State 39 - Rhode Island

Audubon Nature Center and Aquarium - Bristol, RI

I was glad to find a place in RI with birds that it seems you can actually visit. It was a little strange, their website and Facebook are pretty sparse on pictures. Their Facebook does have a lot of events and event photos though, so there do seem to be many things to do there, including an annual Raptor Fest in September that sounds pretty big.

I think this photo is of Sollie the GHO. They seem to have 2, but this photo wasn’t labeled, but the other one is pretty new. They also seem to feature owl photos from other people, but don’t label things too well.

Queen Soloman “Sollie”

Avian Ambassador since August 2017

Age: Hatched 1997

Approx. Weight: 5 lb (2270 g)

Sollie fell from her nest during the winter of 1997. Instead of returning the young owl to her nest, a passerby who witnessed the bird fall kept her in captivity during this critical period of development. The result? Sollie imprinted upon her caregiver, in this case, a human. This means that she does not know the ways of an owl and is irreversibly more comfortable with humans.

The owl was given to Wind Over Wings to live out her life. During her years with Wind Over Wings, she served as an educational bird and a surrogate mother for many orphaned Great Horned Owlets who were successfully released back to the wild. At Wind Over Wings, she was initially housed in the same mew with Webster, a male Great Horned Owl who after being rehabbed, was placed into Audubon’s permanent care.

Almost two decades later, the birds were “reunited” when Audubon acquired Sollie from Wind Over Wings upon the organization’s retirement. Audubon caretakers did not try to house them together this time around because they knew Sollie had been completely uninterested in Webster when they first crossed paths.