When people think of the Rockefeller Center in NYC, wildlife and the environment are usually not the first things that come to mind.
But workers setting up the Rockefeller Center’s annual Christmas tree have managed to rescue a scared and malnourished owl hiding in branches.
A news story in US News has details about how this happened.
“The adult male Saw-whet owl was dubbed Rockefeller after it was discovered Monday by a worker setting up the towering holiday tree in Manhattan. The Norway spruce was cut down 170 miles (275 kilometers) northwest in upstate New York and brought to Manhattan on Saturday.”
In a fight or flight moment when the tree was cut down, the owl obviously decided to hide, and during transportation of the tree, it didn’t fly off to safety.
Instead, it found itself in a completely alien world in the Hudson Valley where, luckily, the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center is. They’ve stepped up to the rescue task and have been nursing the bird back to health.
Fortunately, the owl didn’t suffer any physical damage, and the sanctuary will release the owl into the wild in the coming weeks.
