The Fall One spring day Zalea fell from her tree She was a baby owl just three weeks old and not yet able to fly She landed with a bump on the forest floor far below her nesting place She had fallen about as far as if she'd dropped from a seventh story window This was not good for little Zalea Tiny and vulnerable she was in danger of becoming a snack for a passing eagle or a cougar prowling this remote patch of Canadian forest Her parents couldn't carry their chick back up to the hole in an old growth tree where they made their home The most they could do to try to keep their chick safe was to dive bomb any predators if they came nearby
But Zalea got lucky Some wildlife biologists knew that Zalea's parents were nesting in that tree and they had been visiting now and then to see how the owls were doing For about a month they had noticed the father owl bringing a lot of extra food back to the tree They thought that probably meant there was a chick to feed in the nest The biologists carefully picked up the little owl At that point the owl chick didn't have a name no one even knew if it was a boy or a girl The team would find out later and then name her Zalea after the beautiful rhododendron bush an azalea that grows in British Columbia They scooped her up into a cardboard box and put her on the back seat of their truck Zalea was on her way to her new home When the scientists arrived that spring day in 2017 they spotted the little chick sitting on the ground She was smaller than a soccer ball and looked like an adorable puff of gray fluff Before the sun set they made the decision to rescue her
400 Out of Danger That night Zalea arrived at a special safe place in Langley British Columbia a township in Canada close to Vancouver and about two hours drive from where she fell from her tree This place was already home to a handful of other owls just like her northern spotted owls The team there wanted to check if she was healthy and that the fall hadn't injured her One of the biologists a young woman named Katelyn helped to measure Zalea and weigh her on a scale Zalea was 15 cm 6 in tall and weighed 400 g 14 oz about the same as a can of soda They looked in her mouth to make sure she wasn't dehydrated and checked to see how chubby and well fed she was She was given a mouse for her dinner Zalea's first night in the Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Centre was the first night she had ever spent inside away from her home in the wild VANCOUVER RICHMOND COQUITLAM Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Centre LANGLEY BRITISH COLUMBIA CHILLIWACK ABBOTSFORD CANADA UNITED STATES HOPE
The Northern Spotted Owl SCIENTIFIC NAME Strix occidentalis caurina which means screecher of the northwest COLOR Northern spotted owls are dark brown with white patches and spots Their eyes are dark brown HABITAT Northern spotted owls live in old growth forests from south coastal British Columbia to northern California BODY LENGTH An adult owl is about 50 cm 20 in long from head to tail or about one and a half times the length of a school ruler FOOD Owls are carnivores meaning they eat only meat The northern spotted owl's favorite foods are northern flying squirrels and bushy tailed woodrats Northern flying squirrel Woodrat Northern spotted owl California spotted owl WINGSPAN When spread the wings measure about 1 m 3 ft across or the distance fingertip to fingertip of a four year old child with arms outstretched Mexican spotted owl WEIGHT A fully grown owl weighs 500 to 700 g 18 to 25 oz or about the same as a loaf of bread COUSINS Besides the northern spotted owl there are two other subspecies of spotted owl The California spotted owl lives only in California and is lighter brown with larger spots The Mexican spotted owl lives from Utah to Mexico and is the smallest and lightest brown of the three with the largest white spots COMPETITION The barred owl has become more common than the northern spotted owl in its usual territory The barred owl is larger and has vertical bars not horizontal spots on its belly Its call sounds like Who cooks for you Who cooks for you all A spotted owl has a shorter call Barred owl
