Even if you saw a saw-whet owl out in the woods you’d assume you saw something else. Bats, maybe, or perhaps a sparrow.

    The miniature-sized owl is no bigger than a sparrow, only about six inches tall or so. Size isn’t the only factor that makes a saw-whet owl so difficult to spot; they fly only at night and when discovered, they freeze and sit perfectly still, blending into forest or woodlands canopy.

    Amazingly, their favorite food is mice, though saw-whet owls are barely much bigger than their prey. In fact rodents are usually consumed in two meals. The piercing yellow eyes are all owl, but unlike other species there’s no discernible ear tufts.

    Moonridge Animal Park has several different owl species on display, including some, like the saw-whet, which can be seen in a glass case that leads into the zoo’s walk-through aviary, that are indigenous to Big Bear. Great horned owls are so named because unlike the saw-whet, they have prominent feathered tufts that create Mr. Spock-like ears.

    The second-largest owl in California, it stands over a foot-and-a-half tall with a wingspan of over four feet. That’s three times the size of the little saw-whet! Great horned owls can be spotted throughout the San Bernardino mountains—Big Bear Today hikers photographed two perched high in a tree along South Fork Trail in the nearby San Gorgonio Wilderness two summers ago.

    Barn owls can also be seen at Big Bear’s zoo, though these birds aren’t really indigenous to Big Bear. “They do sometimes come up a little in the summer, but then they head back down to warmer temperatures when it cools off,” says curator Debbie Richardson.

    Then there’s snowy owl Cyrus, which can be seen at Moonridge Animal Park though he’s not native to Big Bear. At home on the Arctic tundra, they’re also spotted south into Washington, Oregon and even some areas of Northern California. Snowy owls subsist on arctic hares and lemmings.

    Cyrus, like so many of the zoo’s other residents, arrived with a malformed right wing filled with lesions and abrasions that eventually had to be amputated. Thus, he can never be released into the wild, “but he’s doing better with his balance and is not falling over all the time like before,” Richardson says of Cyrus, about the same size as a great horned owl.

    The walk-through aviary is a special retreat nestled in the back of the park that many visitors never get to. That’s a shame, because the net-enclosed facility is a tranquil spot with running water and a variety of aquatic birds, including four big beautiful white pelicans, two of which were rescued by the zoo.

    One is Casper, which was first hit by a boat and then suffered the added indignity of being stoned by kids. The second is Tully, drilled by a bow and arrow by some senseless moron. Both were given a second chance at life by Big Bear’s zoo, which rehabilitates injured or sick animals and then releases them back into the wild if feasible. If not, it takes them in.

    The aviary also is home to ducks including mallards, mandarin and muscovy, plus night and great blue herons. In early May the pelican pond is set for a complete make-over that will transform it into a state of the art aquatic home where enzymes are used to naturally filter the water.

    Moonridge Animal Park is hardly just for the birds. It’s one of the few places in the world where the ultra-endangered snow leopard can be seen. There are estimated to be less than 500 in the wild and only about 50 in captivity, including the zoo’s Milo, which came to Big Bear a few months back from the Racine Zoo to replace Ivan, who sadly passed of cancer.

    “Snow leopards typically get cancer in the jaw and mouth,” Richardson says, noting the zoo’s previous snow leopard, Chago, also died of the disease. “Ivan had it in the cheek and went very fast.”

    One of the most endangered cats in the wild, snow leopards are usually reclusive and Ivan certainly was, but not so much with Milo. “When Milo first got here we opened the crate and he walked right out,” Richardson says. “Ivan stayed in and we had to get him out with the hose. Milo is not as high strung.”

    The snow leopard is just one of several big cats at the little zoo, which is also home to three well-publicized mountain lions which were rescue as kittens and are now fully grown. Whereas Milo weighs around 80 lbs., the mountain lions tip the scales at closer to 120, though because they purr and have other housecat qualities, they’re the ones classified as small cats, compared to big cat snow leopard.

    The zoo also sports a Canadian lynx, larger than a bobcat, which can also be seen at the park. Aslan has big wide feet and tufts of extra hair on the top of the ears, kind of like the great horned owl, which gives him a devilish look. “Even though the lynx is larger than a bobcat, it will move out if bobcats come into its territory,” Richardson says.

    Aslan came to Big Bear from a Bakersfield zoo where it was too too hot. “He wasn’t eating and was much thinner,” Richardson says. “When he came here his appearance immediately improved and the winter coat came in.”

    Park visitors will notice a new red fox cage at they enter the facility, home to two males. It’s the grey fox, which can also be seen at the zoo, that is native to these parts. When Europeans arrived and wanted to continue their fox hunting traditions, they found the greys to be unwilling participants since they could climb trees and actually escape the hounds, so reds were introduced for sport.

    Animal presentations held daily at noon will be expanded this year into full-fledged shows out on the lawn, and instead of just one animal on display there will be several. “Shows will be themed around indigenous species, birds of prey, predator or prey, that kind of thing,” Richardson says. “Aslan (Canadian lynx) will be included since he can be taken on a leash.”

    Zoo admission remains one of Big Bear’s best values—just $7 to view 150-plus animals ranging from wood bison and mule deer to snakes, bald eagles, and black and grizzly bears (Big Bear’s park is one of only two in the state where grizzlies, California’s symbol, can be seen!). Seniors and children ages 3-10 are $5, under 3 free.

    Moonridge Animal Park is at 43285 Goldmine Dr. across from Bear Mountain Ski Resort. Open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Call (909) 584-1299.