If anyone comes across a downed owl that needs care, it's critical to get it to the Raptor Center ASAP. There are also two licensed rehabbers in northern Minnesota that I know of--Emily Buchanan in Duluth (218-348-8745) and Regina Kijak in Two Harbors (218-834-4129).
In the late stages of starvation, time is of the essence. If you cannot reach the rehabbers or simply cannot deliver the bird within minutes rather than hours, especially if you found the bird downed, you must offer fluids before even thinking of feeding it. Feeding a mouse to an owl in the late stages of starvation can cause the bird to go into shock--owls empty their stomach contents before regurgitating a pellet each day. When they're dehydrated and suddenly have a full stomach, they must replenish their stomach fluids with fluids from their lymphatic and blood systems, and that sudden siphoning off of fluids in a dehydrated bird can kill it. What should you do? Robert Nero once gave me the following advice to first make sure an owl is comfortable with a human: bow your own head (a submissive behavior for owls) and then stroke its forehead feathers. Unlike hawks, owls "allopreen," and this helps assure the bird that you are not going to kill it. Then offer fluids. Water will work in a pinch. Cooled boiled Sprite, Seven-up, or even Coke may be a little better. Far better is Gatorade, and best of all is unflavored Pedialyte (in the baby food section of most grocery stores) or Ringer's solution (the basic saline solution used in IVs). DON'T force any fluid down any bird's throat, and don't use an eyedropper. Rather, hold a bowl of the fluid in front of the owl's face, and with your finger drip just a couple of drops on the bird's beak--as the bird's rictal bristles detect it, the bird will swallow. Most of them quickly start drinking on their own. Be careful not to get too much fluid on the bird's face because these substances are sticky. Again, only offer small amounts, and do your best to get the bird to a rehabber ASAP. But if you're still pressed for time, after the bird has had a few small drinks, the best first food to offer is Gerber strained chicken, which has enzymes added to break down the proteins, making it easily absorbed. Tease the bird's beak open and give it a very tiny amount. Usually after tasting it, owls will readily take if off a finger--it's goopy, so be careful to not get the bird's feathers messy. And again, this should only be offered for a short time before offering a fresh dead mouse, with fur and bones--otherwise the stomach can become infected from moist matter building up with no substantial fibers to help it form and eliminate a pellet. Again I must emphasize that these techniques are only to use in absolute emergencies, and only if you can't get it to a licensed rehabber immediately. It's illegal to possess any owl, and your emergency aid can be a curse rather than a kindness to the bird if you don't know what you're doing. Also, data are being kept on these birds' initial condition which are altered by intervention, and the Raptor Center has state-of-the art facilities that deal far better than we can in those first critical hours, so it's far better to rush the bird to the Raptor Center than to try these techniques except in dire emergencies. If anyone has numbers for other rehabbers or facilities up here, please post them. It's not a bad idea to keep some of these numbers by your phone. Also, if anyone has sounder suggestions for these emergencies, please let us all know. Laura Erickson Duluth, MN Producer, "For the Birds" radio program <http://www.lauraerickson.com/> There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson