{"id":303939,"date":"2026-05-22T03:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/303939\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T03:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:30:10","slug":"in-austin-athena-isnt-the-only-owl-mom-icon-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/303939\/","title":{"rendered":"In Austin, Athena isn’t the only owl mom icon"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Many Austin residents are familiar with Athena<\/a>, the great horned owl who has famously nested at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center every year for over a decade. She\u2019s such a local icon, in fact, that the City of Austin named her its Official Owl Ambassador last year.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another Austin-area avian supermom who deserves recognition.<\/p>\n

Eddison, a 14-year-old great horned owl, is Austin Wildlife Rescue’s<\/a> designated surrogate for injured or abandoned owlets. Jules Maron, the group\u2019s executive director, said Eddison came to the rescue in 2021 with nine years of fostering experience after the retirement of her Bell County rehabilitator. In her five years at the Austin rescue, she\u2019s raised more than 38 owls that later reentered their natural habitat.<\/p>\n

Maron said wild animal foster parents like Eddison<\/a> help babies in rehabilitation learn natural skills and habits \u2014 and a dislike of humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cEddison hates us, which is fantastic,\u201d Maron laughed. \u201cWe know that when a baby goes with Eddison, it is going to be a full-blown owl, and it will hate our guts. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re going for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nocturnal matriarch cannot fly because of a wing injury she sustained as an owlet, so she uses ramps to navigate her large enclosure and, as Maron said, to \u201cwork her tail feathers off trying to feed all those babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maron said it\u2019s not uncommon for Eddison to chase around a dozen foster owlets at a time. Last year, she raised 15 at once. Great horned owls are frequent flyers at the rescue, mostly as babies, with the group taking in 30 to 40 annually, Maron said. This year, that estimate includes Athena\u2019s surviving owlet from her recent nesting season.<\/p>\n

In April, Athena hatched two owlets from her signature Wildflower Center nest. Over the span of three days, one died, the other seemingly died, and Athena abandoned the nest. The Wildflower Center then discovered the second baby alive, and Austin Wildlife Rescue swooped in to help.<\/p>\n

Athena\u2019s baby entered Eddison\u2019s care earlier this month as a Mother\u2019s Day gift, the rescue said on Facebook<\/a>. Eddison instantly took to the baby, as she always does. Maron said Eddison experiences a brooding period where she lets staff know that \u201cshe wants those babies.\u201d One year, Eddison grew tired of waiting for babies and took to sitting on specially selected rocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019ll start to lose some of the feathers that she\u2019ll pluck from her abdomen area,\u201d Maron said. \u201cShe\u2019s always excited when we finally put babies in. You can always tell she\u2019s getting a little crankier than usual when she\u2019s waiting for babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, Eddison is fostering Athena\u2019s baby, who is 6 weeks old, alongside<\/a> three other owlets. Once the owlets begin flying around the aviary \u2014 a developmental step called fledging \u2014 the rescue will place them into a large flight enclosure for monitoring. Those who show they are healthy, strong and independent are then released into the wild, where they are sure to come across another of Eddison\u2019s foster owlets.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just does amazing work,\u201d Maron said. \u201cSuch a hard-working owl.\u201d<\/p>\n