-Orphaned great horned owls rescued from Gyro Park-
OSOYOOS TIMES-October 1, 2008-
By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times
Members of the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls released two young great horned owls into the wild on Anarchist Mountain on the afternoon of Sept. 28.
A group of about 17 people gathered on an undeveloped lot in the Regal Ridge Development to witness Ken Fujino, the centre's chief executive officer, release the owls one at a time.
The centre took in the owls as chicks about three months ago after their parents abandoned them in a nest at Gyro Park in Osoyoos.
Fujino said the birds kept falling out of their nest despite the centre's efforts to put them back into the trees and so it was decided they would be taken in, fed and kept isolated from humans so they could survive in the wild.
Because we're trying not to get them to imprint on humans, he said.
Now the birds are full fledged, or nearly fully grown, and Fujino said they have a better chance of surviving on their own.
So it's time for them to go, he said. It should be pretty good because they've got a good area to go into.rnThe owls aren't picky eaters, Fujino added, as they have a big menu of roughly 250 species they can eat” including the odd skunk.
That's why they're so successful.rnAlthough he wasn't sure of either bird's sex, Fujino said it was hoped they were a male and female that could eventually breed.
Bruce Malczewski, the centre's chairman, said birds are usually released anywhere between Oliver, Penticton and Hedley at different locations to spread them out.rnThey start to become territorial in the spring, he said, adding that the decision was made to release these two owls on the mountain because there is still a good stretch of suitable owl habitat in that area.
There's lots of trees. They're quite adaptable.rnThe great horned owl's habitat range extends throughout the Americas as far north as the tree line and as far south as Argentina.
Malczewski said the owl's survival rate is about 50 per cent in its first year of life, but he added that he and other centre members are optimistic about the future of the pair released on the mountain.
We're hoping they make it through the winter and have their own babies, he said.
The centre has released nearly 20 owls and hawks throughout the South Okanagan this year and Fujino said he plans to release seven more great horned owls in the next two to three weeks.
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