Tonight's story is a good one. It involves a great horned owl in my neighborhood. Pull up a chair and listen in ... Out for a walk this afternoon, I did a double take when I saw it. I didn't get too close because I didn't know what was happening. (THREAD)

I walked over a bit and zoomed in for a look from a different angle (yes, it was snowing, in April). Was it hurt? Was it real? It didn't move. It's eyes were closed.

My owl knowledge admittedly isn't strong so I didn't know what it was doing and I didn't know what to expect. So I left it alone and went back inside for two hours. When I went back out it was still there but was showing signs of life. That's when I figured out what had happened.

My wife got home and came out with me to check it out. We could tell that it's left eye was injured and it was obviously still groggy.

We made some calls and found out that there is a place in Eaton Rapids (35-minute drive) that will rehabilitate it. There was a problem though -- as it turns out, it was our responsibility to get him and bring him to them. That did not sound like a good idea to either of us.

So we left him alone and my wife went in to make tacos and I drove into Meijer to get some missing groceries for dinner. That's when she called me: "I got him." I couldn't believe it. My wife is amazing, yes, but she's not one to just go about saving owls with her bare hands.

Apparently, she went back out to give it some food and when she got there, six crows (a murder of crows!) were already dive bombing and attacking the owl. They obviously sensed weakness and the owl couldn't get away. So my wife rushed back to the house and grabbed a towel.

When she got back, she did what the lady on the phone said to do and tossed the towel over the owl. It missed and slid off the owl's back so she had to gather up the towel and do it again. This time, the towel landed on it correctly but he flew a bit so it got a little tangled.

So she had to lift the towel to figure out where it's body was and then she grabbed it (it got her hand with his talon - "just a flesh wound" she said). She put it in a laundry basket and covered it with another towel, waited for me to get home, and finished cooking dinner.

When I got home, I loaded it in the back seat of the car and headed out to Eaton Rapids to take it to Wildside Rehabilitation and Education Center. The director met me out front and took the owl from the laundry basket.

The owl will receive care for 3-4 weeks and will most likely be released right back where we found him. He's a great horned owl and has a wingspan of 4.6 feet. The director said he is otherwise healthy and should make a complete recovery.

If all goes well, we will get to release him back into the wild, near our house. What a majestic animal (4.6 feet wingspan) & cool experience we had today. The Wildside Rehabilitation and Education Center exists only on donations so let's get em some here: https://www.facebook.com/wildsiderehab/ 

One last thing: owls are considered raptors (birds which capture live prey). So now my wife can say she saved a raptor with her bare hands. That's pretty bad ass.