A male great horned owl that was found injured last week, and has since died, has fueled theories that he may have been the mate of Athena, the resident owl at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
The center announced last week that Athena's attempt to nest this season had failed, noting that her mate appeared to have stopped providing food.
One of Athena's two owlets died. The other was found alive late last week and is being rehabilitated at Austin Wildlife Rescue.
Experts with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology attribute the nest's failure to a lack of food and warmth.
Ben Walters, who leads the lab's bird cams project, said Athena had likely been hunting along with trying to tend to her owlets, tasks she normally shares with a mate.
Through a camera, they observed Athena spending a lot of time away from the nest.
"Typically what we see is Athena will meet [her mate] out of frame to receive food deliveries, and she brings them back to the nest," Walters said. "If for some reason he had disappeared, like for an injury, that could be one determining factor as to why there was a lower food supply."
Last week, Suzanne Ries, who lives near the Wildflower Center, found an injured male owl on her front porch. If it was in fact Athena's mate, that could explain what happened this nesting season.
"It was literally knocking on my front door," Ries said. "I don't know what to do, so I called 311."
An officer with Animal Protection was able to retrieve the bird.
Elizabeth Ferrer, an Austin Animal Services spokesperson, said the owl had a large wound on its shoulder that was severely infected.
Because it was after hours, the officer took the owl back to the Austin Animal Center to hold overnight, which is standard protocol. The next morning, the owl was set to be taken to Austin Wildlife Rescue, but when staff arrived at the facility, it had died.
"We don't know how he was injured or why he died," Ferrer said. "Because the owl wasn't tagged, there is no way to know if it was Athena's mate. But the timing matches."
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