A courtesy photo from Raindancer Wild Bird Rescue of a barred owl that was found caught in a barbed wire fence on Joselyn Road in Rochester Thursday morning.
A barred owl that became severely tangled in barbed wire in Rochester on Thursday is one of three barred owls that were brought to Raindancer Wild Bird Rescue in Olympia this week.
The other two owls were struck by vehicles in rural Rochester and along Jackson Highway in Chehalis and did not survive their injuries, but experts are hopeful that the tattered barred owl rescued from barbed wire by a citizen will wind up no worse for the wear.
That owl was found by residents at a private property on Joselyn Road on Thursday morning. Stephanie Estrella, owner of Raindancer Wild Bird Rescue, where the owl is being cared for, noted that the residents were able to free the owl by cutting the barbed wire and then transported the bird to Tumwater Veterinary Hospital on Littlerock Road.
Estrella said that the most serious injuries were inflicted to the barred owl’s left wing and most of the damage appeared to be to soft tissue, with no apparent injury to nerves, ligaments or bones. The injuries were cleaned, sutured and wrapped at the veterinary hospital, and the bird was then released to the care of Raindancer Wild Bird Rescue.
Estrella says it will take a few weeks of rest and recovery before a determination on the bird’s ability to fly will be made.
“We won’t really know until we’re able to let those injuries heal and get it into a flight cage,” explained Estrella, who has multiple flight cages at her facility. “We’re just letting it rest and heal right now.”
Estrella said a best case scenario would include about a month of healing and then a couple weeks of flight conditioning work before the bird could earn a clean bill of health and a wild release. Remaining cautiously optimistic, Estrella said, “We’ve had barbed wire cases before and most of them have turned out well.”
Estrella noted that her facility received three barred owls between Tuesday and Thursday morning of this week. It’s a frequency that she says is out of the normal but explainable since barred owls are often drawn to roadsides for their hunting and scavenging grounds.
“This time of year they are mostly active at dawn and dusk. And with the days getting shorter and people coming to and from work they’re in people’s path more often,” said Estrella.
•••
Reporter Jordan Nailon covers the outdoors and East Lewis County for The Chronicle. He can be reached at 360-807-8237.
