Missoula Owls Must Be Mighty Tough Birds

It is so cool when the owls in our neighborhood start feeling frisky and log onto their comp-hooter dating system.

We don't mind losing a little sleep when there's a chance to hear and spot one on the telephone pole across the road. That's why it was neat to hear that some good Samaritans in the Missoula area recently were able to rescue one from the grill of a vehicle, hit at 50 miles per hour.

A Missoula-area man on his way to work recently contacted a coworker, Steve Giralt, to ask if he could help get a large bird that he hit the night before out of his grill. So Steve goes out to the vehicle and starts to pull on the "dead" bird. That's when it moved! A talon swung out then shortly after, the owl poked its head out. The owl had survived a night of driving around Missoula after getting hit. It was a Saturday, so Steve did not get a reply from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. So he called police, who were able to contact a raptor rescue program. They were able to dislodge the bird and take it back for evaluation.

That is one tough bird and some pretty conscientious animal lovers! We hope the owl lives to hoot another day.

DB