Pokémon fans get a hoot out of game

Two Davis boys in search of virtual critters ended up aiding a real one earlier this week.

Everett Segel, 16, and his brother Graham, 14, were playing the popular Pokémon GO game near their West Davis home when they stumbled upon something requiring more than a pokéball and good aim.

As they searched for Pokémon near a low rock wall at the corner of Sycamore Lane and Notre Dame Drive, “immediately this owl jumps out in front of us and starts hopping across the street,” Everett said.

“It made this angled hop into the middle of the street,” Graham added. “We were wondering if it was hurt.”

Concerned that the young barn owl would be struck by a passing car or attacked by an animal, the boys immediately called their mother, Barbara Archer, who put out a plea for help on the local Facebook page for lost and found pets.

Some suggested contacting the California Raptor Center at UC Davis, which had already closed for the day. Archer then got ahold of Yolo County Animal Services, which made an after-hours call to retrieve the owl.

The animal control officer said the bird would be taken to the UCD Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for the night, then transferred to the Raptor Center the next day. But it left the Segel boys wondering how the animal had fared.

“We hope it’s OK,” Everett said during an interview Wednesday where he and Graham first found the owl.

During the interview, Archer and her boys decided to make an impromptu trip to the Raptor Center, which is on Equine Lane south of Interstate 80 and open weekdays for self-guided tours. An Enterprise reporter and photographer tagged along.

Bret Stedman, the center’s longtime manager, assured the family the owl was fine and would be released in about 10 days’ time.

“There is nothing wrong with it,” Stedman said, noting that, at an estimated 53 days old, the female owl had not yet developed full flight ability.

“People think it comes out of the nest and flies off, but that’s not the case,” Stedman explained. “The bird was doing what she was supposed to do, but in the wrong place. That’s when you have to intervene.”

Stedman led the family to a nearby cage, where the owl rested peacefully on a perch.

“It makes me feel so good knowing that she made it here,” Archer said. Now, the family plans to make a donation to the Raptor Center, which operates entirely on financial contributions.

Stedman said the center takes in an average of 250 birds each year, many of which are sick, injured or starving, while others simply can’t fly yet and are mistaken for being hurt.

While visiting the owl on Wednesday, the Segal boys turned on their Pokémon GO apps and made an amusing discovery — a Pidgey, a Pokémon bird, was inside the enclosure.

“There’s a lot of people coming through here looking for it,” Stedman said.