The hooting from the young female owl in a Ventura canyon meant a circle had been completed.
“I think I’m going to cry,” said a happy Rhiannon “Ray” Norman who released the great horned owl moments before.
More than four months earlier, an adult owl that Norman nicknamed “Sassy”hatched two owlets in a large tree at the top of Ventura’s busy Cemetery Memorial Park. The nest was just a few feet from the busy traffic on Poli Street. Sassy was joined in the tree by the baby owls’ father, Fred.
It was the wrong place for the babies to begin life. Worried about dogs in the park, children trying to climb the tree and the flow of passing traffic, Norman contacted Ventura city officials. A barrier was erected around the tree. Signs were posted announcing
the area was closed and owls are a protected bird.
People gathered every day at the edge of the fence to peer at the owl family and document their every move. Norman, a registered veterinary technician who runs a business called Animal HealingWorks, used the opportunity to teach people about owls.
In late May, what Norman had feared from the beginning happened. The youngest owlet fell from the nest in a natural process that is part of learning to fly. But in a drama that spanned two days, the owlet refused to return to the tree. After several rescue attempts, it left the tree area at night and did not come back. Its whereabouts remain unknown.
Three days later, the older sibling left the nest, too. Unable to fully fly, it glided into Poli Street and was nearly struck by a car. Norman rescued the owl and took it to the Ojai Raptor Center, the nonprofit rehabilitation center and hospital that specializes in birds of prey.
The site gained international recognition later in the summer for its care of Jackie, the famous eagle from Big Bear Lake. She was taken to the raptor center after being found grounded with severe anemia, emaciation and systemic illness. She died at the center on Aug. 9.
The raptor center took in the owlet on May 27. It was there for 127 days, undergoing X-rays and bloodwork, then learning to hunt and fly in enclosed areas. After passing its final exam — three successful flying hunts for live prey —the bird was deemed ready for release.
Just before sunset on Sept. 29, Raptor Center Executive Director Chris Eksteen brought the young owl in a covered carrier to the Harmon Canyon Preserve, operated by the Ventura Land Trust. Center staff tries to release birds as close to their original habitat as possible. But the traffic and high use of Cemetery Park means it’s not safe for young raptors.
“It would be the same thing over and over again,” Eksteen said.
He was joined by Norman and Patty Overley, who were also part of the initial rescue of the owlet. They hiked up a trail and talked about the drama at Cemetery Park that led to this moment.
Eksteen praised Norman and Overley’s efforts. He also focused on the constant presence of people who gathered at Cemetery Park to watch the birds.
“If you asked me the community failed this family,” Eksteen said of the owls. People were motivated by good intentions and their concern, but they didn't give the owlets what they needed more than anything — time and space to wander out of the tree, take experimental flights and learn from their parents.
“Sometimes the best thing we can do for wildlife is nothing. Give them space,” he said in an email. “Keep dogs under control. Watch from a distance. Don’t crowd them for a photograph.”
In the end, the raptor center had to use its limited resources to care for a raptor that came to the facility healthy. Eksteen estimated costs, including medical care, food, staff time and utilities at about $20 a day for a total of more than $2,500.
The group walked off the preserve's path to a clearing that faced a hillside with trees. Norman held the carrier against her legs and opened it. At first, the young owl stayed in place, peering with glowing eyes at it surroundings.
In an explosion of movement, the raptor flew out of the carrier and toward the hillside. She landed on a dead branch several hundred yards away and immediately began to hoot in a concert that continued as the sky grew darker. It was a good sign.
“Birds don’t call if they’re not happy and safe,” Eksteen said.
Norman listened with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
“I’m so happy this bird gets to live, gets to fly in the sky,” she said. “She gets a second chance.”
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Owl rescued from Ventura's Cemetery Park released into the wild
