NEW YORK — Crews setting up the Christmas tree at New York’s Rockefeller Center found an added surprise this week -- a tiny owl.
The saw-whet owl was stuck inside the 75-foot Norway spruce for three days, News 12 Westchester reported. A truck driver, who transported the tree from Oneonta to New York City, found the bird, the television station reported.
Ellen Kalish, director and founder of Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in Saugerties, New York, said she received a telephone call this week from the wife of one of the crew members, United Press International reported.
The bird was taken to the center, where he was given fluids and a steady diet of mice, officials wrote in a Facebook post.
“It had been three days since he ate or drank anything. So far so good, his eyes are bright and (he) seems relatively in good condition with all he’s been through,” the center wrote. “Once he checks in with the vet and gets a clean bill of health, he’ll be released to continue on his wild and wonderful journey.”
Naturally, the bird has been named Rockefeller.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Kalish told News 12 Westchester. “He probably was trapped in when they tied it up and started to transport it. But the fact that he’s in such great shape is wonderful.”
There are about 2 million saw-whet owls in the wild in the United States, and they typically grow to only about 5 inches tall, UPI reported.