Today a well meaning person brought an "owl" to our office.  The owl had been hanging out it a food processing either wearhouse or building of some kind and the inspector who came through told the employees they had to get rid of the owl due to the droppings (probably the pellets).  The fellow who brought the owl said that they had removed it once and it had returned, and then they had captured it and removed it again and took it about 10 miles away and it still returned.  I asked him how he knew it was the same owl, and he said he wasn't but that it was the same "type" of owl.

 

Suprises:

 

1) the owl was not a Barn Owl as I had assumed - it was a Great Horned Owl!!

 

2) how they managed to catch a Great Horned Owl without hurting the owl or getting hurt themselves - a mystery!!

 

3) the owl was a juvenile and so I suspect that either the owls Mother had gone in the building and this little one followed - and couldn't figure out how to get out - or there is a nest somewhere inside the building and the parents know how to hide better??

 

4) I am now assuming that the owl that they released did not return to the building but that there was probably at least two young and they just appeared one after the other in the same area.

 

5) After researching a bit - I did learn that GHOW young stay with their parents and the parents do some parenting of them through out the summer and into the late fall - most young don't disperse until September or October - some even having to be kicked out by their parents when the parents start their next nesting cycle in January!

 

6) This young owl could fly very strong and was nearly full grown - I hope that it does OK with out it's parents, or that it finds it's way back to it's parents tonight! Since this would be early for the young one to leave it's parents and disperse.

 

7) the owners of the building plan to get it screened so that owls don't return - but who can blame the owls, I'm sure there were plenty of mice and the air conditioning was probably a bonus!

 

Best

Heidi Newsome