Photos: Snowy owl rescued after hanging out in Portland building

  

A snowy owl, which got trapped inside the old Grand Trunk Railroad building on India Street in Portland on Wednesday, had to be removed and will be taken to the Avian Haven Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center in Freedom. The owl was most likely injured, said Michelle Smith, spokeswoman for the Maine Audubon Society, which was contacted about the animal. Snowy owls, usually a rare sight in southern Maine, have been spotted here in record numbers this season after food became scarce in their native Canada, according to Maine Audubon naturalist Doug Hitchcox. “They’re down here because they’re starving,” he said recently. “These birds are desperate, they’re under stress, and they’re going as far south as it takes to find food.”

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