The Owl Foundation NEWSR.R. 1, VINELAND STATION, ONTARIO, CANADA

July 2006

Following on from the end of the last newslet-ter, which reported up to July of last year (seemslike a long time ago) we are pleased to report thatby the end of September 2005 we were actually ableto release 6 of the Great Grey Owls received thatcalamitous year. These were the owls with simplefractures, which were successfully repaired at OVCand around the province, and/or with worn plumagewhich was moulted and replaced during thesummer. As all the Great Greys were received inadult plumage, we were not concerned with the usualdelay of several weeks while exposing juveniles tolive rodents to stimulate instinctive hunting and givethem time to practice. Other than ensuring that nohearing loss had been a part of their collision inju-ries, these old owls needed only a short reminderthat food can move, hide and fight back, after theirseveral months of being stall-fed slobs!

Beautiful Iris; building a bond with Ivan?

There is still much confusion on the part ofparticipants who handled Great Greys last year, asto why all of the owls that were picked up displayedold, worn and discoloured feathers. The history ofthat eruption from their ancestral forest and bog wasan example of the rise and fall of populations overthousands of years following the cycle of food abun-dance and scarcity. Retention of the previous year'splumage into its second, or even third winter is anindication of a stressed endocrine system (usuallythe result of starvation) which cannot support theproduction of new feathers and thus does nottrigger the moult of existing plumage. Of the 61 GreatGreys with which we were involved during the fallof 2004 and the winter of 2005, not a single indi-vidual sported first-year (i.e.: immature) plumage oreven summer '04 replacement of adult plumage. Thebig difference last year, in the long history of thisspecies, and the terrible toll of highway deaths, wasthe fatal combination of starving owls, out of their

Gypsy, The Kenora flirt, stealing Phoenix from Genesis?

Mother Great Grey, Fanny with first of 5 babes.

being Natalie, she did it with class and the event wasconsidered a great success by all who attended. TheOwl Foundation was peripherally involved by agree-ing to several bused tours of the premises, mostlybecause a lot of the IWRC members were old ac-quaintances of mine, renewed most years at otherconferences. Also, many phone calls come in eachyear with questions about owls; so there was muchcuriosity, while so near, to come and see the owlsand their enclosures. I also gave a presentation atthe Toronto meeting, so it was a busy time.

Other than our own sponsor's tours, we some-times have single tours from other organizations -usually field naturalists' clubs from Ontario or acrossthe border from USA. One of the groups we mostenjoy is comprised of students from McGill Univer-sity as part of a course on wildlife in captivity, led bytheir professor, my old friend Dr. David Bird. Hewants his students to look at the different ways wild-life is kept in captivity, to decide what they feel isappropriate and what isn't, and why. Their valuesare then hotly discussed in class. I wish moreuniversities would include reality, good and bad, toget young people thinking about humane issues. Weare looking forward to his visit. Although we arenot bilingual, most of his students are and they arealways a lively and intelligent group. They leavebehind, with us, a little surge of optimism for thefuture of wildlife at the mercy of human attitudes.

Great Grey father, Fred, with mouse for fledged babe.

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familiar environment, searching desperately forrodents in the only places where they were visible,along our high speed highways. In the late summerof 2005, all the damaged owls we retained, givenabundant food, exposure to natural light in spaciousenclosures, and being left alone, shed their old feath-ers and emerged last fall with the dark, velvet flightplumage of healthy Great Greys.

Most importantly, last fall, Dr. Jim Duncan ofManitoba had discovered an area halfway up theborder with Saskatchewan where there was anunexpected plethora of meadow voles, keenlyattended by Short-eared Owls and local Great Greys.We sent our 6 big owls to Winnipeg airport in twoshipments and Jim transported them by car acrossthe province to the site. A happy little anomaly aftersuch a tragic year.

Several other events, for better or for worse,punctuated last fall's slide into winter. One was anagreement by The Toronto Wildlife Centre's direc-tor, Natalie Karvonen, to host the annual IWRC(International Wildlife Rehabilitators Council)conference in Canada last year. They are California-based and hold their annual meetings all over theUSA. I have to admire her courage in taking on thechallenge of housing, feeding and entertainingseveral hundred people for 5 days in November! But

It's all mine, so keep away! How come you got a mouse and I didn't?

I had a mouse but I don't know where it went!

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astonished to see me sitting on the floor with BigBird walking around in the kitchen!

Well, Big Bird was picked up and given a nicemouse to calm her nerves and I got a nice ride in anambulance to the same hospital where the hip wasfixed the first time, 20 years ago. And just to makemy chagrin complete, the same doctor who had fixedit once came into emergency admitting, saw me, andsaid "What in Hell have you done this time?!" Somuch for sympathy, but I did get a cup of coffee.The day after the thing was fixed again, the doctorcame in to see me, waving the X-ray, and said "Count

At the end of November last year, unwillingto let the year slide into oblivion without a little cri-sis, I distinguished myself yet again by falling over achair and breaking the same hip I had broken 20 yearsbefore. Hard to believe, isn't it? Not a missing step,or a scatter rug, but a bloody chair, and not even asmallish one at that. You have to be pretty creative tobreak the same bone twice. The scenario went likethis: We were expecting an important call about aSnowy Owl trapped in a warehouse near Toronto,and I wanted to bring "Big Bird" from her cage out-side my bedroom, in to the sunroom, before I hadmy coffee. I had just come up the steps, holding heron her mobile perch up in front of my face, when thetelephone rang. There was nowhere to set her downalong the hall until I got to the telephone chair, so Iwas hurrying. What I was unable to see, because shewas in front of my face, was that one of our cats; theone we call" Biscuit" (who is really a small kanga-roo disguised as a cat) had been practising for theannual Roo marathon by using the telephone chairas a landing pad and had moved it two feet out fromthe wall. I hit it, unseen, with my foot and knee andsomersaulted over it and onto the slate floor. PoorBig Bird and her perch hit the wall. Into the generalwreckage the terrified owl did the poop of the cen-tury, the telephone rang unanswered and my left legwas numb. So much for morning coffee. I squirmedaround a bit until I could get hold of a railing andpull myself into a more comfortable position. And Iwaited. Pretty soon Annick came in the front door,

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Oddy and Evy's first fledged of 3 babes.

2 barely fledged Barred babes, one lying down.

were unaware of their coming fate.) Larry's legacyto me, his delightful daughter, came over forBoxing Day, with husband and son, as did my ownson, so the season passed without further trauma.The staff gave me a gorgeous big, potted Hibiscusfor Christmas, about 5 feet high and covered withapricot flowers. It went on blooming all winter inthe sunroom, to everyones' delight.

I took advantage of the January lull and theability to stand up and walk around again, to do ajob that has needed doing for years but wasconstantly deferred for something more appealing.This was a complete revision of our filing system forthe last two decades. The so-called dining room wasrearranged and more filing cabinets and bookcasesand shelves installed. Of course, during this flurry ofreorganization every surface in three rooms wasfestooned with papers and even Fritzi's or Poonlet'sflights resulted in snowstorms of paper with acertain amount of exasperated comment from allsides. As for the kangaroo, Biscuit, he was hung upby his ears in Cathy's office!

Basically it was a pretty acceptable winter,weather-wise, and other than occasional snow shov-elling by all, Annick and Kara were able to replenishnest baskets and cavities for spring, add evergreenbranches to all units for species needing concealment

the screws". "Four" sez I, "and something that lookslike a bottle brush". " That's the big one," sez he"and if you are planning on doing this every 20 years,try the right hip next time!" Nothing like a doctorwith a sense of humour, although he really is an oldfriend..

I came home to a wheel chair 10 days later,now well into December, as useless as tits on a bull,in everybody's way and as popular as a skunk in thekitchen. Oh, and bad-tempered, as well! Decemberis always a frantic month around here, with so muchto get done before winter, and I'm supposed to bepart of the solution, not part of the problem. Cathyis always tied up with last minute sponsorships be-fore Christmas and of course I had nothing preparedfor Christmas, pretty late for trying to order thingsfrom a catalogue and unable to go shopping. Evengetting clothes on and off was a hassle, never mindthe bathroom! But luckily I heal quickly, for an oldbroad; the staff, having overcome the urge to justkill me, were kindness itself and when I caught thecat, Biscuit, on an overhead pass, I tied his four legstogether with his tail and he wasn't quite so damnsmart for a while. Even our other older cat, PoohBear, had a holiday too. He is a sedate animal bynature and is unnerved by things whizzing past himthat he feels should stay on the floor or at least keepto the fast lane at 60 mph. My lovely Big Bird for-gave me for smacking her into a wall, and Fritzi,Pook and Poonlet all got heavenly mice on the bigday. (Not quite so heavenly for the mice, but they

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A tiny male orphaned Barred babe for Jupiter & Jenny.

and visual isolation from each other (our annual har-vest of growth from white cedar hedges) and attendto the various reports for the MNR and the bandingoffice. As for Brent, a man for all seasons, he isresponsible for camera maintenance (endless)vehicle maintenance (regular) cage repair and perchreplacement (endless) and the big one; covering andrechecking the covering of fine wire on every unitused by the five northern owl species so vulnerableto the West Nile virus (absolutely endless). Next timeyou find yourself complaining about inclementweather interfering with weekend plans, be glad youneither work here nor live in New Orleans!

As for the permanence of the Pipiens mosquitoat our latitude, it is here to stay and as the warmingtrend moves north, so will this insect and the virusit sheds. Even though owl species that have tradi-tionally lived at this latitude are not generallyvulnerable, they are not immune. Their resistancerelies on the lack of compromising factors likechronic stress, starvation and a lowered immunesystem. Both old age and infancy also predispose toa greater vulnerability. Very large enclosures withbuilt-in visual separations and convolutions allow thecritical element of CHOICE for the occupants, withavoidance of stress being a key factor of healthy main-tenance. Nevertheless, for the northern species in

particular, following monitored hunting abilities forboth rehabilitated adults and inexperienced young,the final assessment of their readiness for wildsurvival and the actual air shipping to suitabledestinations for release, is occasion for all of us tofeel relief. This is not to imply that return to originsis any guarantee of survival; it is just the best that asecond chance can give. They will still be subjectedto the bad luck of drought, flooding, preyunavailability, forest fires, human expansion and theincreasing likelihood of being hit by cars (again?)and for the Snowy owls, even melting permafrost. Ifyou ever wonder what has a chance at being aroundfor a long time, even surviving the disaster calledhumans, my money is on coyotes and cockroaches,assorted bacteria and enterprising viruses!

This past spring we were delighted to be ableto release a total of 50 owls and hawks (raised orrehabilitated and wintered) by air shipping and/orcar transport back to their origins in the north, north/west and north/east. For owls of our latitude theyare usually returned whence they were found (GreatHorned, Screech, Long-eared and often BarredOwls) hoping that a remembered mate might still bearound; this is important for species that form lifebonds. However for migrants like Saw-whets andnomads like Hawk Owls and probably Boreals, we

Big babe from Jenny & Jupiter with 1st orphan (from PEI)

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try to get them into the known areas for their spe-cies' breeding range, since none of those 3 appear toform life bonds. All Snowies go to the Arctic, sincethat is their source and Great Greys and Short-eared,both now of critical population status go north totheir currently most likely breeding latitude and en-vironment after spot estimate of prey availability. Allowls hatched here are returned for release where theirmother originated if the information is valid and theplace appropriate. We sent 5 Snowies to Churchill(3 home hatched and 2 rehabilitated), 3 Great Greysto Manitoba (our babes of last summer and 1 morefrom the exodus of '05), 2 Hawk Owls (hatches fromlast year) sent to Brian in Thunder Bay for release athis discretion; a total of 4 Long-eared orphans backhome to Manitoba (a fifth held back to regrow abroken talon) 2 Short-eared yearlings both to west-ern Manitoba (one from there and one from Sas-katchewan) a total of 11 Barred Owls (all to NorthEastern Ontario whence they came) and 5 Saw-whetOwls to north of Algonquin (received last summeras new fledglings or found along highways in theirfall '05 migration.) We also drove 4 Great Hornedand 7 Screech Owls to their individual origins, mak-ing 43 owls released, plus 1 Red Tail & 6 Kestrels.

Our young and oversexed Great Grey pair, Fred andFanny, produced 5 babes this spring, looking a littleastonished themselves, but coping like profession-als. A pair of Hawk Owls of which the mother is acomplete non-flighted cripple from Long Lac, re-ceived as a juvenile, produced 6 babes to our com-plete disbelief. (If she had not been a juvenile, wemight have put her down, with such a bad injury;these are the experiences that, over time, stay yourhand with the needle). We have 2 established BarredOwl pairs which breed most years and are excellentfoster parents as well. This year one pair produced 3young, but the other pair only one. Then we received4 unrelated orphans over a two-week period, so weparked the single home-hatch with the other pair's 3and gave all 4 orphans to the second pair. Luckilythey can't count and all 8 babes have been raisedwithout a hitch. I have long felt that this species isthe most versatile and opportunistic owl in NorthAmerica with Screech Owls a close second and al-most as extensive a range (from the East coast tothe West and from the Gulf Coast to north of theGreat Lakes). Isn't it interesting that the Screech Owlappears to have total immunity to West Nile virusand the Barred Owl almost. The common Barn Owlis also totally immune but that's another subject. Wehave an apparent pair of Long-eared Owls whichlast year failed to hatch their own eggs (probablynot fertilized) but enthusiastically adopted the 4 or-

Our breeding and fostering season this springwas cause for some jubilation, with one exception.

Two juvenileBarred Owlsfrom Oddyand Evy,down huntingtheir firstlive miceunder theold hickorytree intheir hometerritory.

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phans sent from Manitoba and the one from Sas-katchewan. Again, this spring she was on a failedclutch of eggs when the first orphan arrived from upnorth, then another and a third from Manitoba again.Other than getting permanently damaged owls tobreed in the first place, the goal of equal importanceis providing a foster-parent capability.

We have greatly missed our much-loved oldGreat Horned Owl Cicero, since last fall when hedeveloped cancer in his throat and we gave him thegift. We admitted him back in the early 70's fromLake Scugog with a fresh bullet wound. In his timewith us he had formed a bond with 3 successive fe-males; Cinza, Samantha and Big Red. He was thebeautiful, pale Subarcticus race of his species as werehis first two `wives'. Samantha was the love of hislife and he withdrew into himself when we had toeuthanize her for final blindness. But Big Redwouldn't stand for that kind of behaviour and yankedhim out of retirement! A year ago they had their lastthree babes, as well as raising several orphans. Wewondered how Big Red would cope this year with-out him. We exposed her to two other males withtime on their hands and both escaped with their livesafter one glare from her! We tried her with an or-phan after she laid two eggs without benefit of amale, and she took them on without any hesitation.Then we gave her the four others and she raised themas well. What a dame! I have long since learned thatevery owl is a complete individual and will do whatit damn well pleases. The secret is to get it to wantto do the same thing you want it to do, if you followme!

One of 6 babe Hawk Owls from crippled mother in '06.

Older Hawk Owl babe by mother, Toba & father Yinyin.

Beautiful Pandora, a Short-eared owl from MB, 1995

We have not had breeding from Saw-whetOwls since our residents all died from West Nile in2002, but we do have a few more subsequent Saw-whet admissions and they have served as foster par-ents for the few late nestlings we receive most years.But when I look back at the numbers we received inthe 80's and 90's, there is a very ominous drop. Theseexquisite little owls are the only true migratory owlsin eastern North America and when you considerthe proliferation of highways and cars in the last 30years it may be that even their surprising fecundity(often two broods yearly) may not be able tocompensate for the appalling rate of attrition. In

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The little Saw-whet, Pook, in better years.

The notable exception to which I earlierreferred had to do with the Snowy Owl breedingactivity this summer. The breeding pair of last yearwere Winnifred and Chinook. Their 3 big offspringfrom last spring went out to release at Churchill thisspring and their parents got off to an early start withthe first of 6 eggs laid by May 20 and hatched June22. Meanwhile, this year, a second pair of Snowies,Bandit and Banshee continued a bond formationbegun three years ago and produced the first of 5eggs by June 4th and they began to hatch by July 8.Holy smokes, 11 eggs! (You can tell this is going toend badly.) The weather in June was still fresh butnot for long. Then trouble. One by one, in the firstweek of hatch, 8 of the 9 Snowy chicks died. Totalpanic! Was this the first strike of West Nile virusdespite Brent's infinite care in covering Snowy Owlenclosures with the wretched fine wire? Of courseas each chick died it was rushed up to Guelph for

speaking of such depressing realities, we are sorryto report that one of our most treasured residents,the little Saw-whet Pook has died in her 6th year.Hit by a car near Bracebridge, as a new fledgling,she has been effectively blind all these years but haslived in our house with remarkable spirit and in-dependence despite her affliction. She was muchloved by all of us and leaves a hole in our lives muchbigger than her small person.

Lovely Snowy Owl mother, Winnie; a sad year for her.

The faithful Chinook; a sad dad in '06 with only 1 babe.

the microscopic necropsies by Dr. Bruce Hunter,chief avian pathologist. A totally unexpected picturewas emerging: they were all dying of dehydration!There were no viruses, bacteria or disease processes,just the telltale signs in kidneys and urinary tracts.

We have been breeding Snowies since the 70's,in heat and cold and drought and deluges. Thesemothers could not be faulted for lack of vigilance orsolicitude; their fathers hung out around each scrape,wiping endless mice over both mothers and chicksand quivering with excitement. So what in Hell hap-pened this year? Of course all their sustenance comesvia their mothers, who pull tiny bits off big mice andoffer them, liberally drenched with her own saliva.

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The Fat Spratt alarmed by food that moves.

Fat Spratt "Where did that scary white thing go?"

In their first week of hatch they stay in the scrape,only occasionally visible on camera in front of herbreast, or exposed briefly, in a tight huddle, whenshe goes some distance away for her own elimina-tion (which is never done near the nest by ancientinstinct). Each family enclosure here is 1,200 sq.ft.,each has two 1-metre diameter pools, and each hasa powerful shielded ground fan 12 feet away so thateven on a hot, muggy day there is always a coolingbreeze. This is what we did last year when Winnifredhad 3 healthy babes. This is what we have done foryears and years. We are completely mystified. Be-

fore next spring we will have to beg Dr. Hunter tocome down to Vineland and look at the setup to seeif he can detect a flaw. Unfortunately, from late Junethrough mid July our weather was bloody hot andhumid, this year, just at the wrong time, but we havehad these episodes in other years, with no failure tothrive. Meanwhile, we have a big fat female Snowybabe, Winnie's first hatch, waddling around theirenclosure, tripping over everything and fed anxiouslyby both parents. She is plainly in good health but itis an odd and lonely life without siblings.

Now, with the end of summer a month away,we are making plans for fall building, and renova-tion of existing cages. We had a very generousdonation from two of our longest-supporting spon-sors this spring, and thus demolished our oldest cage(built by Larry and his son-in-law in the early 80's)in preparation for replacing it during October. It willhouse one of our promising pairs of Great Greys,currently in temporary quarters.

and the Spratt considering wisdom of pursuit.

In ending this long annual dissertation, I mustcomment on a unique event which took place thisspring. Our longest annually supporting organiza-tion is The Elsa Wild Animal Appeal, a small butdedicated group in Toronto which raises funds toassist wildlife charities like The Owl Foundation. Itwas initiated in several countries, many years ago,by the late Joy Adamson with royalties from the salesof her book on Elsa, the Lion. The activities of the

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Fat Spratt colliding with mother in haste to get fed.

Canadian group have been spearheaded, throughmany years, by their president, Betty Henderson, longtime friend and associate of the author. In celebra-tion of well over two decades of support for us theydecided to run a benefit, a fund-raiser for the OwlFoundation. It was in the form of a dinner (at $150a plate) at the Black Creek Pioneer Village near To-ronto. Their goal was to raise several thousand dol-lars by the sale of 96 tickets and the big attractionwas the opportunity to meet and talk with the fa-mous Canadian wildlife artist, Robert Bateman, alsoa friend of the founder, Joy Adamson. Bob had pre-pared a special limited edition of signed Barred Owlprints available nowhere else, each won by ticketnumber from 12 tables of 8 guests.

The event was pronounced a great success byall who came, and the monetary goal was reached,much to the organizers' relief! I was very touchedby the words of the three who made amusing andflattering speeches about their long association withthe Owl Foundation and Larry and myself; they wereNatalie Karvonen of The Toronto Wildlife Centre,my old friend, Dr. Bruce Hunter, head of Avian Pa-thology at OVC, Guelph, who has comforted methrough so many deaths of owls I loved, with hiswisdom and philosophy, and Bob Bateman whom Ihave known for 35 years. I had a speech in my mindto thank everyone for coming, and being so gener-ous, but I was so overcome with all the tributes and

affection that I thought I might shed a tear, and de-cided at the last minute to tell a little story about mymother, instead. It required a brief reminder of theearly days with owls, and a husband who was learn-ing about them the hard way!

Fostered Long-eared Juveniles from Ontario and Quebec.

In 1972 we were given a tiny nestling ScreechOwl from a local accident, but at that time had nofoster situation in which to raise him and were naiveenough not to realize the consequences of raisinghim ourselves. We thought this would be an oppor-tunity to learn something about young Screech Owls.And Boy, did we learn! Initially, I was his mother,his comfort, his safety. By the time he was a yearold, I had metamorphosed into his mate. By the timehe was two years old, he was copulating with myhead and snarling at Larry and by the time he wasthree years old he began to clear the premises (thewhole house) of his perceived rival, my unlucky hus-band. He would lie in wait in darkened corners, ut-tering his rattle of menace, and go in for the attack,

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One of 3 fostered Long-eared babes; still-fuzzy tufts.

whacking Larry on the head. (Any husband readingthis paragraph will wonder why Larry didn't throwthe owl out the door and whack me on the head!)But Larry was a gentle soul, so instead he took towearing a hard hat around the house, in the evening,and later threatened to carry a baseball bat as well.To the onlooker, it was a ludicrous sight!

Now for my story about my mother. I had goneto visit her and thought to amuse her with the imageof Larry in hard hat, carrying a club. She was not inthe least amused. She fixed me with her steely eyeand said "Katherine, will you come to your senses.You have already lost two husbands, both of whomescaped from you with far less provocation than poorLarry has had to endure. Find a permanent solutionfor the afflicted owl and pay attention to your hus-band. Why don't you go home right now and makehim a nice cup of tea? And engage him in a PLEAS-ANT conversation that has absolutely nothing to dowith owls!" Well, I felt a little offended by this turnof events, so I said, sulkily, "Larry doesn't like con-versation with his tea, he likes to listen to the news.""Then indulge him", said my mother, "and keep yourmouth shut!"

I guess there's a reason we all had mothers,and I had a good one. I have remembered her words

as if they were spoken only yesterday. And I wenthome, properly chastised, and began to convert anunused verandah, off our bedroom, into a new abodefor Tiglet (actually, "von Tiglet") where he lived forthe rest of his life and became the most useful owl inthe place! I visited him at least briefly, every day, hehad a marvellous view through big trees, and overother cage roofs, and so long as he had the freedomof my head every spring, he fed every late nestlingor fledged babe Screech Owl we received for the

Long-eareds feel secure in evergreen corners.

Annick with stapler, securing cage roof from mosquitoes.

The moneys raised by the Elsa Groups'benefit, this spring, we plan to use next year to startconstruction of the last big enclosure we need tocomplete the centre. This will take two years to build,cost a lot of money and will be the release trainingoval we have always wanted for Snowy Owls,especially the big females (the heaviest owl in NorthAmerica). To build up their pectoral muscles neededto get all that lard and bone off the ground, in a twolevel racetrack with climbing turns, will be a chal-lenge even for Brent, our marvellous builder. But Iknow he can do it and that the result will be the mostresponsible preparation for wild survival they couldfind anywhere. Doing it right is the best farewell.

We look forward to seeing as many of youas possible on our tours at the end of September.Let us know if your dates or times are not conven-ient and we'll try to change them. And we thank allof you just for caring about these beautiful crazybirds, and for helping us help them, or their genes,get back home again.Kay McKeever,with Cathy, Annick, Kara and BrentThe Owl Foundation

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Cathy Foxcroft, Business Administrator extraordinaire

Kara and Trevor getting married in Arizona, June 2006

next 15 years; and every summer he turned inexperi-enced young orphans into wild juvenile ScreechOwls, ready for live training and release. By the timehe died, of very old age in his 20th year, he was aninstitution, and sorely missed, even by Larry. Hisjob was taken over by "Miss Moose", a femaleScreech Owl hatched here, and now nearingretirement herself.

Brent, as usual, up a high ladder, applying fine wire.