An owl that found itself in a crappy situation is now getting a fresh start.
The Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) is currently caring for a great horned owl that was found stuck in a pile of cow manure in the southern Alberta town of Picture Butte, which calls itself the "Livestock Feeding Capital of Canada," on Jan. 12.
The bird was found in critical condition, explained Scottie Potter, communications coordinator for the AIWC.
"This owl needed help right away, not only with being covered in manure but also was very underweight and wasn't thermoregulating well, so it needed a warm space to be in as soon as possible," she said.
It's unknown how the owl ended up stuck in cow manure, or how long it was there for.
"It was found by a cattle farmer in one of his barns in a pile of manure," said Potter. "Our guess is this owl was hunting a mouse or a vole or something close to the ground, and ended up crashing into the pile of manure and couldn't get itself out.
"It was very underweight... if it had been in more than a day or two, that meant this owl was not feeding itself, and they have quite a high metabolism so it could be that it had had lost that weight due to being in the manure for so long."
Potter explained that the main concern in this case is the manure stuck to the owl's feathers.
"The huge problem right now is that there's manure in the down, so the really fine thermoregulatory feathers... we're hopeful that we won't have to do a full bath," she said, noting that bathing non-aquatic birds like owls is incredibly stressful and potentially even lethal to the animal.
"We are being very, very cautious, and we're hoping that this caution is going to result in the absolute best case scenario for this bird, and that this owl is going to be back out in the wild within the next month."
Thankfully, the owl's recovery is going well.
"We're really, really grateful that this guy has pretty much immediately started self feeding and really eating well," said Potter. "We're really hopeful that we're going to see an increase in weight in the next few days."
The AIWC rehabilitation facility, located on 40 acres in Madden, takes in a wide variety of wild animals throughout the year, including bobcat kittens, bear cubs, deer fawns and young hawks.
Owls are regular patients at the clinic, particularly great horned owls.
"We actually get more great horned owls per year than any other bird of prey," said Potter. "We're actually really surprised we only have one great horned owl. Typically this time of year we have between two and four."
Great horned owls are highly susceptible to injury caused by human conflict, in particular vehicle collisions — which make up approximately 30 per cent of causes for owls coming into care — and coming into contact with barbed wire fences.
"It's because they fly very low while they're hunting," said Potter. Great horns, because they're the most common owl, are very confident around people and they fly very, very low to the ground, which is why they end up coming into care most often."
Great horned owls are a common species in Alberta, for which they are recognized as the province's official bird.
"They really are one of our most magnificent predators we have in Alberta," said Potter. "They have a very special place in the heart of all of us here at the clinic, and we really appreciate the actions that people are able to take in order to produce their impact on these birds."
These actions include driving more slowly at night and switching from barbed wire to other kinds of fencing.
"Any actions people are able to take to reduce their impact on these owls is always appreciated by us," she said. "It makes our jobs easier, it means that these birds are more likely to survive."
Great horned owls are a non-migratory species and tend to stay in the same habitat, including urban areas, unlike other species like great grey owls which are known to leave their habitats depending on food availability and snowy owls which only stay in Alberta around winter.
