Family finds live owl while decorating indoor Christmas tree with owl ornaments in GA
A Georgia family was shocked to find a live owl in its Christmas tree days ago, adding to the list of oddities found hiding in decorations this holiday season.
That’s a list that includes live pythons and entire preying mantis egg colonies.
Katie McBride Newman, an attorney in Newnan, Georgia, drew a social media following over the past week by posting updates on the owl the refused to leave her tree for days. The town is about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta.
The saga began Dec. 12, with: “No joke, we just found a live owl roosting in our Christmas tree.” A photo was included, showing the bird nestled among the shiny balls and lights.
It was identified as an Eastern screech owl by The Newnan Times-Herald, which noted the bird coincidentally appeared as Newman’s daughter was decorating the tree with owl ornaments. The girl “was both terrified and delighted,” the newspaper said.
In the days that followed, Newman and her husband, Billy, posted videos, shared details of trying to feed the bird, and added a bit of mystery by noting it would vanish and reappear in the tree.
“Last night we shut all the interior doors, turned off all the lights and came to initiate owl removal – and he was NO WHERE to be found. Gulp,” the family posted Dec. 13. “At 1:30 am, Billy came out to check, and was roosting on the tip top of the star.”
On Dec. 14, the couple sought professional help from the Chattahoochee Nature Center, which sent a wildlife tech to examine the bird for injuries (it was unhurt) and get it into a crate.
The owl was released late Saturday, Newman posted.
“Bye bye, birdie,” she wrote. “Thank you for the honor you bestowed on our family - for making the magic and mystery of Advent come alive in our home, and for inspiring connection among all who followed the adventure.”
The family’s experience is among the more benign tales involving odd decoration incidents this season.
In Erie County, Ohio, local officials posted a public service announcement to be on the lookout for decorative looking growths in Christmas trees, about the size of a walnut.
“These are 100-200 preying mantis eggs!” said the county’s post.
Crazier still, a woman in Australia reported last week that she found a 10-foot python wrapped around the Christmas tree on her balcony, according NPR.
“It was big. Really big,” tree owner Leanne Chapman told 7 News. “It just stayed there for a good few hours as we watched it through the window.”
A slight variation of that occurred days ago on the Isle of Man, a British dependency, when a Karl Gaskell and his wife Nicki noticed their Christmas wreath stunk “like rotten fish,” reported the Independent.
Turned out a nonvenomous snake had crawled into some hay to hibernate and ended up bound by wire into the decoration, the outlet reported.
It was rotting when the couple hung it, the Independent noted.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Family finds live owl while decorating indoor Christmas tree with owl ornaments in GA."