B.C. northern spotted owl breeding program welcomes new chick
For now, you can just call her Chick D-22. She’s a rare northern spotted owl being raised by foster parents Bella and Jay in B.C.
“They’ve had babies in the past, but they are quite inexperienced. This is the first one they’re actually raising on their own,” explained Jasmine McCulligh, facility coordinator of the Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program.
The chick hatched last month after being artificially incubated for 34 days at the Langley facility, the only one in the world breeding these owls.
“They’re one of the most endangered species in British Columbia,” said McCulligh.
“There’s fewer than five left in the wild, so the ones that we have here are super important to restore the population here in the province.”
Within Canada, the owls are only found in coastal B.C. South of the border, they live in Washington, Oregon and California.
In B.C, the owls’ existence became threatened due to habitat loss and competition from the barred owl.
The program to breed the endangered owls began 15 years ago, but McCulligh said it hasn’t been easy.
“No other organization has ever done it, so we’ve had to really start from scratch,” she explained. “We can’t look it up on Google.”
Jay and Bella, two endangered Northern Spotted Owls, are seen in their nest where they are fostering a new chick.
McCulligh said one of the biggest challenges they have faced is ending up with mostly male chicks.
“When you want to have one male and one female produce babies and you’re only having males, it's been hard to grow the population,” she said.
The goal is to release the owls back into areas of protected old growth forest.
They started out with six owls and now have 32 plus the chicks yet to be born this year.
The facility expects to finally release some owls this year for the first time ever.
“We’re not going to have 100 per cent success in the wild, unfortunately, but we’ve reached the point where we’re at capacity at the breeding centre,’ she said.
As for Chick D-22, she’s already grown a lot.
“She was about 100 grams and we think she’s probably close to 400 grams now,” McCulligh said.
The public’s invited to watch her through a livecam online and later play a part in giving this rare owl a name. The program says the peak times for seeing activity on the nest is when the owls are being fed, between 8:00-11:00 a.m. and 6:00-10:00 p.m.
Due to COVID-19, the facility has faced challenges including increased operational expenses and the cancellation of public outreach events.
To help raise funds, they’ve launched an “Adopt-a-Chick” program.
“We estimate it costs about $1700 per year to feed just one Northern Spotted Owl in its first year of life; so we’re hopeful that this fundraiser will help out with those costs” says McCulligh.
More information can be found online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.