Sam the Great Horned Owl

By Poncho Wilson

When her cherished winged companion suddenly dropped his tawny tail feathers, Monteen McCord knew their “31 years around the sun together” would soon collide with twilight.

Ten days later, Sam the great horned owl died as solemnly as he lived.

“Thirty-one years around the sun with mama was quite the ride,” McCord, 66, of Canton, shared September 15 with her home-based raptor sanctuary Hawk Talk Inc.’s Facebook audience, voicing her post as her deceased house cat.

“Let us go flying now...finally free to explore the universe,” the post continued.

McCord acquired Sam when he was a chick, she said, after a local family saved him from the jaws of their dog when his nest fell.

After his first surrogate human family surrendered him to a veterinarian with whom McCord had previously worked, Sam grew to become McCord’s marquee touring bird, despite her nonprofit’s hawk-inspired title.

In the years ahead, Sam was most at home road-tripping with McCord in her roomy SUV as her first raptor ambassador.

“And you should have seen the people who’d see us in traffic,” she fondly recalled. “We were quite the pair.”

Sam was as visually striking as behaviorally docile, McCord added, making him a perfect fit to reach impressionable children as well as folklore-leery adults.

His feathered tuft headdress was uniquely characteristic to his Bubo virginianus species.

Parallel to owls’ imperiled habitats, raptor “rehabbers,” as they’re colloquially known, like McCord, belong to a shrinking community of hobbyist licensees who meet strict criteria under the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Migratory Birds & Habitat Program.

“Federal migratory bird protections are as broad as stringent,” McCord said, “and anyone found guilty of harming or possessing native birds or their parts can face serious legal trouble.”

“Rehab educators like McCord provide invaluable service to this species-preserving practice,” said Melanie Edwards Furr, Georgia Audubon’s director of education.

Furr also lends her expertise to Atlanta Wildlife Animal Rescue Effort, mending great horned owls.

“McCord’s singlehanded care for Sam for so long was a remarkable endeavor,” Furr said, “as great horned owls typically survive 12 years in the wild.”

While it’s unclear how long the oldest-living great horned owl has survived in captivity, San Francisco Zoo cared for King Richard until her death in 2012 at around age 50, said zoo director of communications Nancy Chan.

Still mourning Sam’s passing, but with a head of red hair as fiery as her spirit, McCord remains determined to continue educating others about the benefits and behaviors of raptors on her Hawk Talk website and social media channels.

She’s also hosting admission-access tours for adults at her large Union Hill Road forested enclosures where she houses a barred owl, screech owl, red-tailed hawk, tawny owl, and a large Eurasian eagle owl.

“We could use the mouse money and friendly company,” McCord joked. “It takes a lot of mice to keep these guys and gals happy and alive.”

 

For more information, please visit HawkTalk.org or Facebook.com/HawkTalk.org.