Baby owl saved after falling from nest on Hilton Head

Four Long Cove Club residents helped rescue a baby owl that fell from a tree last week.

The four residents in the gated community on Hilton Head Island helped save the young barred owl Wednesday after its mother was unable to get it back into the nest, according to an email from Long Cove Club resident Rick Killmar.

Residents Dee Lyon, Ally McNair, Vickie Baumann and Harold Sauls helped protect the owl from nearby crows and arranged for the bird's travel to the Charleston Raptor Center, Killmar's email said.

The baby bird is still in the care of Sauls, Long Cove's community services manager, awaiting pickup by employees of the Raptor Center, Sauls said Tuesday.

Sauls has taken in orphan animals before, caring for them before sending them out for further help.

He has kept the bird in a cardboard box in his home, giving it water and feeding it each day.

The owl, too young to fly back into its nest, suffered some pecking wounds from the crows that attacked it, but most of them have healed, Sauls said.

It appeared the crows tried to pull out some of the owl's feathers, Sauls said. If not for the intervention of the three women and Sauls, the bird likely would have been killed.

They initially tried to find the nest the owl fell out of, but were unable to locate it in the tree.

Although he has taken care of the owl for nearly a week, Sauls has not given it a name.

"I don't want to get too attached," he said.

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 9:13 AM with the headline "Baby owl saved after falling from nest on Hilton Head."