The family had just finished dinner when the daughter burst into tears, telling her mother Katie McBride Newman that one of the ornaments had scared her, CNN reports. As it happens, Newman is quite the fan of owls and had a nocturnal-bird themed Christmas tree, which was adorned by a dozen owl ornaments.
When she went to check the ornament, thinking her daughter had been spooked, the mother witnessed the owl turn its head and realised it was an actual owl in the tree. Her husband Billy told CNN they had bought the tree from a shop, thinking at first it had flown in and taken refuge. However, once the owl was caught, it appeared to be quite skinny - leading the family to realise it had likely been inside the tree since they bought it.
The Newman family first employed the tactic of leaving the windows opening and hoping it would leave on its own, but to no avail. After contacting an environmental centre, an employee stopped by and caught the owl, identifying it as an Eastern screech owl. The family followed the employee’s instructions and released the owl after dark.
