, time is of the essence!

When we receive calls about baby raptors, it is typically a situation in which they fell from a nest and renesting instructions must be given to reunite the baby with its parents. On rare occasions, if the baby is sick or injured, reuniting is not possible. Unfortunately, that was the case for this nestling Barred Owl who suffered a tibiotarsal (leg bone) fracture when they fell from the nest.

Luckily, this fracture was closed (no bone was exposed) and relatively fresh. You can see the break in the top radiograph below.

Bird bones, especially the bones of young birds, start healing VERY quickly. Delays of just 12-24 hours can mean the difference between a bone that can be easily repaired and one that can never heal appropriately.

Since this bird came in so quickly after the fall and was medically stable, we went straight to surgery to repair the bone.

In the bottom radiograph, you can see an IM pin (an 18 gauge spinal needle in this case) was placed in the bone to align the two segments and a splint was placed.

Given the age of this patient, we anticipate significant healing and pin removal in the next week. During this time, the owl will be treated with pain medications, antibiotics, hand feedings, and cage rest.

Puppets and mirrors are used to feed to prevent imprinting or habituation and we will work with other area rehabilitators to find a conspecific (patient of the same species and approximate age) to help this baby grow up happy with a strong sense of species identity.

If you see a baby raptor like this on the ground—please do not interfere! Call us right away so that we can help you assess whether or not that baby needs to come in for care, be renested, or if it is old enough to be left to climb the tree on its own. These guys RARELY need our help, but if they do, we are here!

Renesting Success Story

Hello BRWC!

I wanted to give you a happy update. About a month ago, I brought you a Great Horned Owlet that had tumbled out of its nest. Y’all checked him out, said he was healthy and to go ahead and pop him back into his new basket nest.

And he thrived! His parents took excellent care of him and then last weekend overnight, he flew!

I’ve attached some photos of him from when he was found then as he grew and the last two were taken the day before he fledged. I like to call the last one, Captain of the Basket pose.

Thanks for the help!

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