November 15, 2023

Meriann Shepherd The Northern Pygmy Owl that was found injured at Glide High School is quickly returning to her former adorable self, as you can see in this clip caught on her camera this morning. She’s now perching, doing short hop flights, eating very well and regaining her coordination. We will move her to a large flight pen next and make sure she is 100% and can catch live prey before we release her back to her wild world. Despite the cuteness factor, these little owls are extremely fierce and are known to take down prey larger than themselves. Owls are our best friends for keeping rodent populations in check. You can help them thrive in two ways. One is by not using poison. A poisoned rodent does not die right away. They get slow and sick long before death finally comes and become easy pickings for our beautiful raptors that eat them. Rodents have already become immune to first generation poisons. Birds are much more sensitive to toxins (think canary in a coal mine). It’s a terrible death for the rodents and the many creatures that eat them. Say no to poison. Two is not throwing trash out on the roadway. Not even chewing gum. This trash attracts rodents and raptors often hunt them. Especially youngsters who are not great hunters yet. I saw a young red tailed hawk hunting the ditch along 138 just yesterday. No poison, no litter. It’s bad for everyone.