Pennsylvania: Snowy owl rescued from prison fence on Christmas Day

PENNSYLVANIA -- A Pennsylvania wildlife conservation officer helped engineer a daring prison escape on Christmas Day.

But the plan wasn’t sinister.

A snowy owl had become trapped in barbed wire in a perimeter fence at the Smithfield State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon.

Officer Amanda Isett quickly rescued the injured owl and placed it in a crate.

The owl is expected to make a full recovery.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission said snowy owls are infrequent visitors to Pennsylvania. However, the birds have been seen more frequently in the Midwest and East Coast in recent years.

(Q13 Fox - December 28, 2017)

Indiana: Police officer rescues Snowy Owl stuck to grill of car after being hit on freeway

INDIANA -- Bloomington Police @BPD_MN posted on Twitter December 11, 2017

Say hi to Officer George & his new friend. A driver had hit this owl on I-494 & now this beauty was lodged in the grill of the car. Officer George arrived & was able to free the owl.

Fortunately the owl only had minor injuries & was transported to the Raptor Center for treatment.

Canada: Traffic cameras capture beautiful images of snowy owl in flight

CANADA -- A traffic camera captured the image sequence of a lifetime.

While monitoring a snowy highway on January 3, a snowy owl decided to slip in front of the camera for its close up.

Prime Minister of Transportation Robert Poeti shared the images to Facebook Thursday morning, and the internet collectively gasped.'

 

  

"An impressive solo was captured in full flight on the morning of 3 January, by the surveillance cameras of the road network on highway 40, at the height of the boulevard des sources in the west of the island of Montreal. Here's a couple of shots of this beautiful snowy owl!"

(WMC Action News 5 - Jan 8, 2016)

1/1/14: A very lucky Snowy Owl

OHIO -- With well over 100 Snowy Owls thus far reported in Ohio - biggest irruption in many decades - interesting stories are bound to arise. These birds draw lots of attention, and nearly everyone who has the fortune of seeing one is suitably impressed.

 

One downside, for the owls, is that nearly all of them are juveniles, and utterly unfamiliar with vehicles. Couple that naiveté with their propensity to hunt near roads, and fly close to the ground, and owl-vehicle strikes will happen.

I've heard of at least four cases of Snowy Owls killed in collisions with vehicles so far, and some say that this is the biggest cause of mortality for owls south of the breeding grounds, at least in populous areas.

So, when I first saw these photos, I was bummed - another owl gets grilled. But a quick skim of the email they were attached to reveals a happy ending, it seems. The gentleman was driving along a rural Wood County road when the owl came out of nowhere and bashed into the front of his pickup truck.

The collision was hard enough to crack one of the slats in the grill - these birds can weigh 4-5 lbs, or more - and the owl popped right through and was stuck between the grill and the engine compartment. But it is still alive, and fortunate indeed that the right guy was driving the truck.

The driver quickly worked the owl free, and placed it on the passenger seat in the warm cab of the truck. While the bird was undoubtedly a bit dazed and confused, and some feathers appear out of place, it doesn't look too worse for the wear.

Anyway, while the guy was no doubt pondering what to do with the animal, it shook itself off, and darted out the door. The driver reports that it flew strongly across the fields, and out of sight.

Here's hoping it suffered no lasting damage. If it had to collide with a vehicle, it's probably good that it happened to be this one, as many people probably wouldn't have been able to deal with the situation rapidly, and successfully extricate the bird.

UPDATE: This same owl, apparently, is doing well and hunting in the same area, at least as of January 1. Look for it near the junction of South Dixie Highway and State Route 281 in Wood County, not far south of the town of Rudolph.

(Jim McCormac - Jan 1, 2014)

Snowy owl rescued from basement of local building

OHIO -- When Mike Tillman woke up Thursday, he never imagined he would see the elusive snowy owl that has been randomly spotted hanging about the shores of Lake Erie this winter.

But shortly after he arrived at work at 9 a.m., he spotted one in the most peculiar of places.

The 57-year-old maintenance worker showed up to the Lorain Palace Theatre, 617 Broadway, to do “a little bit of this, and a little bit of that,” Tillman said, when he moseyed over to the Eagle’s Nest next door.

Tillman said a flooding issue had been plaguing the building, so at 9:30 a.m., he decided to check on the situation.

As he made his way through the damp, musty corridors of the building’s basement, Tillman said he was shocked when he saw a white figure lurking in the corner.
“The light caught the white and it was a few feet away from me,” he said. “I thought it was somebody crouching down. I about had a heart attack.”
Tillman said that’s when he first laid eyes on the owl.
Startled, Tillman said he retreated from the basement to regroup and soak in what he had just witnessed.
“That’s when I just kind of left and then I went back in to make sure I wasn’t seeing things,” Tillman said with a laugh. “It was there. Oh man!”
A couple hours later, Tillman’s discovery was confirmed when Amy LeMonds, director of wildlife for the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, arrived.
The pair, along with LeMonds’ father, ventured back into the murky basement where there sat the animal.
Caringly, LeMonds approached the emaciated owl, calming it with the tone of her voice. The animal hopped its way around the basement ever so carefully, but was in no shape to resist.
That’s when the owl’s passive nature allowed LeMonds to log her first snowy owl rescue in her eight years with the center.
“I’m pretty excited. This is my first snowy owl,” she said with a huge grin.
“Mine too!” exclaimed Tillman.
Because of the owl’s condition and how easily it allowed her to rescue it, LeMonds said she believed the animal had been captive in the basement for some time.
“It was clearly stuck with how skinny it was,” she said. “It was dark and we were slow and calm, but you should not be able to capture any animal that easily.”
LeMonds said the owl will now find temporary shelter at the center’s rehab facility, where it will be given an opportunity to de-stress.
A veterinarian could be called in to assess the owl, but she would not be transporting it in an attempt to prevent further stress, LeMonds said.
Because of what they eat and the amount of energy it takes to digest the food, LeMonds said the owl will be placed on a strict diet of fluids and a substitute food until it can be assessed.
“It would actually kill them to try and digest food particles and bones in this condition,” she said.

What’s next for the owl will depend on the amount of time it takes for it to recuperate, according to LeMonds.
“If we get its weight up rather quickly and it progresses well, we will get it back out (into the wild),” she said. “If it has to stay longer-term in captivity, we may utilize other resources like the Medina Raptor Center where it can get some flight training and help build its muscle tone back up.”

When asked if Tillman saved the owl from certain demise, LeMonds responded with an emphatic “yes.”

“It’s still an uphill battle when they’re emaciated and dehydrated like that,” she said. “But I would say, absolutely, he did.”

(The Morning Journal - Jan 16, 2014)