West Seattle wildlife: Sisters rescue injured owl

| West Seattle news | Wildlife

2:32 PM: The photo and story are from Pete:

My daughters, Sadie and Madeline, found an injured owl under a bush. (They thought it was fake because it didn’t move.) We called animal control and they sent an officer to pick it up and take it to the hospital.

You can see from the picture that it is very small – about the size of a hand. But the agent told us the owl is a full-grown adult “Burrow Owl.”

The owl went to PAWS wildlife rehabilitation in Lynnwood, and the agent stated it looked like it will fully recover.

We don’t know exactly where in West Seattle the owl was found, and Pete hasn’t replied to our followup yet, but we did look up some information you might find useful – the PAWS infosheet on what to do if you find an injured bird – see it here. We’re also checking on the type of owl, as online info says “burrowing owls” are only found east of the mountains in our state.

6:43 PM: Pete has replied and tells us his daughters found the owl near College Street Ravine (in Admiral). Meantime, commenters have identified it as a northern saw-whet owl.

sophista-tiki March 31, 2015 (2:49 pm)

aawww

David Whiting March 31, 2015 (3:00 pm)

Hmmm… it looks a more like a Northern saw-wet owl (Aegolius acadicus).

RarelyEver March 31, 2015 (3:02 pm)

What a great picture! Great job, girls, and I hope this guy recovers quickly! :)

sgs March 31, 2015 (3:14 pm)

Would be interested to know in the follow up if they know what kind of injury it sustained. Good job girls! Precious bird.

annika March 31, 2015 (3:42 pm)

Great job to everyone who helped this little owl, especially the girls! I agree that it looks like a Northern saw-whet owl.

jen March 31, 2015 (3:49 pm)

I agree, it looks like a Northern Saw-whet owl, which would be uncommon here.
It is very cool.
Thank you Sadie and Madeline!

BlairJ March 31, 2015 (4:06 pm)

I’d like to see the picture when it gets released.

Steve March 31, 2015 (4:14 pm)

While it would be unfair to assume that a cat attacked the owl (and I like cats), this should serve as a reminder that cats should be kept indoors. They’re perfectly happy indoors, and it’s healthier for them as well as the birds we love to hear singing.

WSB March 31, 2015 (4:26 pm)

Thanks for the ID info. Here’s what the wonderful Seattle Audubon website, which we often use for links when featuring bird photos in our daily previews courtesy of wonderful local photographers, says about saw-whet owls: http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/northern_saw-whet_owl

lookingforlogic March 31, 2015 (4:39 pm)

I heard an owl’s call in the Genesee Neighborhood this afternoon. Is this the area they found the cute tiny predator?

JumboJim March 31, 2015 (5:10 pm)

It is indeed a Northern Saw-whet Owl. They aren’t so much rare as rarely seen. They’re tiny, strictly nocturnal and sit tight even when you are very near their sleeping perch. They are so tame it may be that the bird was healthy but was caught anyways, having relied on it’s camouflage too much.

G March 31, 2015 (6:35 pm)

Fantastic photo, looks similar to NW Screech Owl. Cute bugger.

WestSide45 March 31, 2015 (6:47 pm)

Years ago (1980’s) there was a Northern Saw-whet Owl near the 11th green at West Seattle Golf Course. It stayed around for a couple weeks and then could no longer be found.
Their call is not a “typical” owl hoot, more like a monotonous toot repeated many times.

Lox March 31, 2015 (8:18 pm)

Gorgeous creature!

WS Family March 31, 2015 (8:57 pm)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Sadie, Madeline, their family, WSB and PAWS for the very most inspiring story of the year!

HC March 31, 2015 (9:22 pm)

Thank you Sadie and Madeline you girls are rock stars.

Pete March 31, 2015 (9:32 pm)

Very interesting comments. My daughters found the owl by a house below a big window in a bush ( I think it would be difficult for the owl to fly into the window and injure it self, but possible) When we found the owl, it looked like it had a cocked wing and was injured..

Jimbo’s comment seems like a high possibility , the owl might have been extremely tame and we rescued a perfectly heathy owl…. With that said, the owl was on the ground and not in a perch and it my not have lasted long if a pedator was near.

Westside45 was correct, it was a “toot” call.

I’m very interested if there is more information

Pete March 31, 2015 (9:50 pm)

It was beatiful, that’s for sure

Kravitz April 1, 2015 (6:15 am)

Great job Pete, Sadie and Madeline. Thank you for caring about wildlife!

Joan Miller April 1, 2015 (8:38 am)

Great work! Sad that the animal control person did not correctly identify it, but maybe he didn’t have any owl experience. I have heard that saw whets can be rather tame.

Enviromaven April 1, 2015 (11:16 am)

Lovely little creature. Kudos to Pete and his daughters for taking it to safety. Sometimes it’s hard to know when to intervene and when to let nature take its course.

Trileigh April 1, 2015 (12:08 pm)

Thank you SO much, Sadie and Madeline! You did a wonderful thing for a vulnerable little animal. I know you’re thrilled that it looks like the owl will recover fully. You are terrific human beings!

Suzanne in West Seattle April 1, 2015 (6:39 pm)

If you hear from PAWS as to whether s/he is doing well, please let us know!

Usually they are re-released in an area very close to where they were originally found, since that will be their territory.

Pete April 3, 2015 (1:45 pm)

Wow, lots of interest in the little owl. Passionate birders in this town

With the interest in the wellbeing of the owl I drove to PAWs in Lynnwood. Very neat facility. The lady in the wildlife area pulled up the Owls bio on the computer and stated the owl is doing great , eyes are moving , hates humans (this is good). and showing signs of a full recovery. The owl sustained a “wing droop”. And is healing not ready to be released. PAWs stated the naturalist will return the owl to College St Ravin when the bird is ready to be released.

The Owls patient number is 0372 if you are interested in bird at PAWs

WSB April 3, 2015 (1:59 pm)

Thank you, Pete, I did see your note and hadn’t replied yet. So glad you checked on it.

G April 3, 2015 (2:34 pm)

Nice to see people band together for a helpless animal. One of the most touching experiences down here in LA was watching a group, probably mostly immigrants – hispanics, Persians, Russians, Armenians among others – express such concern and display such gentleness over an injured bird at Lake Balboa park. We eventually took it to a rehab place in Pasadena, but very touching.

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