SUPERIOR, Wis. — A snowy owl, which delighted Washingtonians by camping out on ledges of the nation's capital until it apparently was hit by a bus, flew back into the wild on Saturday.
It had spent weeks of rehab in Minnesota and undergone procedures to replace its flight feathers.
Officials with the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota released the owl about noon outside Superior, near the Minnesota and Wisconsin state border. That location was chosen by a biologist because snowy owls have been spotted there in recent winters, indicating there is good habitat for hunting.
“The snowy flew off with strong steady wing beats, showing off the new flight feathers,” Julia Ponder, The Raptor's Center director, said in a statement. “He is in great condition and will hopefully head back north in the coming days.”
Snowy owls are native to the Arctic but were seen all along the East Coast this winter, as far south as Florida.
