Hello Birders,
Terry Jenkins emailed me the following and asked me to post on the bird line:
At 9:30 am Saturday morning Bob Loomis and I were waiting for Aaron Decker at
Eastern Virginia Medical School in downtown Norfolk, so we could all ride
together to the ODU football game. All of a sudden four Crows chased a small
owl out of one of the tall pine trees in front of Hofheimer Hall. The owl
trying to evade the crows flew into the mesh fencing that surrounds the lower
level of one on the parking garages and fell to the sidewalk. The crows started
landing around him and he was not moving so I decided to intervene. I drove
over, got out and chased the crows away. Of course we could have let nature
take its course but since the owl had flown into the mesh grating I made the
decision to save him. Also I say that the owl was a he but really have no idea.
The owl which I now recognized as a Saw Whet did not fly away but he was
sitting up right. So I dropped a small towel over him and picked him up , we
checked him over and he seemed to be ok, he was just stunned. We draped the
towel over him again and drove him over to Norfolk Audubon's Wyanoke Preserve
where after a couple of pictures we placed him in a tree and he immediately
flew off. Hopefully no worse for wear. Great way to start the day.
Cheers,
Renee Hudgins
Virginia Beach
