Anyone who has ever diligently worked toward opening a shop, coffeehouse, inn, or other enterprise knows that the surprise early adopter, an unexpected client who drops by to check out the new digs, can bolster the general outlook.

You might say that the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which is still several months from its official ribbon-cutting, got a bit of that sudden uplift on Friday night, May 10.

Travis Longcore, the Science Director of the Urban Wildlands Group, and some students were visiting the under-construction wildlife crossing, which has been rising, girder by girder, in Agoura Hills since 2022.

Dr. Longcore, an advisor to the Wildlife Crossing team, “studies, among other things, the impact of light pollution on wildlife”; the urban wildlife scientist is looking at ways the project can “minimize light disturbance in the design,” something that will be essential to welcoming the countless critters that will one day use it to cross over the 101 Freeway.

But wait: Are some animals already giving it a go?

Beth Pratt, the California Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation, shared an intriguing anecdote from Dr. Longcore’s recent visit to the construction site on social media.

From Dr. Longcore: “We were on the north side up above the bridge and saw a barn owl that made a slow circle around us.”

While Dr. Longcore and the students were “setting up at the next location, another person in the group was watching the bridge and she reported that she saw the owl fly directly over the bridge to the south side of the freeway.”

“Who knows if it did this all the time before, but on Friday night it picked to fly directly over the dark patch that is the overcrossing.”

“As I was pointing out to my students, we were seeing a dark path connecting those two open spaces for the first time in 70 years or however long the 101 has been there.”

Ms. Pratt, a well-known champion of P-22, the beloved and dearly missed mountain lion of Griffith Park, shared that the report made her “emotional,” something that other local wildlife fans will surely feel knowing that animals are being positively impacted by the crossing, well ahead of its official opening.

For more on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, including timelines, renderings, and the sort of animals that may use it, from bobcats to mule deer and, yes, barn owls, visit the official site now.