By Patrick Robinson and David Rosen

Update 2 as of 10:45 pm

According to Stewart Wechsler, around 8:30 pm this evening, the Barred Owl was still hanging out inside the lodge. Staff members from Camp Long invited their friends down to take a look and also for the help to possibly get the owl out safely and unharmed. They all left the lodge to walk around the pond and when Stewart returned around 9:45 pm, the owl was no where to be found, so he believed the owl had left through the open window once they all left.

Original Post
A mature Barred Owl is trapped in the Lodge at Camp in West Seattle (today, Feb. 7) and has been in the building likely since yesterday. Nature Guide Stewart Wechsler called to alert the Herald about the bird which is about 14 to 15 inches in size.

He believes it may have come in through the chimney. "Barred owls tend to choose a tree thats like a chimney thats hollow with a broken top to put its nest in, my best guess was it was looking for potential nest sites and went down, got trapped, and then found its way out into the lodge instead of back up the chimney," Wechsler said.

A raptor expert Jack Bettesworth from Seattle has been called in and so far attempts to get the bird to exit the building through an open window have failed.

All the lights in the lodge have been turned off. They've attempted to throw pine cones at the owl to get it to fly out. A pole and net have both been tried to capture the bird but those attempts failed too.

The plan now is to wait until the park closes after 5:30 and hope that the bird leaves by then or further efforts to free the trapped bird can be made.

Wechsler added via Facebook:

"This afternoon I was called in to be a part of the emergency Barred Owl eviction team. A Barred Owl somehow made its way into the lodge building at Camp Long here in West Seattle. The owl was sitting on a rafter and didn't seem concerned about much.

There was a room full of people having a meeting and a few of us standing around talking about what to do about it. I thought we should open a window or two and let it fly out when it was ready. Another naturalist called in from 10 miles further away thought she was the boss and had different ideas. Then came the "raptor expert" that she called.

He had a long telescoping pole, a fake mouse on a string and stick, an extra large net. He pulled the shades over all of the windows, but one that he opened wide, then poked and prodded the owl that would only move a bit if it was prodded hard enough. It then flew to a balcony railing and he got a net over its head and it escaped to the balcony. The pine cone toss was tried, the fake mouse bounced by the open window and I was sent to hoot from outside the open window (I told them that this owl already knew me and my voice and no longer responded to my hoots, but I gave it a try. "

The West Seattle Herald reporter I called in David Rosen was taking pictures all the time. We are now trying the "wait until it is normally time for them to head out for the night, leaving the window open method". Not too different from my original idea. Our Barred Owls are now heading out to hunt at about 5:45 pm, so that is my bet.