Percival (Percy)

This is an all too familiar scenario to us. A wild bird chick, only a day old or so, falls out of its nest high in a tree and is discovered by a well-meaning human who takes it in, feeds it and saves its life. Then, sadly, its life is changed forever.

I received a call one day from a guy in Oakhurst, the town just north of us, who said an owl was attacking him on his property. Hmmm... Maybe he was close to the nest I thought and a parent was being protective. But then the very next day a different fellow called from Oakhurst saying that an owl was sitting on his arm! Ok, I thought, that’s a little strange. He was able to bring the owl to us and it was easy to see what the problem was. This was a big but young not fully feathered great horned owl that someone had been feeding from day one. Then they must have decided it was time to let it go.

But it’s too late now for it to know how to get along in nature and it looks to people for food and it just won’t work for a large owl to spend it’s life landing on unsuspecting humans.

He came to us and is soooo imprinted that he will take food from our hands and let us kiss him on the head. We’ve named him Percy (short for Percival) and we pretty much think he’s here for a lifetime!