Oneonta Owl Hitches Ride
On Rockefeller-Bound Tree
By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
ONEONTA – A Saw-whet owl who nested in “Daddy Al” Dick’s 75-foot Norway Spruce was rescued when workers tasked with transporting the tree to Rockefeller Center found the hitchhiker while putting up the tree in New York City.
According to a Facebook post, the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in Saugerties received a phone call that the owl had been rescued from the tree after it arrived in Manhattan.
“I received a phone call from someone who asked if we take in owls for rehabilitation,” the post read. “I replied, ‘yes we do,’ there was silence for a moment and she said ‘OK, I’ll call back when my husband
comes home, he’s got the baby owl in a box tucked in for the long ride.’”
Nicknamed “Rockefeller,” the owl, the smallest breed in the Northeast, has been eating “all the mice he can eat” and had no injuries.. According to Ravensbeard, he will be checked out by a vet and released into the wild.