Rare snowy owl sighted near Kelowna school, rescued by raptor rehab centre

Snowy owl rescued

Photo: SORCO

A snowy owl was treated at the SORCO raptor rehabilitation centre in Oliver after it was found in distress near a Kelowna school.

A large, adult snowy owl is recovering at the SORCO raptor rehabilitation centre in Oliver after it was found by school children in Kelowna.

The students of École De L'Anse-Au-Sable at Gordon Drive and Lequime Road were on recess on Wednesday, when they saw the bird perched just on the other side of the school playground’s fence. The school then contacted SORCO, which took the distressed raptor into care.

“Its talons were completely covered in burrs. So, I’m suspecting it probably went for some food and got all these burrs in it. I had to cut them out,” said SORCO manager Dale Belvedere, who joked it was spa day for the bird.

“He’s fine. He ate last night. He was kept quiet, and today he’s in a flight pen.”

Photo: École De L'Anse-Au-Sable

Students at École De L'Anse-Au-Sable spotted the bird while they were on recess on Wednesday.

The school kids weren’t the only ones who got a rare glimpse of the bird. On Tuesday afternoon, the owl was also spotted sitting on a fence post near Thomson Marsh by bird-watcher Chris Charlesworth. He said the owl was being harassed by red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks.

“It remained on its fence post until dark on Tuesday,” said Charlesworth, who operates a birding tour company called Avocet Tours. The next day, it was picked up by SORCO near École De L'Anse-Au-Sable.

Snowy owls are rarely seen in this part of the country. Belvedere said they usually get reports of the northern dwellers making an appearance every five or six years, when their primary food supply of lemmings becomes scarce.

Charleswood said the last time he heard of a snowy owl in Kelowna was more than ten years ago.

Once the bird fully recovers, the rehabilitation centre will take it back to its traditional territory to be released.

“We’re going to have to go way up north to let him go,” she said. “We’ll think about that when the time comes,” said Belvedere.

Photo: Chris Charlesworth

Bird-watcher Chris Charlesworth snapped this photo of the snowy owl on Tuesday at Thomson Marsh.