Northern Saw-whet Owl Release
I am overjoyed that we were able to return three Northern Saw-whet Owls back to the wild. All three originally became injured by colliding with windows. Two have been in our care since spring migration while the third became injured just a couple of weeks ago during fall migration.
Northern Saw-whet Owls weigh half as much as Illinois' smallest year-round resident owl, the Eastern Screech Owl. Like all birds of prey, males are smaller than females. For a Northern Saw-whet, that might mean 70 grams for a male and 100 grams for a female - less than 1/4 of a pound.
Northern Saw-whets passing through Chicago probably summer in Wisconsin or Canada and spend winters as far north as southern Illinois to as far south as the southern United States. One of our volunteers informed me that a Northern Saw-whet has been known to winter at Morton Arboretum and has been sighted in the same tree winter after winter. Flint Creek Wildlife has never admitted a Northern Saw-whet except during migration.
Check out the photo gallery on our website for additional release photos.
Safe travels.
Northern Saw-whet Owls weigh half as much as Illinois' smallest year-round resident owl, the Eastern Screech Owl. Like all birds of prey, males are smaller than females. For a Northern Saw-whet, that might mean 70 grams for a male and 100 grams for a female - less than 1/4 of a pound.
Northern Saw-whets passing through Chicago probably summer in Wisconsin or Canada and spend winters as far north as southern Illinois to as far south as the southern United States. One of our volunteers informed me that a Northern Saw-whet has been known to winter at Morton Arboretum and has been sighted in the same tree winter after winter. Flint Creek Wildlife has never admitted a Northern Saw-whet except during migration.
Check out the photo gallery on our website for additional release photos.Safe travels.
Labels: collision, head trauma, northerly island, Northern Saw-whet, release, wildlife rehabilitation
posted by Dawn Keller at 9:05 PM
2 Comments:
I've read before in your blogs a concern for additional stress on the wildlife. Why is it in every release picture you are holding the birds in your hands? Doesn't that add a tremendous amount of unnecessary stress on the wild birds? Can't they be released from a box or carrier?
ms.kestrel,
Your question is excellent. It is proper to release either from the hand or from the box. Some rehabilitation centers choose to release from the hand, while others choose to release from the box.
At Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, we used to release all birds from transport boxes or carriers, but we switched to releasing from the hand for a number of reasons. To clarify, we do NOT throw or launch the birds; rather, we simply open our hands to let the birds fly on their own.
I have enumerated for you below some of the reasons that we switched to release birds from the hand instead of the box. First, we found that birds often stuggled trying to get out of the transport box which was not only stressful but also risked feather damage. Second, releasing from the hand gives us one final look at the bird prior to release to ensure that no damage occurred in transit to the release site. Third, releasing from the hand is very quick and, in my opinion, is less stressful than releasing from the box. Although you see a photo of a release frozen in time, the entire process generally takes less than 30 seconds to a minute. Last, these are fully rehabilitated and healthy birds being released. We are always concerned about minimizing stress to all the birds, but handling an injured bird is different than safely and efficiently handling a fully-rehabilitated bird for the purpose of releasing it back to the wild.
I hope that this helps to answer your questions.
Dawn
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