You might remember that earlier this summer we had the opportunity to test out one of our eastern screech owl’s mothering skills. We put our female screech (who normally lives in one of our exhibits) in an enclosure with an orphaned baby screech to see if she’d foster the owlet, and foster she did: she became an overprotective helicopter parent, who dutifully watched over and defended the little owl whenever a staff member was nearby. Read more about it here.
Above, VINS Wildlife Services intern Lauren Potter gets ready to release our screech back into the wild.
Well, our foster mom is back on exhibit, and our youngster grew up and is on his own in the great wide woods of Vermont. It was a win-win-win for all: the baby grew up with a real owl as his role model; the adult screech had the opportunity to be a mom; and we had the joy of seeing a young bird grow up healthy and return to his home in the wild. See a video of this owl’s release, and take a peek below of some shots of the owl’s first flight into the wild. Click on images for a better view.
