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Vernon  

Dozens of herons killed

Birds, especially youngsters, took the brunt of the windstorm that swept through the Okanagan Valley on Tuesday night.

The blue heron rookery at the north end of Vernon took a battering, with a number of dead trees falling that held nests of chicks.

“We received a call that several of the trees at the north end of the Great Blue Heron rookery had blown over in the windstorm,” said wildlife expert Pete Wise, who checked out the situation on Wednesday. “My staff and I walked the area looking for downed nests and injured birds.

“We did find multiple nests (on the ground) and unfortunately no live birds. We found 29 chicks and one adult, all of which succumbed to impact injuries or died of hypothermia.”

Wise believes about one-third of the colony could have been impacted by the storm.

Despite the decimation to this year's brood, Wise reported that all was not lost as there were still a lot of nesting adults in the trees.

Wise had better luck when a juvenile Great Horned owl was brought to him Wednesday after being found in a swimming pool. The bird showed no signs of life.

“The owl appeared to be dead and showed no reflective action. He was wet and cold.”

Wise used his wife's hair dryer to slowly warm the animal and gave it CPR.

After an hour or so, he wrapped the unresponsive owl in a towel and put him atop the washing machine.

“A while later my wife came in and asked 'what are you going to do with that owl'. I said I might freeze it as an exhibit and she said 'oh no you won't, it's sitting up'.”

Wise immediately got the six-week-old bird to the Vernon Veterinary Clinic where two vets and other staff worked on stabilizing the creature and feeding it a warm mixture.

The bird was put in an incubator.

On Thursday, Wise delivered the owl to the animal hospital at the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops.

“It's a juvenile and can't fly. It's possible the wind blew him out of a nest or he attempted to fly and plunked down in a swimming pool.”



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