The orphans of spring

This is the time of year when people clean up their yards and trim their trees, and while they may reach their goal of tidying their property, they often orphan birds nesting in the trees in the process.

Nowhere is that more evident than at Pine View Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center, which has become the temporary home for a veritable flock of owlets orphaned when their homes were felled.

“This is becoming more usual than unusual,” Jean Lord, executive director of Pine View, said. “We’re pleading with the public to be aware of what’s in their yards.”

At Pine View’s hospital facility, Lord and Kristen Bustamante, the facility manager, showed off some of the shelter’s most recent residents.

Three tiny screech owls, barely two weeks old, arrived at Pine View when they were only two days old. They were “tiny, tiny fluff balls,” Lord said, with heads about the size of a person’s thumb whose eyes weren’t yet open.

The nestlings, who were transferred to Pine View from a Walworth County rehab center, had been in a nest in a tree that was cut down.  Two of their siblings and an adult screech owl were killed.

Two older immature screech owls are also now Pine View residents. One was in a box elder in Lake Geneva that was cut down, killing the owl’s parent and sibling. The other was found on Mother’s Day in Brookfield after a tree there was felled. Its parent flew off but a sibling died instantly after falling from the tree.

“They’ve bonded,” Lord said of the pair. “They are now a family.”

In a few days, she said, they will be ready to be moved to a pre-flight cage at the center.

Two great horned owls were also brought to the center, one from Brookfield and the other from Walworth County, after the trees they were nesting in were cut down.

Lord noted that it’s not always easy to see birds like these in trees. Screech owls, she said, are cavity dwellers while great horned owls like to nest high in pine trees, sometimes taking over crow’s nests.

People need to look at the ground around their trees for signs of wildlife, she said.

They should look for fecal samples, which look like white splotches, and for cast pellets. These are often greyish in color and look like miniature hot dogs, rough in texture because they often contain bones.

Little bits of bone or fur around the trees are another indication that birds are nesting, Lord said, noting these often drop from the nests.

“They’ll also hear those sounds of the great horned owl or little cheeping,” she said.

Tree services should also check trees before they work on them, Lord said.

Jim Gollnick of Gollnick & Sons Tree Services in Cedarburg said that’s an important step.

“We don’t want to go up there and disturb them,” he said. “You have to do a thorough inspection.” 

Owls, he added, are often difficult to detect since they “tuck into anything.”

If birds are detected, Gollnick said, his company will often reschedule the tree work for a couple weeks until the brood has fledged and left the nest.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Birds aren’t the only wildlife Pine View has been working with recently.

Lord said the facility recently took in seven coyotes found in Mequon and four fox pups from Silver Creek.

The pup’s mother was apparently being shot at by a neighboring property owner, who has chickens, when the fox ran into the road and was hit by a car, killing it, Lord said.

One of her pups escaped but the other four were brought to Pine View.

Bustamante said they also received an emaciated and dehydrated fox Monday from Columbus, where it had been caught in a live trap and left for several days. The Department of Natural Resources warden who discovered the animal said charges will be brought against the trap owner, who is required to check on it daily.

Two other pups — one hit by a car and the other found in a ditch paralyzed — have also been brought to the center.

The number of animals at Pine View has been increasing in the past year, in part because several shelters in the state have closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, Lord said.

Last year, Pine View took in 22 foxes, seven great horned owls, 11 screech owls, two barred owls and one snowy owl. It also cared for a golden eagle and 150 turtles and eggs.

For now, Lord said, she is working to let people know how much damage they may be inadvertently causing when they trim trees.

“Be aware,” she said. “You need to look out for the animals living in your back yard.”