Baby Owl Rescue

Yesterday, grandpa Max came over after lunch to see if Weston and Millie wanted to come see a baby owl that had fallen out of it's nest. We all hoped on the 4 wheelers and headed down the little hill into the gulch just behind Max's house (he lives right next door).
Oh, that little owl was so cute!

For a baby, he was much bigger than I thought he'd be. I should have gotten a pic with Weston next to him for scale but he probably came up to Weston's waist and looked like a fluffy pear shaded thing from a distance. The mom stayed up in the tree near the nest, which still had another baby in it, but she kept a very watchful eye on her fallen baby and us.

They are Great Horned Owls and are beautiful. We have at least three different owl nests out behind our house and I think they are truly magnificent birds so I wasn't about to let this baby die. He had fallen from his nest about 30 feet up. Amazingly, he didn't seem to be hurt at all. He was actually pretty chill while we watched him and even laid down to take a nap.
I was kind of worried about him throughout the day since the neighbors dogs go down there a lot but the mama took care of him. Jason's brother Heath and his welders work down there quite a bit and were the ones to discover the baby owl. They kept an eye on him most of the day and said when some dogs did come down, the mama owl flew down and scooted the baby under an old truck nearby. Good mama.
I called the DWR and they said the best thing to do is to return the baby to it's nest if at all possible. Being at least 30 feet up with no low branches, we knew we would need some sort of man-lift. Heath had a bucket truck at his house but it had special "issues" and the only guy, Leon, that knew how to manage the "issues" had to work until late.
At about 9:30 my sister-in-law Marie and their employee Leon brought the bucket truck down. He got decked out in a thick coat, helmet with a visor, chaps, and welding gloves because he thought the mama might come after him. It was probably the baby he should have worried about with it's huge talons and sharp beak, although nothing ever happened. He took the baby owl up in the bucket while Jason controlled it from the ground (that's part of the "issues"; it can't be operated from the bucket). The loud clacking sound the baby made with his beak through the whole process just resonated and made the mama pretty anxious as she sat in the top of the tree and kept calling back. Once Leon got the owlet into the nest, the fallen baby about made the other one jump out when he spread out his wings to get away. They have amazingly large wing spans for babies. Halfway back down, the bucket stalled (another "issue") and Leon had to repel out with some rope. At least he was prepared.
Anyway, I know I tend to ramble, but it was kind of a fun night and the kids got to stay up late on a school night to watch, so yay for them. Both babies and mama owl are safe and sound and we feel like amazing animal rescuers now.