Northern Saw-whet - The Christmas Tree Owl

BirdNote^®

Northern Saw-Whet Owl – The Christmas Tree Owl

Written by Ellen Blackstone

This is BirdNote.

[People outdoors singing “O Tannenbaum” in the snow]

Christmas tree plantations may not be the best habitat for wild birds, but they do hold an attraction – for Northern Saw-Whet Owls. [Hoots of owl]

These miniature owls seem to feel at home in the small evergreens. And when the birds are spotted, they’re most likely to remain motionless rather than fly away.

So it’s not surprising that, a few years ago, a Saw-Whet Owl in Oregon took a long, strange trip. In the middle of December, a lovely little evergreen was cut down on an Oregon tree farm. Turns out, this tree already had an ornament – a tiny Saw-whet Owl, hunkered close to its trunk. The tree – owl and all – was wrapped in a mesh bag, and off it went to British Columbia.

The owl traveled in its needly prison, in a stack of Christmas trees, for a week or more. Imagine the surprise of the family who found it! Fortunately for that little owl, a wildlife rehabilitator nearby knew just how to take care of a hungry, dehydrated owl. It was nursed back to health and regained its life in the wild. [Hoots of owl + O Tannenbaum].

So if you buy a Christmas tree this year, you may get more than you bargained for. [Hoots of owl] 

Hey, I hope I do! For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.

Support for BirdNote comes from American Bird Conservancy and Bringing Back the Birds, a photo book by Owen Deutsch on the importance of protecting birdscapes. Available at amazon.com.

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Sounds of Northern Saw-whet Owl [89405] provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, recorded by T. Knight.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org     December 2013/2017/2020   Narrator: Mary McCann

ID#    NSWO-02-2011-12-14