A flammulated owl rescued by a Kamloops resident.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ben Beach

A Kamloops resident said he almost stepped on a small owl sitting on a walk-way on his way to his garbage cans earlier this week.

“As I swung the garbage bag he (the owl) ducked and caught my eye,” said Ben Beach.

Beach called the BC Wildlife Park for advice while he tried to wake the owl up but the bird would only “open its eyes and then close them again.”

“I used a sweater to gently put him into a box and covered him at the discretion of the wildlife park and after about 30 minutes we checked on him to give him water,” he said.

Beach said the bird attempted to escape but was unable to fly very far before crashing back to the ground. Following instructions from park personnel, he took the owl to the wildlife park.

“Once at the wildlife park he was immediately identified as a flammulated owl which is not very common to our area and we discussed what could have sent him the wrong way,” Beach said. “We’re  only speculating but figure the smoke and heat coming from the north must have got him turned around.”

Beach left the owl at the park to recover until the smoke clears and it can resume its migratory journey south.

Wildlife park animal care manager Tracy Reynolds said the owl was very thin, and they tried to rehydrate and give it food, but it didn't survive.

While wildfires are raging around the province filling the skies with smoke and displacing wildlife, Reynolds said the numbers of wildlife intakes at the park are not out of the ordinary.

Unlike taking in wildlife that has been hit by a car or attacked, or are suffering from extreme heat scenarios, smoke-related deaths in wildlife are hard to quantify unless there are visible burns.

“Most animals are either able to flee, or they perish in wildfires,” she said.

In the case of the owl, she said it’s possible the bird was thin from habitat lost in the fires, but they can't know for certain. 

Kurtis Huston is a bird expert and owner at Kamloops’ Wild Birds Unlimited. He said some species of migratory birds will be migrating now while birds in wildfire areas will be fleeing and may begin migrating.

“Their respiratory is far more efficient than mammals,” he said. “Because of their long flight they need to absorb a lot more air than mammals and non-flying vertebrates. Because this is the case they’re at a far greater risk of absorbing toxins in the air and don’t have the ability to hide inside like us.”

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Huston said the wildfire toxins can cause birds to die, and have weak egg laying production and poor breeding in the following breeding season.

“Scientists are recommending people provide a constant source of food and water for wild birds to help not only local birds so that they don’t have to fly and forage as much, and also displaced and migratory birds.”

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Flammulated owls are a very small owl that lives in the old Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine forests in the province, according the Ministry of Environment website. They breed in the southern Interior north to Williams Lake and migrate to Mexico and Central America for the winter months. The birds nest in cavities in dead snags and are well camouflaged against bark and leaves. They have a low reproductive rate and long migrations that likely result in a high annual mortality rate the younger birds.

If you come across wildlife in need you can phone the Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre at the BC Wildlife Park at 250-573-3242 ext. 230 or if its an emergency call 250-319-1129.

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