Barn Owl Eggs Saved From San Martin Construction Site
SAN MARTIN (BCN) -- A clutch of owl eggs were rescued from harm's way on Friday after they were discovered perched in a construction site of a once-abandoned building in Santa Clara County, a rescuer said Saturday.
About a week ago, workers were installing a new roof on an old building in the unincorporated town of San Martin when they noticed a large bird fly from an alcove, according to WildRescue, a Monterey-based group that helps animals in precarious situations.
On closer inspection, crews found the small white round eggs of a barn owl in the alcove and quickly called authorities, said Rebecca Dmytryk, the organization's founder.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was called to the construction site, and inspectors determined the eggs should be removed.
"Ideally, we would have liked to have kept the family intact, but this was a very unique situation," Dmytryk said.
"Removing eggs is not common practice and we do not take it lightly, but for these un-hatched owlets, their best chance now is an incubator," she said.
A volunteer with WildRescue carefully removed the eggs on Friday afternoon.
The organization then took them to the International Bird Rescue center in Fairfield, where they will be placed in a state-of-the-art incubator that keeps the eggs at just the right temperature and turns them after an allotted time, Dmytryk said.
The eggs are expected to hatch in about 30 days, when they will either be adopted, or rehabilitated and released when specialists are sure the young owls can survive on their own.
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