As I was walking through my local Barnes and Nobel bookstore, a small book with a fuzzy owl chick on the cover caught my eye. The book was Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O’Brien. I thought it was a children’s book (it’s not). As a joke, I showed the book to my son Ed, who is fascinated by owls. He bought the book and read it. As he was reading, he would often stop and read funny incidents to me. I just had to read the book myself.
Biologist, wildlife rescuer, and rehabilitation expert who specializes in owl research, Stacey O’Brien lives in California. When she acquired Wesley, a barn owl, as a four-day-old chick, Miss O’Brien worked at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the Owl Lab. She was asked to adopt him and raise him at home because he had nerve damage in one wing and would never be able to fly well enough to catch an adequate number of mice to support himself and a family in the wild.
Chapter 5: Flying Lessons is one of my favorites. The author describes Wesley’s comical early attempts at flying. She could not help laughing at his antics. She describes how Wesley was embarrassed by her laughter. When she tried to comfort him, he pushed her away with his wings, hissing at her under his breath, faced the wall, and refused to look at her. He would exhibit this behavior whenever anyone laughed at him. Miss O’Brien, fearing the Wesley would become depressed, forbid anyone from laughing at Wesley in his presence. Although she admits to rushing into the bathroom, closing the door, and bursting out in laughter.
There are many comical, heartwarming, and touching parts to Wesley’s story. I enjoyed this book so much I may break my rule about not rereading a book. If you love animals and birds in particular, I recommend this book to you. High school science teachers might also consider adding it to students' summer reading lists.
Yo! Owls are the new penguins!
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