Giving a hoot

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat Darlene Braasted of the Forever Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center keeps Baby the owl safe and warm before he was released to his nest under the bleachers of Arizona Stadium early yesterday morning. Baby was found by a student in the bushes under his nest last week and is now reunited with his mother, father and sibling owls.

While rescuers prepared equipment to return the Great Horned owl, nicknamed Baby, to its nest in the stadium's crossbeams, a volunteer cooed "Mama's watching,"

And Baby's mother was watching - waiting for University of Arizona electrical workers to set up a crane and lift the feathered youngster to the wings of its mother.

Young owls commonly fall out of their nests, Braasted said. However, Baby's tumble April 11 was unique because the nest is several feet off the ground and surrounded by concrete eaves rather than tree branches, she said.

"That's a long drop for a little fluffball," Braasted said.

The owlet was resting in the bushes when a UA student discovered it and alerted wildlife rescue authorities, Braasted said.

The uninjured baby owl was taken to Valley Animal Hospital in Tucson for a thorough checkup.

When it arrived at Forever Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center and into Braasted's supervision, the baby owl was placed with two adult owls, who acted as its surrogate parents, Braasted said.

"We rehab them and return them," said wildlife rehabilitation volunteer Sue Thomasson, whose husband Joe, assistant supervisor at the UA electrical shop, led the effort that would lead to Baby's safe return.

The difficulty in reaching Baby's nest delayed its return for more than a week while Braasted and Thomasson arranged for a crane to aid in the small owl's return.

"(It took) longer than I would have liked (to return the owl)," Braasted said.

Owls, as well as most other species of birds, should be left in their natural element and are illegal to keep as pets and, she said.

"We always try to encourage the public to put the (fallen) baby back in the nest," Braasted said.

She stressed that while the student may have considered adopting the fallen owl, the birds are best left to their parents or wildlife authorities.

One of Baby's two siblings also had fallen out of its nest, but landed on a beam below where its parents were still able to bring it food.

Wildlife rescuers gave the owl a gentle lift into the nest.

Yesterday, when the time came for the owlet to return home, Braasted gave the small owl a kiss on his head and returned Baby to its nest.