‘Spike’ taken to rehab center in Romeo

By Don Rush

You can chalk this one up under the old “You Don’t See That Very Often” category: A baby owl in the middle of the road.

According to Krista Brady, of N. Baldwin Road in Oxford Township, she was on her way to drop off her children to school last Thursday morning, around 7. “We found her – and we confirmed, it’s a girl — right in the middle of Baldwin Road, sitting on the yellow lines this morning on our way to school. Cars were whizzing past her and she wasn’t moving. But she just sat there and stared at me, looking so scared.”

Krista said both her children, 5th grader Dex, who attends Clear Lake Elementary and 7^th grader Judah, were in the car with her. “We were headed to the middle school, to drop them off, Dex does band there in the morning,” she said. “They were so scared for her. They told me to turn around and get her. But we didn’t want to be late for school. So, I called my husband and told him to go get her. Both kids texted me from school to check on her and were so excited when I sent the pictures of my husband holding her.”

Husband Ryan and the Bradys’ neighbor Tara Gonzales rescued the owl and waited for Krista to return. Krista turned to Facebook for help in finding someplace to take the Eastern Screech-Owl.

“We called so many places before we finally found a bird rescue woman in Romeo, Linda Born. Most places either weren’t open or didn’t take birds. Then I drove her out to Romeo around 9 a.m,” Krista said. “We scooped her up and she was so sweet. Didn’t try to bite or anything.”

Krista was told the owl (which the kids had named Spike before finding out it was a girl) was “most likely was hit by a car while hunting, and had some possible head trauma.”

“Linda said if the bird looks good in the next week or so, she will bring her back to our home at Baldwin and release her. If she needs more time, she will keep her until spring so that she isn’t released in the dead of winter,” Krista said.

Born is listed on the Michigan DNR’s website as a licensed rehabilitator. Her organization is called Spirit Filled Wings and they only rehab raptors: eagles, owls, hawks and falcons.

The website, AllAboutBirds.org states the Eastern Screech-Owl is “Common east of the Rockies in woods, suburbs, and parks, the Eastern Screech-Owl is found wherever trees are, and they’re even willing to nest in backyard nest boxes. These supremely camouflaged birds hide out in nooks and tree crannies through the day. “

Some fun facts from the site

Eastern Screech-Owl pairs usually are monogamous and remain together for life. Some males, however, will mate with two different females. The second female may evict the first female, lay her own eggs in the nest, and incubate both clutches.

The oldest recorded Eastern Screech-Owl in the wild was at least 14 years, 6 months old when it was found in Ontario in 1968, the same province where it had been banned in 1955.

Like most raptors, male Eastern Screech-Owls are smaller than females, and are more agile fliers and hunters. The female doesn’t hunt while on the nest; she and the chicks depend on food brought to them by the male. Though the male is smaller, his voice is deeper than the female’s.

Eastern Screech-Owls are chiefly active at night, though they often hunt at dawn or dusk, and occasionally in daylight. These versatile hunters sit and wait in the trees for prey to pass below. They tend to pounce from perches six to ten feet off the ground, occasionally snatching an insect or bat on the wing or hitting shallow water talons-first to snag fish or tadpoles.

At fledging, the young first hop to the ground or nearby branches, using feet and fluttering wings to climb laboriously back to safety. Young gain flight and hunting skills slowly; they depend on their parents for food for 8–10 weeks after fledging. 

The Eastern Screech-Owl grows to about six to 10 inches in length with a wingspan between 18 and 24 inches.