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We are currently rehabilitating seven fledgling owls, in different stages of growth, who were brought to us by local authorities. They were not in great shape when they arrived because of poor diet and lack of calcium that owls require to build up their bones. This calcium shortage is likely linked to some wing issues that one of the birds is having, which might make him unreleasable; we won’t know for sure until we see how his flight progresses. 

All of the other owls are doing well and figuring out how to be owls. We built a giant flight cage for the eagle we released previously and we’ve split it into two sections, one that takes up about ⅓ of the space and another side that takes up ⅔ of the area. The smaller section has a tree and palms that naturally grow there, which provides a place that helps birds learn how to move from hopping around, to getting a little height, to better flying. The bigger section has more open space, so they can naturally build up their wing muscles and gain more control when flying. You can see in the video that the larger section, which holds the three biggest owls, has varying levels of height for them to explore. 

The three larger owls will likely be releasable before the smaller ones. We just need to be sure that they have the control and muscle mass they need to be able to hunt food. Once they’re released, we will put food out on a platform located outside of the flight cage for them to eat, in case they have trouble initially with their hunting. It’s something we do with all animals we release, just to ensure their transition into the wild is smooth. They’re stunningly beautiful birds who, as it should be, don’t want anything to do with the humans who raised them. We’ll update you on their release status as the weeks go by.