A family in the United States got a holiday surprise this week after finding a baby owl hiding inside their Christmas tree. According to Sky News, the Kentucky family's decorated Christmas tree was inside their home for four days before they found that it was home to an owl. The bird was discovered when carpet cleaner Bob Hayes was working in the house and noticed the tree branches moving. The family said that the young owl was able to go undetected for days because it blended into the tree's branches.
"I have three dogs. We use this room non-stop, watching TV, the kitchen's right here, no indication," Michele White said, as per the outlet. According to her, the owl's home was disturbed when her family went on their yearly hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. "Every year. Love it. We pick it out as a family," she said.
She informed that Mr Hayes, the owner of Magic Carpet Cleaning, was at home while the whole family was out when he first noticed the bird after plugging in a piece of equipment and seeing the tree start to sway. "The owl was literally sitting on a lower limb here," Mr Hayes said. "It crawled up into the tree further. It took me several minutes to even find it," he added.
Mr Hayes managed to grab the owl and sent a picture to Ms White. "I was shocked. I was so stunned," she said.
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According to Fox News, Ms White said that she initially thought Mr Hayes was pulling a prank with a stuffed animal. "I thought he'd put a stuffed animal or an ornament in it, so I called him immediately, like, 'You're kidding me, right?'" she said.
Mr Hayes told local media that he gently removed the owl from the Christmas tree and found a wooded place to release the baby bird. "Everybody's going to be able to have a merry Christmas now," he said.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that a family found an owl living in their Christmas tree. According to CNN, in 2019, a Georgia family found an owl hiding inside the tree. Katie McBride Newman and her two children, India and Jack, were finishing dinner when they discovered the bird inside their house. The owl was pretty thin, igniting the theory that the bird must have been inside the tree for two days.
