Our First Baby of 2024

It may not yet be officially Spring, but baby season has begun! Yesterday, our Kathryn G. Favre Foundation Raptor Hospital received our first baby of the year, a great horned owlet who had been seen on the ground since the day before. Our first choice is to leave these babies in the care of their wild parents, so two of our hospital team members went out to the nest site to do a field exam and locate the nest. The baby did not sustain any injuries from its fall and had clearly been well cared for and recently fed by the parents. Both parents were spotted in nearby trees and could be heard hooting at us as we looked over their baby.

We narrowed the nest’s location down to a cluster of three trees but couldn’t pinpoint the exact spot. The small, partially collapsed nest we observed ruled out the option of returning the baby to it. With returning the baby to the original nest out of the question, we decided to bring the baby to our hospital, and then return shortly thereafter with an artificial nest to place the baby in. While we secured the new nest and settled the baby inside, we could still hear both parents nearby, waiting for us to leave.

With baby season underway, our hospital will get progressively busier. You can help keep our hospital stocked by shopping from our Amazon Baby Registry. This year, our registry is focused on items that will help us expand and improve our patient housing. Pet carriers allow us to expand our indoor housing after our veterinary cages get full. Lowes gift cards allow us to purchase lumbar for making new outdoor aviaries. Our patient load has nearly doubled over the last 6 years and we are working hard to keep up with patient housing needs to continue providing care to every patient in need!