{"id":47793,"date":"2017-07-24T04:59:01","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T10:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47793"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:56:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:56:27","slug":"rehabilitated-burrowing-owl-flying-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/24\/rehabilitated-burrowing-owl-flying-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Rehabilitated Burrowing Owl Flying Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AprilApril releasing the rehabbed Burrowing Owl – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 320, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 35mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I watched and photographed as April Olson who is a volunteer at Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah<\/span><\/a> (WRNCU) release a rehabbed Burrowing Owl. It was very exciting for me because I’ve never been to a release before even though I have helped rescue several birds.<\/p>\n

April invited me and others to take part in the release of the male Burrowing Owl up in Box Elder County near the Promontory Mountain Range and I was delighted to be a part of this bird’s freedom flight.<\/p>\n

Some of the birds that I helped rescue while I lived in Florida didn’t make it, a few had only minor injuries<\/span><\/a> or were tangled in fishing line and were released quickly. The Barn Owl I helped to rescue<\/span><\/a> in Montana was rehabbed and released back into the Centennial Valley<\/span><\/a> but there was only a few days notice of the release and it is a long haul up there from here.<\/p>\n

This Burrowing Owl had sustained the same kind of wing injury as Galileo the Short-eared Owl I helped to rescue last year<\/span><\/a> not far from where this owl was released but the extent of Galileo’s injury prevented him from being released. He is now an education bird at HawkWatch Internationa<\/span><\/a>l here in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

This little male Burrowing Owl was found injured on Antelope Island State Park and was rehabbed by the kind, compassionate and caring people at WRNCU. It takes special people to care for and rehabilitate birds and we are lucky to have the staff at WRNCU caring for the birds here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

The owl took a few seconds to come out of the carrier, flew past some rocks, over a gully, and landed low on the ground where I couldn’t see him.<\/p>\n

His band number is 02514 and I hope that one day I can photograph him in the area again.<\/p>\n

In my photo he is in front of the rock to the left of April’s head. I hope he does well and adjusts to his new home before he heads south for the winter.<\/p>\n

Thanks for inviting me to witness this Burrowing Owl being released and flying free April!<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Burrowing Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

I’m still having some server issues which is why I only posted one photo of the release.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago I watched and photographed as April Olson who is a volunteer at Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah release a rehabbed Burrowing Owl and it was very exciting for me because I’ve never been to a release before<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,52,26],"tags":[6000,55,4214,4098,4062,294,4353,11852,6001,4661,4659,16891,5231,5413,2315,5204,6002,5999],"class_list":["post-47793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-burrowing-owls","category-utah","tag-april-olson","tag-athene-cunicularia","tag-burrowing-owl","tag-desert","tag-male","tag-owls","tag-owls-of-utah","tag-ranchlands","tag-rehabbed","tag-rehabilitation","tag-release","tag-releasing","tag-rescue","tag-rescued","tag-summer-3","tag-wildlife-rehabilitation-center-of-northern-utah","tag-wing-injury","tag-wrncu"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/april-olson-burrowing-owl-release-mia-mcpherson-7356.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cqR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42390,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/04\/burrowing-owls-of-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":47793,"position":0},"title":"Burrowing Owls of Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It might be a long drive in the wee hours of the morning to get to where these Burrowing Owls are in northern Utah during the breeding season but they are worth it","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Burrowing Owl with bloody bill, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/burrowing-owl-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-5513.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/burrowing-owl-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-5513.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It was announced yesterday that the Burrowing Owl is the 2022 ABA Bird of the Year! Burrowing Owls are small, long-legged, sandy-colored, charismatic owls with bright yellow eyes.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Burrowing Owl on a stump in soft morning light, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/burrowing-owl-immature-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7693.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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