Reader\'s Digest Canada - 05.2020

only “out door” on the bird—to allow

for greater opportunity for fertilization,

according to Ian Blackburn, the man-

ager of the spotted owl breeding centre.

“The program has had its challenges,”

Blackburn concedes. Some captive

female owls at the centre don’t breed

until they are eight or nine, while one

male didn’t copulate and inseminate

a fertile egg until he was 10.

At first biologists took a hands-off

approach to egg laying and hatching,

believing, says Blackburn, that the “owls

knew how to do it better than we do.”

But in 2011, they decided to artificially

incubate the eggs.

Despite the slow progress, McCulligh

and Blackburn remain optimistic about

the breeding program, pointing out that

the owl population at the centre has

increased from four to 25. Most of the

breeding owls are young and new

chicks could be released. “We’re still

waiting for that bumper crop,” Black-

burn says.

Hopes were buoyed in April 2018

when a ninth chick, Bridget, hatched at

the centre. Unlike chickens, newborn

spotted owls can’t stand. “Their eyes

and ears are closed,” McCulligh says.

“They kind of just wobble and roll

around a lot.”

Clad in sterile gowns, masks and

gloves, McCulligh and other centre staff

wiped the hatchling’s waste and mon-

itored her constantly to make sure her

spindly legs didn’t splay, which could

make the owl incapable of standing.

They weighed her four times a day and

examined the chick thoroughly every

24 hours to ensure good health. When

the owlet was 10 days old, she was given

to foster parents Scud and Shania in the

hopes of encouraging her biological

parents, Sally and Watson, to lay another

egg. The pair didn’t seem at all per-

turbed to find an unexpected hatchling

in their nest box. The new parents

immediately shredded rat meat for their

charge, nuzzling her with affection.

“We got one chick,” McCulligh says.

“That’s exciting. In five years we have

doubled the population.” Whether the

centre’s slow build will translate into a

self-sustaining population in the wild

worries wildlife biologist Jared Hobbs.

Hobbs was a scientific advisor for

B.C.’s spotted owl recovery team from

2002 to 2006. He stepped down when

the provincial government decided to

FOSTER PARENTS SCUD AND SHANIA

AFFECTIONATELY NUZZLED THEIR OWLET AND

GAVE IT SHREDDED RAT MEAT.

reader’s digest

88 may 2020