Atticus Finch
By Ellen Kalish
This nestling Barred Owl was found in spring of ‘06 in a residential driveway. 
He had fallen out of the nest and was found by the homeowner. No sign of his mother or other siblings, so I was called to remedy the problem.
Atticus and Stellaluna, baby Barred Owls
Photo by Ellen Kalish
We tried to find the nest and return him to Mom, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Then I noticed he had broken his wing. It must have happened much earlier while in the nest because it was healed with exposed bone extending outside the wing.
I brought him immediately to the vet and scheduled surgery. The necrotic bone had to be removed and tucked back into the skin, then realigned. The prognosis was slim that he would ever be able to fly again with the muscles pulled too tight and an inch of bone missing. While recovering, I decided to adopt him. I could use him to accompany me during talks as an educational bird.
His name became Atticus Finch,
one of the wisest and bravest men I know of, (besides my husband) from “To Kill a Mockingbird”. The young Atticus had a brilliant recovery, within weeks he was jumping and flitting about in his enclosure. Not long after that he actually started flying from one end to the other. Not believing my eyes I transferred him to the 30 foot flight cage to see if he was really able to fly.
The first shot he flew clear to the other end, landed on the perch turned to look at me as if to say, “So, what’s the big deal?” My heart beat fast with excitement cheering him on…. until it occurred to me that he may become releasable….. that he probably WAS going to be releasable.
Now the challenge began, I would have to release live mice in the cage to see if he was able to hunt and catch prey. We scheduled a release date and invited the Eagle Clan construction crew to see the first release from our newly built Flight Cage. The release had to be called off, Atticus was clearly not ready.
So, I attempted to teach him to hunt. 
At feeding time I put a mouse on the ground and he watched it from the top of the cage for about 20-30 minutes. I took it away and tried again the next day. I put the mouse on the ground again and he watched it for about 15 minutes then flew halfway down and watched it for another 15 minutes. …I took it away again.
On the third day I placed it on the perch where I usually feed him, the mouse walked back an forth, this time he flew onto the perch and watched……when it walked towards him he moved back when it walked away from him he took some steps toward it. This went on for an eternity; I must have moved my feet which made him look at me for that moment, with that the mouse ran across his toes – he jumped back and spread out his wings as large as he could get. He was totally flustered as he glared at that mouse all puffed up. I took the mouse away again; he ate frozen mice for dinner.
Day 4: Mouse on the perch for about 10 minutes, Atticus quickly flew over. The performance mimicked the day before except this time when the mouse came too close Atticus grabbed out of fear, the mouse was dead in his fist immediately. He paraded that mouse around for another 15 minutes first holding it with his beak, then his other foot, back to his beak again, next to him on the perch and so on…..until I finally left when he proceeded to close his eyes and sleep. It must have been a rough day.
From there he started to figure out that mice served fresh and warm are very delicious. He still needs improvement but now at least he’s not the only owl in the world that’s afraid of lab mice.
We’re looking to release him in November.
We love you Atticus, you’ve taught us so much. I’ll miss him dearly.
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I called my mom and she came out to look. The bird’s wing seemed to be injured. We called our friend Ellen who rescues birds and asked her what we should do. She told us to put the bird into a deep box, cover it, and put it in a dark quiet place because it was probably very scared. She told us to check the bird in the morning and if it was still OK, to give her a call.
I was sad to let her go, but I was glad that she was alive and free and that she had made two Blue Jay friends.
the Windham Police Department on the side of the road in a heap. The officer thought he was dead. He slid the shovel under him and picked up the Great Horned Owl… he moved, surprised the officer then put him in a box inside his car and contacted Ravensbeard Wildlife Center. 
filled with road gravel. All other signs were good. I cleaned up his face and rinsed his eyes until all the grit was gone. His corneas were scratched so he sat in the dark with his eyes closed for a few days with minimal interaction. After about a week he opened his eyes first one then the other. He still needed time to heal, but this was progress. 
Two months later he was able to see perfectly and released April 29, 2006. 