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Young Owl Exasperated By Wild Colorado Weather, Doesn't Want To Hear About Your Poor Vegetable Garden

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (CBS4) - If there was an expression that captured Colorado's mood after this latest curveball from Mother Nature, it might very well be this look from a young owl found by wildlife rangers Saturday.

Horton don't give a hoot.

Not now.

Angry Wet Owl 1 (CPW SE Region tweet)
A wet, homeless, and mildly unhinged young owl found Saturday in Colorado Springs. (credit: Colorado Parks & Wildlife/Twitter)

The young owl was discovered on the ground following the wildly extreme, roller coaster weather systems that graced the state with their presence this week. Near-record high temperatures on Thursday were followed by below-freezing overnight lows and heavy, branch-breaking snowfall along the Front Range.

Our young owl friend did not weather the experience well.

And he's not hiding his feelings about it.

"Everyone likes a moist owlet, don't they?" joked Bill Vogrin.

Vogrin is the spokesman for Colorado Park & Wildlife's Southeast Region.

But there are no laughing birds in this story.

Angry Wet Owl 2 (CPW SE Region tweet)
CPW Officer Drew Vrbenec carries a young owlet who unwisely forgot to check the forecast prior to a test flight. (credit: Colorado Parks & Wildlife/Twitter)

"It's very common this time of year for young owlets to test their wings and try to learn how to fly," Vogrin explained, given a second chance. "They usually climb back up the tree. This one was just soaked and looked terrible. He was unhappy."

A pair of CPW rangers, Officer Drew Vrbenec and intern Rebekah Ryan, scooped up the grumbling bird, deemed him uninjured and relatively healthy, and placed him back in the tree where he could return to his nest.

Vogrin asked people who find a young owl under a tree to contact CPW so the creature's condition can be evaluated before any intervention is made.

He said they normally place errant owlets directly inside the tree, right back into the nest. But this nest was too high for the rangers to access.

Figures.

It was just that kind of day, wasn't it, Mr. Owl...

 

 

 

 

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