After an uncertain weekend, an owlet at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was found alive and is being rehabilitated. It is one of two babies of the resident great horned owl Athena, who has nested at the center since 2012.
On Friday, the Wildflower Center shared that one of the two owlets from Athena's 2026 nesting season had died, and the second one died the following day. But then came some signs of hope.
Scott Simons, a spokesperson with the Wildflower Center, said while staff turned off the popular online stream of the nest, experts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology continued to monitor the site.
"They noticed [Sunday] midday that there was some slight movement with the owlet," Simons said.
He said they immediately got in contact with the team at the nonprofit Austin Wildlife Rescue. They were able to quickly retrieve the owlet and begin rehabilitation.
"It was a very eventful day, but this is a plot twist that we are very glad to see," Simons said.
Lack of food, warmth
Ben Walters, who leads the Bird Cams project at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said the group noticed a slight reduction in food supply at the nest leading up to Friday.
"It seemed like there was not enough food, potentially as one reason why that first chick died, because there wasn't enough to support both owlets at that time," Walters said. "This is pretty common thing you see in bird nests when food supply is limited."
He said another concern was that Athena was spending long stretches of time away from the nest at nighttime, which isn't typical. He said owlets at this early stage need the warmth of their mother.
"She was spending more time off the nest, which we think she was probably spending that time hunting," he said.
The male owl — Athena's mate — is the primary hunter, but for unknown reasons, he didn't appear to be hunting in recent days.
Austin Wildlife Rescue steps in
Walters said the timing of this rescue was strategic. If an adult owl is still tending to the nest site, rescuers won't intervene.
"We wouldn't want to have Athena abandon that site or view that site as a risky place to be when she's been successfully raising owlets there for more than a decade," he said.
Over the next several weeks, Austin Wildlife Rescue will work to get the owlet in good health.
Jules Maron, executive director for Austin Wildlife Rescue, said the important thing is to keep the owlet warm. They have placed it in an incubator surrounded by blankets, which has helped his appetite return.
"It was amazing this baby was alive," Maron said. "When I got to the top of the ladder, I wasn't sure what to expect. But then I saw his little head moving ... He was in pretty poor shape, but after warming up overnight, he's been eating all day, and now he's feeling much better."
Over the next few weeks, the owlet will live in the incubator. When it gets big enough, Maron said, it will be placed with a surrogate owl parent named Eddison, who lives at the rescue and is experienced in raising orphaned owlets.
"She takes care of 12-13 babies a year," Maron said. "She is an excellent mom. She has been doing it a long time ... And she'll raise this baby and teach him to be an owl, so he can be released back into the wild."
Maron expects the rehabilitation to take some time because great horned owls take a long time to grow and learn to live on their own.
She said they will not name the owl. It's part of their mission to make sure the wild animals they save continue to be wild.
"We have a couple of ambassador animals, like our surrogate owl," Maron said. "But as a way to keep it very clear in our heads that the animal is a wild animal, we do not typically give a name to it."
The baby owl is just one of thousands of animals at the Austin Wildlife Rescue. Maron said they expect to take in 11,000 animals in 2026, including birds, turtles, raccoons, squirrels and possums. The goal is rehabilitate these orphaned and injured animals and return them to their natural habitats.
People can help by donating to provide food, medical care and other needs.
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