The origin story of Ravensbeard’s resident educational superhero begins three years ago, when Ellen Kalish got a call at 10:30 pm about a barred owl that was hit by a car in Red Hook. The State police stayed with the owl until Ellen came to pick her up. Both eyes of the owl were swollen shut. Ellen took her to the vet the next day and fortunately, no fractures were observed during an X-ray exam. With eye drops and pain medication, the swelling went down and she could open her eyes, but she was still not eating. She was fed by placing food at her feet.
When her condition improved, the barred owl was moved from the indoor infirmary cage to an outdoor enclosure. She had the place mapped out in less than a day. When an ophthalmologist came by to exam her eyes, we found out that she was totally blind in her left eye and 90% blind in her right. She could not be released with this kind of visual impairment. Sometimes an owl can fool you into thinking she can see because her spatial hearing is so keen.
Thus began her journey as an educational bird, which turned out to be a godsend. We christened her Hudson. (Sometimes, rescued birds are given names of the location they were found). You could not have asked for an owl with a better temperament. She was patient, did not get flustered or scared, had a bendable personality, and on top of it all, she liked people! She calmly stayed on Ellen’s arm during presentations and when she had had enough, she would let Ellen know.
We found out Hudson was female when she laid a couple of eggs. It turned out that she was a great surrogate Mom, too. To date, she has helped raise three batches of baby owls. Baby owls need to be taught skills to survive in the wild and Hudson provided subtle lessons on when to hoot, eat, sleep, be afraid and how to fly. When it came time, she encouraged the young ones to hunt in the aviary.
After one of her charges was released, the owl came back to Hudson’s enclosure hungry because it was having trouble hunting. After a series of back & forth in their special language, Hudson shared the only rat she had to the youngster, who flew away presumably happy. This illustrates why Hudson is so beloved at Ravensbeard and by people who she meets. She radiates warmth and peace in her own mysterious way.