It was a Christmas gift they never expected, after a Georgia family found an owl hiding inside their Christmas tree.
The family found the owl last Thursday after they had just finished dinner.
The tree actually had several owl ornaments on its branches, and Katie Newmann thought that is what her two children saw in the tree.
After looking at it, and seeing the owl turn its head to look straight at her, she realized it was a real owl!
Hoping the bird would leave, the family left their doors and windows open overnight, but the owl seemed to like its new home and did not fly away.
After that didn’t work, the family called a local nature center to come and safely remove the bird.
It was identified as an Eastern screech owl, common in the Georgia area. After inspecting the bird, the employee of the nature center noted that the bird was thin, but would return to full health.
The owl has since been released back into the wild.
