Sarvey update - 12/29/11

Back from another day at the center. My timeline was a bit shorter this time around, mainly because Shawn had the day off, and I wanted to spend some time with him while he was still on vacation. Despite being a shorter day than usual it was relatively eventful. Right off the bat we were cleaning flights, and well into it at that. Turns out that everyone showed up earlier then usual for whatever reason. As a result the first three Ed flights were clean. That means minimal bothering of Birch the Western Screech owl, FPL the American Kestrel, and Athena.

I think, perhaps, that the first thing I noticed today was how ridiculously calm, and content Athena was. I don't think I've ever seen that bird so unperturbed. She made a few measly attempts at being offended, mostly in the form of opening her mouth a bit, not making any audible sound, and peering at me through her one partially opened eye. It's days like this that I really yearn for an awesome camera.

I love this bird, even with all her quirks.

On my way to clean flights, I noticed that Iya was down around the lower part of her flight, at about eye level. I seized the opportunity to climb into the flight with her and observe her for a bit. It took her moment to decide she was comfortable with me being so close. She snapped her beak maybe twice, and did her hissy-rasp, she does when she's being a bit territorial. She relaxed quickly though, and soon she was rather comfortable with me being in the flight, even if she did follow me around to keep an eye on me. 

We chittered back and forth a bit to each other, and were soon distracted by a family that had come to visit the Care center, and view the educational birds. Iya was a bit nervous at that point, but the family was overjoyed to see her so close up, and hear her vocalize. Despite her uncertainty she let me stand close to her, and talk about her to the family. She didn't move from her perch beside me until the family moved on, and I started into the cleaning process. Why not? I was already in there. I'd decided to double back and clean Tadita's flight when I was finished. I love when Iya decides to visit. She's an incredibly sweet bird, and very tolerant.

With these views, you can see just how truly gorgeous her coloring is. One of the ways we can tell she might be female is by the rusty wash over her underside. Often, males will tend more toward a white underside, while females will have a wash. It's not a perfectly reliable way to tell gender in Barn owls, but it's a decent indicator of what the birds sex might be.

She often seems to pose so prettily for me.

I left Tadita alone for the most part today, as she's a wary bird most of the time. I cleaned her flight, snapped a couple pictures when I had the opportunity, and then left her to her own devices.

I try not to take too many pictures of birds in the same position, but with some of our birds it's hard not to, as they tend toward the habit of perching in the same spots every day. They all have their favorite perch.

Speaking of birds that always look the same, here are more pictures of Nanjiska. I had decent lighting, so although they're pretty similar to the other pictures of him, they're slightly better quality. You can actually see some of the definition in his feathers in these.

Other then being fairly regular in facial expression, Nanjiska is actually one of the easier birds to photograph. This is because he is generally perched lower to the ground, next to the netting where he can keep an eye on the things going on around him. Silly boy. In any case this is only partially because of his low mobility. Snowy owls in the wild are actually more apt to make their nests on the ground, and will often be found soaring low to the ground from one short perch to another. I imagine Nanjiska must feel more comfortable closer to the ground like this.

Moving on, I found myself ready to clean the eagle flights, excluding Hu Iyake, and Wanbli Askate as they are both currently staff only birds.

The eagles in the large eagle flight, of which there are three, were pretty wary. I found that I actually did not need to clean it upon entering. It was already being taken care of, and so I decided I would head over to clean Hanble Okinyan's flight. To my delight I found her out and about, and I excited to possibly get some good photos of her. I know her handler will probably be happy to see them, as he and the bird are rather close. 

Hanble Okinyan is a great sport, and though she is cautious of people, as she should be, she allowed me to get fairly close to her while I was cleaning, and seemed perfectly happy to pose for pictures. In fact she kept making small, cautious, hops toward me. I was told she was possibly trying to intimidate me, but I was honestly just thrilled that she was choosing to approach me, and I could get better pictures. 

At one point I had slipped into the corner behind her perch to pick up some leftovers, and about that point in time one of the staff arrived outside the flight with a new volunteer she was showing around. Hanble, who had been closer to their side of her long perch, abruptly decided it was time to head back toward me. I was standing close enough that I ended up getting a wing to the side of my head, (Not hard to do considering an average eagles enormous wingspan.) I think Hanble must have felt somewhat violated, as she took to staring at me as if I'd gravely insulted her by daring to be hit in the face with a wing. Lucky for the both of us no one was hurt, and Hanble quickly got over herself. 

Any time I raked gravel near her, she would become incredibly alert, and curious. I love seeing some measure of intelligence, or curiosity in an animal. I see it most often in the crows, with their excellent problem solving skills, and their boldness. I don't get the pleasure of seeing it as often in the non-owl raptors.

As an added bonus, here's a video of Hanble making eagle sounds.

On my way back from the flight, I noticed that Askate was also right up by the netting, and snapped a couple pictures of her. She vocalized a bit for me.

It's interesting how different both girls look, even though they're the same species. They definitely have their own look about them. I love Wanbli Askate's deceptively fluffy head.

 I stopped to visit I'sta, who was acting her usual curious, and photogenic self. She waddled right on over to the edge of the flight to visit me as soon as she saw I was there. When she approached me, she did so with her wings outstretched, possibly in a territorial display. 

Some raptors have been known to display a similar behavior known as mantelling, where the bird will spread it's wings out over prey it intends to devour, and shield it with it's body from possible prey-jackers. I'm not sure if this behavior is wide-spread among all raptors, or if it is specific to owls, as I have not advanced that far in my studies as of yet. While I'm not certain that the way she approached me had anything to do with mantelling, I thought it was an interesting tidbit of information to bring up spontaneously. 

As I've mentioned before, I'sta is an incredibly curious bird. She displayed a tendency to stick her face right up in the lens of the camera today. It's almost as if she realizes she's getting her picture taken. Here's a quick video of her inspecting the camera.

Again, I apologize for the quality. The pictures I took of her turned out slightly better.

I also managed to get some pictures of Baxter, our bobcat for the first time. They aren't amazing pictures, but they're something at least. I have to say, he was purring up a storm, and rubbing up against anything he could. It's amazing how much he acts like a domestic cat sometimes. Don't let him fool you though. He's all muscle, teeth, and claws, and as sweet and docile as he may seem he is still a wild animal, and should be treated as such.

I see so little of Bax during the day, that sometimes I forget he's there unless he starts making noise.

Since I was in the area I snapped some images of Cetan as well, who seemed to be investigating something, I have no idea what, rather intently. I don't think she paid me any attention, even with the flash on the camera going off.

On my way back I managed to catch Birch out of his usual corner. I love it when I get lucky. 

Our visiting Wild Ones...

(Next I'll touch base on some of our current rehabilitation animals. These are animals that come to us sick, injured, or too young to care for themselves, and we take them in, nurse them back to health, and get them ready to enjoy their lives in the wild. I don't like to take pictures of these animals, as human contact can be stressful for a wild one.)

Toward the end of my day, things didn't necessarily calm down. We had a swan arrive, that had to have part of it's left wing amputated. I took a picture of the staff's attempt to revive it from anesthesia, which was actually quite enthralling, as the bird was having trouble breathing on it's own, but out of respect for the privacy of the staff I wont be posting that picture. 

I have to say, I had a bit of camera jealousy. One of the staff members received a new camera for Christmas, and was testing it out by documenting the surgery. The clarity, detail, and lighting of the images that camera took were absolutely fantastic. Apparently it cost around $1500. Not that I'm surprised. You generally have to pay for quality like that.

By the time I was ready to leave, our swan was conscious, and breathing on it's own for the most part, so I'm hopeful that it will make a full recovery. Pending it's recovery it will be heading to it's new home at bird sanctuary, as it cannot be re-released into the wild in it's new state.

I also stopped by my favorite recovering Barred owl, who just so happens to also be the epitomy of all that is adorable about Barred owls. He's doing about as well as can be expected. I suspect it wont be long now before he's ready to leave us. With any luck he won't be there when I stop by next week. I'll be sad to see him go, but overjoyed for his full recovery. Hopefully he'll learn to stay away from cars.

That's about all there it to say about today. I'm excited to update you all next time I stop by.