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Return to the wild: Injured owl benefits from the sharp eyes of a passerby

By Claude Haton

ATHENS — Owls are known for their incredible eyesight, but it was the sharp eyes of an Athens woman which recently benefited a raptor in distress.

Cindy Friedlander, a resident of NYC who owns a second home along Schoharie Turnpike just beyond the village of Athens, was out for a run the week before Easter when something caught her eye as she passed the nearby Masselli home.

“I saw something whitish flutter and I couldn’t quite make out what it was,” she said. The movement continued and curiosity compelled her to investigate further. As she moved closer, she finally made out the owl.

“It’s leg was caught in the tree,” Freidlander said. “It was hanging upside down ... as I looked at it all I could hear was, ‘Please help me.’”

The owl’s leg had become ensnared between a clutch of sapling cedar trees grown tightly together. The raptor, which turned out to be an adult male Barred Owl, may have been in pursuit of some small prey in the trees when its leg became caught between Siamese trunks.

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