Adorable Baby Owl Arrives At National Aviary

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Meet the National Aviary's newest arrival - a newborn Eurasian eagle owl.

In this case, "Mom" is animal collections supervisor Teri Grendzinski. But, there's no mushy formula for this baby.

"What I was feeding them was cut up pieces of young rat," the supervisor says. "We buy them frozen, and then we thaw them out."

She says that he, or she - they're not sure yet- is a healthy little owlet.

"Between yesterday and today, he gained 15 percent of his own body weight overnight. So, he's growing right on track."

It won't take long before the chick is as big, and full fledged, as its older sister, Pumpkin - an Aviary "education owl." The parents are "X the Owl" (the mother) and "Dumbledore." Manager of animal training Cathy Schlott says their most recent offspring had help coming out of its shell.

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"They only have so much energy in there. And sometimes, eggs tend to be a little thick. This one had a little bit of a thickened membrane, which made it a little more difficult to come out of the shell. But that's OK, because we have a phenomenal veterinary team here," she said.

She says this is not the Aviary's first hatchling.

"We have just hatched number five. We have kept Pumpkin and Mikey Owl, the other sibling, here for education classes," she said.

The other two have gone to other education programs. For Aviary visitors, this is an education moment.

"We can pass on incredible moments like this with future generations," Schlott said.