Bird Tales

Meet Boo, the Barn Owl

A deformed juvenile Barn Owl was delivered to Wild Wings of California in the Fall of 1991. This owl, who we later named Boo, was about 6 months of age. A compassionate person had rescued this recently hatched little Barn Owl from a dumpster full of tree trimmings. Then this kind person nurtured little Boo and fed her the most expensive cuts of meat from the grocery store. But this person became concerned when Boo wasn't able to fly very well after several months.

You see, Boo instinctively knew something that the human didn't, that when you grab a mouse by the tail, you are holding a 100% balanced diet, (if you happen to be a bird of prey). Humans usually eat the least nutritious part of an animal and throw the other half away. But a growing raptor also needs calcium from the bones, all the B complex, A and D and other vitamins from the internal organs and other parts of the body. That is why raptors consume the entire prey, because its necessary for proper nutrition. And that is why Boo couldn't fly very well, she was suffering from an irreversible nutritional bone deformity called rickets.

Since Boo was unfit to survive in the wild, she became a member of our foster parent team. Each year Boo takes at least 40 young barn owlets under her wing, feeds them, mothers them, and teaches them the skills they will need to survive in the wild.

Boo was given her name because one of the common names for the Barn Owl is "ghost owl". During the Winter months when there are no youngsters for Boo to tend, she will occasionally agree to assist in an education program or two just so people can learn about just how beneficial and unique the Barn Owl is.