Dan and Joan Cloutier put out a welcome sign for a 7-month-old
Barn Owl that was released at their property in Morgan Hill. The
Cloutiers had installed an owl box, hand-made by Art Pon, that they
won at last October’s BBQ-Auction fundraiser for the Wildlife
Education and Rehabilitation Center (W.E.R.C.). Hopefully, the owl
will find the location a perfect place to raise her family.
Dan and Joan Cloutier put out a welcome sign for a 7-month-old Barn Owl that was released at their property in Morgan Hill. The Cloutiers had installed an owl box, hand-made by Art Pon, that they won at last October’s BBQ-Auction fundraiser for the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center (W.E.R.C.). Hopefully, the owl will find the location a perfect place to raise her family.
The Barn Owl was a downy, one-week-old nestling when she was rescued last year after falling from its nest in a tree. The owl remained at W.E.R.C. for over six months, eating up to 14 small rodents a day. By the time she was mature enough to be released, she had grown beautiful, cappuccino-colored feathers and just needed a clear weather forecast before taking her maiden flight into the wild skies.
Teresa Stephenson, WERC Outreach Coordinator, gave a short presentation of the Barn Owl to a group of the Cloutiers friends and WERC volunteers before removing the owl from its carrying box. Stephenson let the hissing bird take a look around to get its bearings, then gently placed it on the grass. The owl immediately flew off to its freedom on silent wings higher and higher over the trees, before disappearing from sight. Hopefully, she will soon return and inhabit the beautiful home that the Cloutiers installed for her.
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