Kicker: Live-action Christmas ornament

MARY REICHARD, HOST: This story is a real hoot! 

Katie McBride Newman and her kids, Jack and India, love owls. So they decked out the family Christmas tree with about a dozen owl ornaments strewn amid the sparkling lights. 

Well, one evening after dinner, 10-year-old India ran into the dining room at told her mom, “Mama, that ornament scared me!”

When Mrs. Newman examined the family Christmas tree for herself, one of the owls nestled in its branches turned its head and looked at her!

That’s when she realized it was no ornament. A real live bird had been hiding their tree. 

The small owl was easy to miss in the lush, dense, 10-foot tree. But now what? 

They left the windows and doors open that night, hoping the little guy would head for the nearby woods. But he was, apparently, quite comfortable!

So they called a local nature center and a worker there helped them capture and release the bird outside. 

But not too far outside. Katie Newman says she still hears an owl at night hooting away near her house.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Creative Commons, Flickr)

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.