WSU preps barn owls for flight
Raptors spend time at WSU farm before flying off on their own
In an office at the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, a menacing hissing sound could be heard Wednesday coming from a box sitting next to WSU student Alex McGregor.
McGregor reached down and carefully lifted one of three scrawny creatures out of the box. It was not a snake, but in fact a barn owl only a handful of weeks old. The hissing is a defensive sound, McGregor explained. The barn owls were not ready to trust the strange people staring at them.
The three owls would not stay grumpy for long. Soon, McGregor and local farmer Grant Glover placed the owls in a safe nest box at the WSU Horticultural Center overlooking Pullman’s rolling hills.
There they will be fed multiple rodents a day until they grow all their feathers and can fly on their own. These owls were rescued from Ellensburg, Wash., and have been with WSU for a month. McGregor said the hospital’s goal is to teach them how to be owls so they can survive in the wild.
Most of the barn owls WSU treats come from central Washington, said WSU associate professor Marcia Logsdon. They like to nest in haystacks and have even been known to fall off hay trucks.
McGregor said owls have a strong sense of sound and can hear a mouse crawling under three feet of snow.
McGregor urged people who come across a barn owl nest to leave it alone. If the nest has fallen, or if someone has questions about what to do if they find a barn owl, they can call the Veterinary Teaching Hospital 24-hour hotline at (509) 335-0711.
Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
