23/05/2026
Barred owl youngster back with parents
This 4-week-old Barred Owl came to us after being found on a homeowner’s deck steps. It was initially in care overnight at AERO Animal Education and Rescue Organization who then transferred to us next morning.
Thankfully, no injuries were found after our exam, but she was a little dehydrated, so she was given supportive care while we worked on next steps.
At this age, youngsters begin to venture out of their nests and explore the surrounding branches (referred to as branching)- so it is not uncommon to find them on the ground after taking a misstep. They can actually climb quite well using their feet and beak.
With each baby raptor that comes in, once they are examined and deemed healthy, we make every effort to reunite them with their parents ASAP. That often involves quite a bit of “detective” work on our part – traveling to the area where a youngster is found, searching for possible nest sites, looking for parents, etc.
We try to get as much information from the finder as possible to aid in that search. It is a time-consuming process but worth it to get babies back where they belong.
The next day, we went to the area found, after getting permission from the finder to search on her property. After looking for 1-/1/2 hours, no nest tree was located. Our next priority was to make sure its parents were in the area.
We played some juvenile calls to see if we could get the parents to respond. Almost immediately, one parent flew in just 40 feet from where rehabber Heather was standing – this adult then called and the other parent appeared and landed on a tree right next to its mate. Fantastic!
Barred owls don’t build nests but use tree cavities or an old hawk’s nest to raise their young. When nests cannot be located, are damaged by storms, or a nest tree is taken down – we put up an artificial nest basket in a suitable location – making sure that the nest basket is strongly secured to a tree and that there are nearby branches for the youngsters to venture out on as well as easy accessibility for their parents.
Now that we had confirmation of both parents in nest area, we made our plans with a local tree climber to help us get an artificial nest basket put up and get the owlet back where she belonged.
We also had the tree climber place a trail cam on a nearby tree to monitor the artificial nest and the youngster.
That evening it was confirmed that both parents were coming in to care for the youngster and the owlet was already venturing back out on branches nearby.
Thank you to our friends at AERO for keeping this owlet safe overnight and arranging transport the next morning.
A huge Thank You to tree climber Stephanie at Acorn and Twig Arborists for volunteering her time during a busy season and coming to our aid to get this baby reunited with its parents.
We could never get these nest baskets up without the help from these experienced tree climbers.
You rock, Stephanie!!!
