Great job, Wildlife Center of Virginia , for getting this Great Horned Owl back into peak condition.

It was hit by a car in January 2022, resulting in a right eye injury, blunt force trauma to the head, and a damaged cere, which is part of the beak.

Some of the greatest damage though, was too the feathers. If they released the owl with damaged feathers, it would lose its silent flight, making it much harder to catch prey.

They attempted feather replacement (imping), but it was unsuccessful, so the only option left was to care for the owl until it regrew all new feathers.

703 days. That's how long this Great Horned Owl hasbeen waiting to return to the wild.

The average time a patient stays at the Center is a littleover a week, but for some, the stay can be much longer.This owl came to the Center on January 6, 2022, after it had been hit by a car. Its list of injuries was long but treatable, and our treatment team took it one day at a time.

The biggest challenge was damage to the owl's feathers. The collision combined with time on crate rest had damaged many of the bird's feathers, and the result was that the owl could no longer fly silently. For other raptors that isn't a big deal, but for owls, silent flight is critical to their survival.

The treatment team had tried imping, a process by which donor feathers are transplanted onto a bird to quickly improve flight, but it did not work. Staff had to wait for the owl to molt and regrow healthy feathers on its own, a process that took more than a year.

After all this time, the owl is finally able to fly silently again. We're so happy to see it back home.

If you haven't checked out the recent thread on imping, including some comments from a commenter who has imping experience as a falconer, check it out here!