Injured screech owl comes home

Ronan Ellis crouches to get a peek at a rehabbed screech owl moments before the owl is released back into the wild. Patrick and Mackenzie Ellis look on while animal control officer Phyllis Tower securely holds the animal transport box. (Photos by Jen Manell)

It started with noises in the chimney. At first, Patrick Ellis thought the rustling sounds he heard that Saturday evening, Jan. 10, were bats. When he went down to the basement, however, something bigger than a bat swooped by him. But it was already late in the evening, so Ellis and his wife, Mikaela Flynn, decided the problem should wait until morning. They firmly closed the basement door.

The next morning Ellis called Phyllis Tower, the animal control officer for Harvard and several neighboring towns. Tower soon identified the intruder as a screech owl, one of the smallest owls found in New England. They are roughly 8.5 inches long and weigh only about 6 ounces.

Tower said catching the bird in her net without injuring it was a tricky process. The owl flew from one side of the basement to the other, dodging among the ceiling joists. But eventually it landed on the floor. Tower trapped it in the net, put it in a box, and took it to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic in North Grafton.

The clinic, which is part of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, treats over 3,000 injured wild animals a year, according to its website. Dr. Maureen Murray, director of the clinic, said the owl had a scratch on the cornea of its right eye, which was treated with topical medicine as well as some medication for pain. Once its eye healed, the owl was moved to one of the clinic’s flight barns, where it could exercise and the staff could evaluate its ability to fly and make sure it was ready for release. Murray also said the owl was full grown, despite its tiny size.

After 23 days at the clinic, the owl was ready to return to the wild. It was flying well, and its injured eye had healed, so it would be able to hunt for food. Tower brought it back to the Ellis-Flynn house on Finn Road Wednesday, Feb. 4. The afternoon release was timed to coincide with a half-day of school, so the two Ellis children, Mackenzie and Ronan, could watch. They both peered through the small holes in the cardboard transport box to glimpse the owl huddled inside.

Animal control officer Phyllis Tower releases the rehabbed screech owl outside the house it was originally found trapped in after flying down the chimney.

After alerting everyone to step back, Tower opened the box. The screech owl immediately flew straight to a nearby row of trees. A moment later, it took off again, perhaps to the thicker woods of the Delaney Wildlife Area not far away. It was a happy moment for everyone.

Patrick Ellis said there was one lesson he had definitely learned from the experience: “I need to put a cap on the chimney!”