Farewell, guardian of the night sky

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

By Jeanne Klobnak - Ball

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Strix nebulosa, the Great Gray owl, possesses a certain magic even Barack Obama can’t touch. Raptor biologist and rehab specialist Brian Smith said people would have traveled to Jackson from around the globe to see the owl injured last week on the Village Road, had it ultimately survived being hit by a car.

North America’s largest nocturnal avian predator is scarce in the lower 48 states, a far North species that avid birders rarely get to check off on their sighting lists. Yet on Easter Sunday, perhaps 50 transfixed onlookers laid claim to such prize, though circumstances were dire.

With a five-foot wingspan, one might think a driver could surely avoid this grand, silent hunter drifting from cottonwood-cloaked conifers toward the Village Road. Storm colored Strix nebulosa is well camouflaged, however. A stunning gray ghost whose flaming eyes lure you deep within fine-feathered concentric circles, to a haunting, forgotten place so wild you don’t want to leave. 

The collision occurred approaching dusk, around 6:45 p.m. Owls and other twilight-active animals are most likely to fall victim to unsuspecting motorists during these crepuscular hours.

Undoubtedly unaware of the bird’s condition, an excited crowd watched and photographed what appeared to be an alert, healthy, mature owl perched on hard pack, just yards away from the road. My daughter, her friend, and I noticed, however, that his left leg was dangling useless and deformed. The injury appeared to adversely affect his flight, as he only glided low short distances, unable to balance upon landing. It seemed clear he would perish if left to his own devices.

In lieu of a blanket, I grabbed my jacket and reverently went to retrieve the precious bit of fallen wildness. Speaking softly, advancing slowly, his fierce, saucer-like eyes soon mellowed. Lazily he closed and opened his eyelids, like a contented house cat.  His body felt like air, so light I feared my heavy ski coat might harm him further, and so I withdrew, staying close, quietly telling him he’d be okay, wondering what to do next.
“You almost had him,” said a concerned, thoughtful fellow named Eric, in whose yard the owl sat. He used his cell phone to call Wyoming Game and Fish biologist Bill Long at home, though I didn’t believe anyone from Game and Fish would show up on Easter Sunday.

Long, however, quickly proved he’s not your typical government bureaucrat. Within 20 minutes, he and his wife arrived in their personal pick-up with a soft fleece blanket and he efficiently nabbed the feisty victim. Long handed the bird off to Smith the next day, everyone hoping the mangled leg would mend. 

Perhaps this “guardian of the night sky,” as my sobbing daughter dubbed him as we drove away, would fly and be free again.

Dr. Erica Periman’s veterinary inspection, however, revealed multiple, severe, inoperable injuries, including a “completely shattered femur, knee, tibia, and fibula,” according to Smith, combined with a dislocated stifle where the femur and tibia connect, according to Dr. Pam Wilson. 

“No species is more important than another, but Great Gray owls hold a special place,” Smith said. “You don’t see them very often.” 

The decision to euthanize the owl weighed heavily. “We pick up so many raptors, owls in particular. These birds just come in crumpled to pieces, it’s just heartbreaking,” Smith said. “You know just walking in there sometimes, this bird has this badly broken leg, it can’t stand on the other foot all its life.”

Smith explained that a bird on one foot, especially a big bird, gets “bumble-foot,” a blister-like pressure sore. “Once they start damaging their feet in captivity, we can’t fix that,” he said, despite providing an array of differently textured perches.
Smith, who along with Derek Craighead holds a permit to keep non-releasable injured raptors for education purposes, currently cares for four education birds, with which he conducted 70 programs last year.

“Birds sort of hit a chord with everybody somehow,” he said. 
With the help of others in the community, Smith’s goal is to create a public education facility where people can learn more about raptors, “where they can get face to face with a wild predatory bird, and engage in helping their kind,” he said.

“There’s so much carnage on our roads here it’s unbelievable,” Smith reflected, noting that marks the third Great Gray owl hit in the area in the past year. “Within hundreds of meters of this same area, we’ve picked up two others [Great Grays], so somewhere in that area there’s a nest that’s probably failed,” he said.

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Farewell, guardian of the night sky | Planet JH News Article: General Environment

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