OWL CHICK EARLY FOR HOSPITAL'S NEW NURSERY NEST HALTS CONSTRUCTION WORK.

Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - What's fuzzy, as small as a softball and able all by itself to hold up part of a $35 million hospital project?

A barn owl chick named Al.

Since being discovered in a nest in a second-floor stairwell five days ago, the plump chick has halted construction on part of the Simi Valley Hospital's Patient Care Tower.

While their species is not considered endangered, common barn owls are protected by federal officials and can be removed only after proper permits are secured.

``It's a fat little chick and looks like he or she has gained 'a few pounds' since we found it,'' joked hospital spokesman Jeremy Brewer.

Hospital officials had hoped to remove the bird Monday, but arrangements could not be made in time, Brewer said. He characterized the construction delay as minor.

With its huge beak, the chick looks a little like a Dr. Seuss character. As an adult, the barn owl will weigh about 20 to 25 ounces if a female, less if a male, wildlife watchers said. The chick was nicknamed Al, after an electrician on the project.

Officials with Turner Construction Co. said they hope to take the bird to the Ojai Raptor Refuge, but it is uncertain when they will be able to do it.

The hospital tower is expected to be completed in 2006 and will house a neonatal intensive care unit, a neurosurgery unit and a cardiology diagnostic department.

Jason L. Maxwell, project manager for Turner, said nesting boxes were built after the chick was discovered to encourage its parents and other barn owls to nest there rather than in their project.

``If I had known there were owls around here, I would have built them sooner,'' Maxwell said.

Kimberly Stroud, director of the Ojai Raptor Center, said barn owls are known for nesting in out-of-the-way places, including hay trucks and recycling plants.

But the birds are great for rodent control, so farmers in Ventura County frequently set up barn-owl boxes to attract them, Stroud said.

Eric Leach, [phone]

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Boxes were set up for barn owls after a nest halted a hospital construction project in Simi Valley.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer