Two City of Coronado employees found her in a warehouse near the beach on a cool, rainy January 25th. She was a barn owl. Unusually quiet and struggling to fly.
A Coronado police services officer brought the bird to San Diego Humane Society’s Pilar & Chuck Bahde Wildlife Center. Project Wildlife’s Director Of Wildlife Medicine, Jon Enyart, helped to rehabilitate her.
“Barn owls tend to have a pretty loud avoidance response. They tend to screech pretty loudly and they're pretty well known for that. She did not do that, which is rather unusual for them,” Enyart said. “And then her plumage was just wet. Beyond that, we didn't find any major concerns so we were hopeful we could get her back out to her home quickly.”
While at the Wildlife Center, Project Wildlife’s medical team provided the injured barn owl with heat support, fluids and nutrition. Veterinarians performed radiographs and blood tests to ensure all levels were normal.
The owl was quickly moved into an aviary to regain flight strength. After nearly two months, the barn owl could self-feed and was strong enough to fly again.
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“She got some fluids by injection and then was put into an enclosure that just helped her stay quiet and calm. And then after a day or two we realized, at that point, she was ready to go out to the aviary because there wasn’t much slowing her down,” Enyart said.
The owl was released at Spreckels Park as the location is within a one mile radius from where the animal was originally found, at a warehouse near Coronado Beach.
