A fluffy, five-week-old orphaned baby owlet is getting a second chance at survival thanks to the help of a rescue centre in B.C. and the guidance of an experienced foster owl.

The adorable little male hatchling has been recovering at the Raptors Rescue Society in Duncan, B.C. after it was found abandoned by officials with another wildlife rescue centre in the Comox Valley. The small bird was transferred to the Duncan facility so it could be fostered by an older adult owl named Ada.

For the next month, Ada will take the little owlet under its wing and teach it important life skills so it will have a greater chance of survival once it’s released back into the wild, according to the centre’s General Manager Robyn Radcliffe.

“They learn so much from their parents, we don’t even get to observe it all the time so we’re not even familiar with all the subtle body language, hunting and flying skills that their parents teach them that is so essential for their survival,” she told CTV Vancouver Island on Wednesday.

Luckily for the fluffy owlet, Ada is an experienced foster parent and has taught other little hatchlings before it.

Radcliffe said staff from the first rescue centre tried to re-nest the orphaned bird when they found it but they were unable to locate its nest.

“Obviously that’s our best option, getting them back into their original nest,” Radcliffe said. “When that fails, which it did in this case, our second best option is trying to find a foster nest or a foster parent.”

It’s unclear how the tiny owl ended up away from its home, but veterinarian Ken Langelier from the Island Veterinary Hospital in Nanaimo, B.C. suspects the province’s recent windy weather may have played a role.

“I think there’s been a number of young birds that have either been blown out of the nest or the nest has been blown out of the tree and the young ones have gone down with it,” Langelier theorized.

Langelier asked the public to keep an eye out for young birds that may be injured or incapable of flying and to bring them in to a local animal hospital or wildlife rehabilitation centre.

With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Jessica Lepp