JACKSON HOLE, WYO –Teton Raptor Center has found homes for all 19 of its baby barn owls thanks to an exhaustive search for placement and a caring electrician at St. John’s Hospital.
Here’s how it went down.
After TRC admitted 19 barn owl nestlings in 24 hours. If that sounds like a lot, it is. It’s the most birds they’ve ever taken in at one time. After accepting the orphans, TRC quickly began to realize re-nesting the young would be crucial and challenging.
The 19 nestlings came to TRC on Wednesday, March 29 after Idaho Fish and Game received a clutch of six baby barn owls that were displaced from their nest when a hay bale was being moved near Camas, Idaho. Before the day was out, another 13 young owls were also displaced under similar circumstances in Idaho Falls.
The smallest of the 19 owls was only days old and weighed 66 grams when it arrived at TRC. The largest was close to a month old and weighed 535 grams.
TRC began an active search in Idaho to place the orphans with a surrogate mother owl. Through a process called wild fostering, baby owls and other raptors can be placed into active nests and the parents will raise them like their own. Wild-fostering is the best option, if reuniting them with their own parents is not possible. Unfortunately for these clutches, reuniting with their parents wasn’t an option.
After searching for nearly a month, staff at the Raptor Center began to worry they might have to act as the owls’ parents.
“After press releases, media coverage, and dozens of calls from members of the public—no suitable nests found in Idaho,” Meghan Warren said. She’s the rehabilitation director at TRC. “We were faced with raising all 19 owls to independence at TRC.”
Then came a breakthrough. Darin Day, an electrician at St. John’s Hospital and a lifelong barn owl enthusiast, heard the call and offered to help re-nest the owls in Utah. Day had built and placed barn owl boxes some 40 years ago in Utah that are still being used today by owls.
Day re-nested eight of the baby owls in Northern Utah on April 13. That still left 11 more that needed homes. A call came in from farmers and The Nature Conservancy saying there was enough nest locations for the remaining 11 owls.
So, on Earth Day, April 22, the last of the 19 nestlings were returned to the wild in active nests in northern Utah.
It took some cooperation and working through red tape. With permission from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and through partnerships with The Nature Conservancy, and farmers in northern Utah, all 19 nestlings were fostered into wild nests.
By one’s, two’s and three’s, owl families throughout northern Utah grew in size. The owl parents will raise their foster babies like their own, giving the young owls the best chance to learn what it is to be a wild owl and survive in the wild.
“We were so fortunate to be able to transfer the owls to Utah for re-nesting,” Warren said. “Without Darin Day’s knowledge about active nests and his offer to help with the re-nesting effort, we were faced with raising all 19 owls to independence at TRC. That’s why I’m thrilled and relieved that we could get them into wild nests where they will have a much better chance at survival in the wild.”
Barn owls are a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. They are found across most of the lower 48 states and around the world. They nest in tree cavities and on cliff ledges, as well as in barn lofts, haystacks, and other human structures. Most active at night, this species has some of the best hearing of any bird and they are exceptional at keeping rodent populations in check. Because of the elusive nature of barn owls, most people may not even know that they have nests on their property.
What to do if you find a baby bird…
- If you find young Barn Owls that have fallen out of a haystack, leave them where they are and notify Teton Raptor Center’s Raptor Hotline: 307.200.6019 or Idaho Fish and Game: 208.525.7290, so that a nest box can be placed to keep the birds in the same area and close to their parents.
- Without disturbing the nest, please notify Teton Raptor Center (307.203.2551) of any active raptor nests to help create an inventory of possible foster nests for future displaced Barn Owls or other raptor species.
- Don’t use rodenticides. The best way to manage rodent populations is through healthy raptor populations. Rodenticides can be lethal to birds, dogs, cats, and other wild creatures.
- Consider building a nest box and donating it to Idaho Fish and Game (Upper Snake Regional Office).
