It was an exciting week at Blue Mountain Wildlife. A $1,000 donation arrived from PacifiCorp. The generous gift will  help BMW continue helping native wildlife in the coming year.

Two Long-eared Owls were released. The first owl wasted no time in returning to the forest.

The second LEOW was a bit more tentative before realizing he was back home!

Great Horned Owl 25-476 was released at Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, very close to where the adult owl had been found on the ground unable to fly. She was emaciated, but did not have any obvious injuries. We are not sure what happened to her that prevented her from being able to fly and hunt. Perhaps she had been struck by a vehicle. 

The owl quickly left the travel box and headed for a tall tree. A resident Red-tailed Hawk briefly expressed its displeasure at the owl’s presence. After getting her bearings, the owl flew off. I’m sure she was happy be back home.

On Friday, Tricia, Rainy and I traveled to The Vert Auditorium in Pendleton to greet 500 area students as they arrived for a Young Peoples Concert by the Oregon East Symphony. The concert featured Chris Thomas’ Malheur Symphony. The music was inspired by Malheur Wildlife Refuge. Rainy, a Gyrfalcon/Peregrine Falcon hybrid and BMW’s newest education bird, was the perfect greeter!