It turns out that the Mothball Fleet, a collection of abandoned warships in Suisun Bay, is host to an unexpected aviary.
Sandy Plate, a volunteer with the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, recently boarded a rusted-out oiler to save a barn owl. Aboard the vessels, she witnessed nests of other birds who made their home on the ships -- purportedly raccoons and even an opossum have been found in the ghost fleet.
"The ships have seen better days," Plate said.
So, too, had the owl.
"The owl was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Plate, who went to the ship after boat workers, who thought the owl was injured, called police. They, in turn, put out a call for a volunteer to help the threatened owl. The bird had taken flight from a large hole on the ship where it was living when it landed on an osprey's nest.
The osprey had cornered the owl and was preparing to attack it when crews at the Mothball Fleet arrived.
Plate took a small boat out to the large ship and climbed aboard to find the owl hiding above a cabinet. She was able to grab the owl, which was not hurt but was a fledgling that had not mastered flying. It could have drowned if it had landed on the water, she said. The barn owl is likely male, though wildlife experts are not sure.
The owl was the first animal of any kind at the Mothball Fleet to be rescued by the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, according to officials there. The bird, now at the museum's wildlife hospital in Walnut Creek, was treated for insects in its ears, said Polly Gusa, Lindsay's barn owl species manager. At the hospital, the owl receives medication and eats about six mice a day.
For a barn owl to make a home aboard a desolate oiler makes perfect sense to Gusa.
"They have food. They can hunt nearby. There are no predators and they have ocean views," she said.
On Wednesday, workers brought the 11-week-old white-faced owl with deep-set eyes out of its carrier to record its weight, which is about 400 grams. The owl made a hissing, screaming sound as though someone were strangling a cat. Gusa said it was being defensive.
With gloved hands, technicians stuck a tube attached to a syringe deep into the owl's throat to hydrate it.
Within the next few days, museum officials will check on the owl's progress by freeing live rodents in front of it and seeing whether it still has its predatory nature to scoop up prey. The owl likely will be released in Benicia, near where it was rescued, in a few weeks.
"We want them out of here and back in the wild," Gusa said.
The museum usually sees about 150 barns owls a year, said Susan Heckly, wildlife rehabilitation director. A couple of barn owls also are on display at the museum.
In the central U.S., barn owls are becoming endangered, partly because there are fewer barns for them to live in, Heckly said. In California, they thrive mainly because they have adapted to living in palm trees -- and apparently boats in Suisun Bay, she added.
"I bet there is quite a habitat island out there," she said.
Plate was impressed with the concern the crew at the ships have for the animals who live there. Months ago, they put up nets, hoping the osprey wouldn't nest in the boats, but the osprey simply used the nets as hammocks and built large nests on top. Even a goose made its way in and laid six eggs, she said.
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