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Spotted Owl Release
August 23, 2004
Cascades Raptor Center, the High Desert Museum (Bend OR), and the US Forest Service participated in the release of two young northern spotted owls.
These owls were bred at the High Desert Museum, the second successful nesting of their pair. In 2003, the owls timed their nesting to coincide with nesting in the wild, so Dr. Eric Forsman of the US Forest Service took the babies at two weeks of age and fostered them into wild nests. They both successfully fledged and one was found this summer, trapped and re-banded - having survived the highest mortality period of a raptor's life. However, in 2004, the Museum's pair of owls nested early ... too early to find nests in the wild. Instead, the youngsters stayed with their parents for several weeks, till just past fledging, and were then transferred to Cascades Raptor Center for pre-release flight conditioning and live prey training. After 7 weeks in CRC's 100' flight cage, decorated with pine boughs and ferns to attempt to mimic their forest habitat, the two birds had proved themselves in both flight and mouse school. They were taken out to HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, on the edge of a wilderness area, banded, and released right in between two unoccupied territories. What a beautiful site! We wish them all the best.
Click here to learn more about Northern Spotted Owls
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