Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke

06/20/2026

Shout-out to our orphaned owlets for looking like ACTUAL birds, now, mostly! 😎 They're still a little "linty," but their adult feathers beginning to come through, as well!

We currently have three Eastern Screech Owlets, three Barn Owlets, and a single Barred Owlet in our care right now (and those are just the juvenile owls)! All three cohorts have graduated to living in outdoor flight pens this week. This is a big step for them!

All are flighted and self-feeding, now, but they are still not quite ready to fly free!

Owl parents care for their offspring for longer periods than hawks do, protecting them in their nest territory until around October or November. The nestlings are brought food by their parents as they leisurely hone their hunting skills during this time.

In other words, if you are a leggy, nocturnal, linty sort of child and a late bloomer compared to your neighbors, don't worry! Owls have your back. 💪

🦉🦉🦉

In early fall, these owlets will have grown in all of their adult feathers. Their primary (flight) feathers will have unfurled fully, and they will have some degree of waterproofing. We will begin offering them live prey to hunt, and they will be ready for release when our rehab staff feel they are capable hunters!

06/19/2026

We are HURTIN' for some newspaper today! 🗞🗞🗞

If you have newspaper you can spare, please bring it by our wildlife hospital during business hours (10am-5pm). We are also open ALL weekend, so Saturday and Sunday are options as well.

Thanks so much--and our patients thank you, too! ❤🦉🐣

06/19/2026

Eastern Screech Owls come in two main color morphs in Virginia (or "flavors," as one staff member is fond of calling them): Gray and Rufous, or red.

Both of these morphs have a variety of appearances, but they typically fall into one of the two camps. Here in the eastern US, we see a more even distribution of gray and rufous screech owls. Out west, the gray morph is more common.

Once in a while, though, we get a patient who breaks the mold: A Chocolate morph!

This handsome owl is not quite a rufous morph, but definitely not gray either. Intermediate brownish or chocolate screech owls are uncommon, but well-documented!

In fact, one study found that intermediate/chocolate morph screech owls made up nearly 40% of sightings in Florida!

The genetics controlling Screech Owls' plumage color are not well understood. The trait is polygenic, meaning that the morphs we call Gray, Red, and Chocolate are controlled by more than one mutation.

Based on the unimpressed squint he's giving the camera, we don't think this owl will be telling us any Screech Owl genetic secrets anytime soon. And that's okay with us, because he passed his pre-release test and was able to be released back to the wild after these photos were taken! 🦉

06/18/2026

06/18/2026

Our last COMMUNITY fundraiser of the year is only A WEEK AWAY! 🐢🦅❤

Over one third of our 2800+ yearly patients come from the New River Valley! We are proud of serve this beautiful region and its wildlife, and we hope to continue doing so for many years to come with your help!

Wild animal populations are in a rapid decline; since 1970 the world has lost more than 3 billion birds! Wildlife rehabbers like us rely on donations to do our work. Without organizations like ours, the number of wild animals would decline even faster. By donating, you're giving hope in an otherwise dire situation. Wildlife have no health insurance, so your donation helps us give them the care they wouldn't otherwise receive.

is already here, and you can help us raise and rehabilitate orphaned and injured wildlife from the NRV today when you give!

Give TODAY at the link below:
https://www.givelocalnrv.org/organization/Southwest-Virginia-Wildlife-Center-Of-Roanoke

06/17/2026

Peekaboo! 🦉

This screeching, claw-footed muppet is VERY disinterested in playing peekaboo, for the record. We cover their heads during exams to help reduce stress, but that doesn't stop them from telling us EXACTLY how they feel about being held by the femurs. (Understandable.)

We have three of these adorable lint gremlins in our care right now. They have graduated from tong feeding, and are now beginning to self-feed. As long as they maintain weight with daily drop-fed rodents, they will be one step closer to the great outdoors!

🔊

06/16/2026

Sound up for cute baby bird sounds! 🦆🐣🪿

Our orphaned Canada Goslings and Mallard Ducklings are looking like real geese and ducks, now! They're out in our waterfowl enclosure, now, and are doing very well cohabitating.

We wouldn't cohabitate adults together, but this group have grown up together and helped each other learn to forage. With multiples of each species, they are able to imprint on their adopted siblings, preventing any future confusion in mate selection.

According to AllAboutBirds.org, both sexes of Canada Geese select mates who are roughly the same size as they are. Ornithologists refer to this as "assortative mating"!

06/15/2026

At just 2.35g, this tiny Eastern Red Bat pup puts the "micro" in "microbat"!

While some of our native bat species form maternal roosts to raise their young communally, Red Bats do things differently! They are hard-working single moms who carry their tiny pups on their chests, flying and hunting for food with baby in tow the whole time.

FACT: Adult bats CAN take off from the ground, contrary to popular belief. This means that if a bat is grounded, something is probably wrong!

Mama Eastern Red Bats are occasionally weighed down by larger pups (especially if they have 2 of them!), which can strand them on the ground. If she is otherwise healthy, she may only need a lift to higher ground so she can take off from a better vantage point. (Use a cloth on a pole to do this, and NEVER touch them bare-handed!)

This tiny pup must have fallen from mom at some point in the night, as he was found in the middle of the rescuer's yard one morning. Thankfully, he was kept warm and brought to us for care.

06/14/2026

Same noisy guy. Same noisy place. 😜

But now he's gotten more of his handsome adult plumage in!

We don't know about other rehabilitators, but we have received TONS of woodpeckers this baby season--more than usual! We've intaken 38 woodpeckers total since January, with 32 of those coming after April. Most of these are juveniles, and they represent 5 of Virginia's 6 native woodpecker species.

Since Woodpeckers would peck through the soft mesh cages that our baby birds fledge in, we keep them in plastic, ventilates totes with non-heated bulbs shining light in.

Pretty soon, this handsome young man will be going outside to condition for release!

06/13/2026

Happy ! 🐢🐢🐢

Another round of rehabilitated, Threatened Eastern Box Turtles are back in the wild where they belong! 🥳

As one of the most imperiled species we work with every day here, it means a lot when we are able to return a breeding-sized adult to the wild! This species is iconic and beloved in the Eastern US, but they face significant threats: International poaching, "backyard" poaching for illegal pets, road fatalities, and habitat loss. Their slow reproductive rate and high mortality rate as juveniles means that losing an adult turtle can set a population back by decades.

🐢DID YOU KNOW? 🌊
Box Turtles are often misidentified as a type of tortoise due to their high-domed shell and land-based lifestyle. However, a box turtle IS a true turtle, and they are descended from pond sliders!

Like their mostly-aquatic cousins, Box Turtles have a deep relationship with water, and they are even capable swimmers! They aren't particularly strong or graceful in water, but they will wade, swim, or bottom-walk across slow-moving streams and creeks. They can also hold their breath for some time. (Note: They can still drown, so don't go dunking box turtles into water, please.)