The Tiny Owl Who Came to Visit the Big Apple Is ‘A Christmas Miracle’

A tiny Northern saw-whet owl was discovered huddled inside the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree that had been transported to Manhattan

by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter

This piece was a Forbes Editor’s Choice.

The Northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) is one of the smallest owl species in North America. (Credit: Kameron Perensovich / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Imagine your surprise if you are awakened in the middle of the night, when you and your entire bedroom are bundled up tightly and transported from a small rural town to New York City.

This is exactly what happened to a Northern saw-whet owl who was trapped for three days in a 75 foot (23 meter), 11-ton Norway spruce tree that now stands in Rockefeller Center. The tree, which was felled on Thursday in Oneonta, New York, was transported to Manhattan, a distance of 170 miles (274 km).

According to a statement on facebook, officials at Ravensbeard Wildlife Center received a phone call on Monday morning from a woman about a ‘baby owl’ that was discovered in a tree. The woman’s husband, who works for the company that transported and secured the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, discovered the owl.