SALEM, Va. – Two baby great horned owlets are safe and re-nested after falling from a tree.
The owlets were rescued from separate locations, one in Salem and the other from Roanoke County.
After both were found on the ground, they were taken to the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center where rehabbers worked to care for them.
Looking like little white balls of fluff with beaks and large eyes, the owlets are still quite young and have not yet developed feathers.
Staff at the wildlife center tried re-nesting one of the owlets at its original location in Roanoke County, but Executive Director Sabrina Garvin said the mother unfortunately never returned.
To provide the owlet with the care it needed in the wild, Garvin said she and her staff placed the Roanoke County owlet in the same nest as the one found in Salem.
Both were re-nested together and placed in a crate that was hoisted back in the tree in Salem thanks to help from Brown Hound Tree Service.
Garvin said the mother owl could be seen nearby watching and will likely care for them both.