Sarvey - 2/26/12

This week I had the interesting experience of helping clear out the kitchen so that the new floors could be installed. That meant moving EVERYTHING. I didn't have to move much of the heavy stuff, thankfully (My allergies started giving me issues with all of the dust flying around.) Not sure I would have been much help really, with all of my injuries acting up. Ick. Here's what the room looked like once it was basically cleared out. 

I can't help but wonder how all of the animals inside faired during the construction. It must have been awfully noisy, but it was definitely something that needed to happen. Our floors were looking pretty bad in there. I can't wait to see the progress when I go back next Thursday.

On another note, Athena not only laid her first egg, but is now up to two! 

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I actually wasn't feeling so great when I got to the wildlife center today. I was especially tired, and lacking in energy. Perhaps it was just my luck that one of my fellow volunteers was already there when I arrived cleaning flights along with one of the staff, and we were pretty far ahead. As a result I actually ended up doing things inside the clinic for the first part of my shift, which was fine by me as it gave me some time to bolster my energy reserves. I cleaned a few cages, prepared some food, and basically did little odd jobs wherever I could manage. I only did a small amount of outside work while I was there (All eagles, since the other volunteer was too young to do them.) 

Later in the evening I helped catch and medicate a few birds. This can be kind of tricky depending on the bird. I generally only do smaller raptors, and birds. Not sure I could tackle an eagle to be honest. Anything much larger than a Great Horned owl, and I'm betting the bird is probably stronger than I am. They may be light, but they're all muscle and fight, and boy will they fight. If only they knew we were trying to help. 

In any case, in my experience with capturing and medicating birds, I've found that the smaller the bird, the harder they are to catch. Even in the small enclosures in the bird room, they can easily slip past you. Today I captured a crow, and a red-winged black bird for medicating. The crow was the easier of the two. I was able to swoop in there with a towel, and scoop it up easily. It was the black bird that gave me trouble.

I knew that blackbird was going to make a run for it. I could just feel it in the way he eyed me, as he shifted nervously back and forth on his perch. I'm a relatively inexperienced bird wrangler, so It's possible I didn't stand a chance. The bird was faster then I was, and was out before I knew it. From there on it was a whole lot of herding him into the med room, where we could close him off in a smaller, less distracting space, and capture him more easily. Even once we had him he still put up a fight.

Blackbirds have long, thin, and surprisingly sharp little beaks. Not to mention they're pretty darn good at keeping them closed. It definitely takes a bit of maneuvering, and a lot of patience to get them to open up so that you can get in there with the medicine. I have to say, doves are much, much easier to work with.

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 Later in the evening, around the time when I wandered outside to clean the eagle flights, I found some time to take pictures. I had been so focused for the most of the day that I hadn't really even thought about it until I was outside. I don't have a ton of pictures this time around but here are some of my favorites. We'll start with our education animals.

I actually took quite a few nice pictures of Hanble Okinyan. These were a few of my favorites of the bunch.

I visited Nanjiska as well, who is still a staff only bird. I can't enter his flight, as I'm only a volunteer, but my camera can take pictures through the netting fairly well. 

I'sta, also posed prettily for me. I love taking shots of her up close.

 Scout to decided to be social today as well. He's always so interested in people that happen by his run. Interestingly enough, he will try to reach through the fence to get to the closest part of you, and withdraw his paw to sniff it. Raccoons have some interesting habits.

Here's Cano, being the gorgeous bird he is. He's always so photogenic, even when he's unhappy. I've found that I feel like Great horned owls are the most expressive species, in my opinion. It's a mixture of those eyes, and their versatile ear tufts.

And lastly, as far as our educational animals go, sweet little Atka. She's especially mellow in comparison to most of the Saw-Whet's I've come into contact with. She seems perfectly content to sit and watch anyone who happens by. 

Our visiting Wild Ones

Earlier in the day myself and another volunteer were charged with going outside an attempting to feed the gulls. Feeding isn't generally difficult. The big problem this time around was that our gulls were inhabiting the same habitat as a particularly daring Cormorant, who also happened to be bottomless pit. Our goal was to strategically place fish around the enclosure, all while trying to keep mr. Cormorant from eating absolutely all of it himself. My lead was mainly concerned that he was hogging everything, and the gulls weren't getting their fair share of silversides. I can definitely say that, that particular Cormorant is a very good eater. I'm pretty sure he managed to consume more fish then the two gulls combined in the time that we were out there. 

As an interesting aside, Cormorants, like the one we were working with do not waterproof their feathers. A general bird's lung system is unique in the fact that, instead of filling and emptying a couple of sacks (In other words, lungs like we humans possess), then emptying them back out again, and leaving a smidge of air behind when breathing out, A bird's lung system is comprised of a series of sacks spread throughout their body, in addition to their lungs. As you can see in this diagram. 

The air sack allows an unidirectional flow of air through their respiratory system. As a result, this provides the bird with a steadier supply of "fresh" air, which has a higher oxygen content than mammals. The air we humans breathe is mixed with older, less oxygenated air left over in our lungs.

The placement of the sacks throughout the birds body, coupled with some pneumatic bones, (the largest of which being the humerus), also helps promote buoyancy; something that is extremely useful to water fairing birds like the Cormorant. That's not to say that it isn't without it's disadvantages. Being so light and buoyant makes it hard to sink under the surface of the water, or dive for fish. Different birds adapt to the issue in different ways. Our Cormorant's means of adaptation is not to waterproof his feathers. As the feathers become damp and waterlogged, the Cormorant is better able to dive under the waters surface to retrieve fish. This is also the reason that you will often see a Cormorant standing in the sun, with it's wings outspread to dry.

I think Cormorants are pretty darn cool, but my goodness do they poop. Their poop is messy and stinky, as you may remember from one of my previous blogs where I got to clean up after this very Cormorant. I'm also proud to say that the Cormorant has since been released back into the wild, and I wish him a long happy life.

Here he is sunning his wings after a dip in the pool.

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I also cleaned the flight of a young Cooper's Hawk staying with us until he is ready to leave.

This little guy is still a juvenile. When he get's older the feathers on his belly will look more like the tawny, cryptic patterns on his legs. He's a bit wet in this picture, as it had been raining for most of the day. He's looking, and flying pretty good, so I'm hoping he'll find his way back out into the wild again soon.

We also see quite a few varieties of dove come through the clinic. These are both Rock Doves, who are enjoying their time in one of the outdoor flights for awhile until they are able to be released.

That's really all I have to say for this weeks adventure. Pretty soon here I may be able to report quite a bit more, as with baby season fast on approach, I'll probably be spending more time at the wildlife center.

Sarvey - 2/9/12

I'd like to start off this week's installment by congratulating Sarvey's newest member of the education team, on finally receiving his name.

This is Atka, (Inuit for Guardian spirit.) Atka came to us with head trauma that led to her being unreleasable. While Atka still see's fairly well, she doesn't see well enough to hunt, and as a result cannot return to the wild. It's unfortunate that she will not be able to live in the wild, but at the very least she will spend the rest of her life in a safe place, with regular meals, and medical care. Her sweet disposition makes her a great candidate for the education team, and hopefully she'll adjust well to life at the wildlife center. 

I often see Northern Saw-whet owls being mistaken for baby owls, because of their small size. Adult Saw-whets typically range from 6 to 8 inches high, and weigh under 4 ounces. They are permanent residents of Washington state, and we see quite a few pass through the center on a regular basis. Don't be fooled by their sweet faces, and diminutive appearance; these little guys have still got a good set of talons on them, and are more then willing to defend themselves. In fact these little guys are even known to take out larger birds, such as Rock Doves. 

Northern Saw-Whet owls are fairly similar in appearance and size to Boreal owls, which we also have the pleasure of seeing in Washington state. Boreal owls can run just a bit bigger than Saw-whet owls. Here's a good picture of a Boreal owl for comparison.

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I arrived at the wildlife center a few minutes later then usual, bot feeling particularly good. Some days I have a tendency to wake up feeling weak and nauseous. It happens fairly often, and has kept me from going to the Wildlife center in the past, but I really hate to let it get in the way of the things I want to do. If I can work through it I will. (Taking it easy of course.) 

I was cleaning right off the bat again. I breezed through birch and FPL's flights as usual. They're both fairly easy birds to clean up after even with FPL eating his fair share of quail (and therefore scattering quail feathers everywhere.) He actually does a pretty good job of eating out the parts he likes and leaving the rest of the body in tact. I do find the occasional severed quail limb during my cleaning though.  

Athena wasn't staff only, so I assumed she hasn't laid any eggs yet. Though she was definitely reluctant to leave her prime nesting site. She watch me carefully, and hissed a bit, but let me go about my cleaning. At one point I took a picture for one of the staff, before proceeding on. I have to say, I'm still a bit nervous to go in there while she is nesting, because I've heard she can get pretty aggressive, but she hasn't given me any problems just yet. 

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There are no pictures of Nanjiska this week, as he is currently a staff only bird. I can't really go into details as to why, save to say that he is still a perfectly happy, healthy bird. 

Tadita the barred owl was illusive today. She did a bit of her offended beak snapping while I cleaned, but nothing too exciting otherwise.

After I finished with her I moved on to Iya the barn owl (pictured left). I suspect I must have interrupted her in the middle of eating. She was in the perch I generally see her in when she eats, and there was half eaten rat on the ground below her. At about the point I slipped inside she actually got in mantelling posture (A posture that owls use when they are threatened or guarding food. ) One thing I've noticed about barn owls is that when they assume this posture they will move their head side to side. I mostly see it in the wild barn owls we take in as patients. I was surprised to see Iya doing it. She calmed down fairly quickly as I talked to her, and let do what I had to. Iya's usually a pretty mellow bird, so I figured I wouldn't linger in the flight for too long today.

I breezed through a few more flights before stopping by Chezmu. I haven't taken pictures of him in awhile, and he's always willing to get up and curious in the camera. Opossums seem to have such a fierce reputation, but I've never thought they were all that bad. Chezmu himself, is a very friendly, and curious little guy. Whenever I enter his flight and start shuffling around he will poke his head our of his little nest and investigate what I'm doing. He's never shown me any sign of aggression. Keep in mind though, that Chezmu is an education animal that is fairly used to human contact. A wild Opossum will probably not be as friendly, and should maintain a healthy fear of humans for its own safety. If you see a wild Opossum, and it is not in need of help, you should not approach it.

Here he is, peeking out at me.

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I visited Cetan next, and was surprised to find her extremely interested in everything I was doing, even if she was still cautious. Usually she likes to keep a healthy distance while I'm cleaning, but today she essentially followed me around her flight. At one point I was standing toward the back of it nearly one of her perches. She would hop over to me, and get close enough to smack me with her wing when she decided she wasn't as comfortable with being close as she thought she was. She must have done this three or four times before I moved on. Regardless, it did mean I was able to take several pictures of her. 

She's always holding her head up high it seems. There are a ton more, but these were the two in particular that I like most, and edited. 

Cano and the corvids were actually the last of the Ed animals I dropped by that day (not include Atka, whom I Posted about already.) I stopped with with Cano first, and as I was cleaning I was excited to find a gorgeous tail feather on the ground under his favorite perch. Any feathers that we, as volunteers, find are taken inside and put into a bucket full of other collected feathers. The collected feathers from the enclosures are sorted and sent to the Repository in Colorado along with any Eagle carcasses. From there First Nations (Native Americans) can apply for feathers, parts and bodies to use in ceremonial clothing, equipment and the like. We do not give out feathers here, as it is illegal and we could lose permitting. 

Canowicakte was his usual photogenic self.  Here are a few of my favorites. I've found I have a tendency to catch birds mid-blink. It actually looks kind of comical when you see it afterward.

 

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I moved on afterward to Heckle and Jeckle, but got distracted before I really got through the door. I was hearing a repeated squeaking, that I was convinced was a squirrel until it started to move rapidly through the trees. Moments later I was surprised to see a small bird emerge from the branches only to land on a tree not to far away. it's moments like this that I wish I had an excellent zoom lens. It was either a woodpecker or a sapsucker. It was hard to tell at first glance for me, as I'm not particularly well versed in birds that aren't raptors.

 He's pretty difficult to see in this picture, but this was honestly the best I got.

The crows were their usual excited selves to have company. They hopped about, and made noises. I was actually surprised this time around. Heckle is usually the more outgoing of the two, but it was Jeckle that went out of her way to visit me today. She flitted between the perch closest to myself, the ground, and the food dish behind me. 

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Our Visiting Wild Ones...

In addition to the Educational animals, I also cleaned the flights of several of our visiting birds. I started out with a Sapsucker that had made it's way through our clinic recently, and is now out in one of the outdoor flights. He was looking pretty good and lively when I was inside, taking care of things. He was flitting all around the flight, and keeping a good healthy distance from me while I worked.

I actually have an old video (From 2004) of a sapsucker that would visit a tree outside my window frequently. It used to mew like a kitten, and for a long time before I finally saw the bird make the noise, I was convinced there was a kitten wandering around outside. Here's the video of that bird.

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I also worked my way through the flights of Two red-tails, A Cooper's Hawk, and the Osprey that has been staying with us. By the looks of things a few of them were being hunted, pending released. When I refer to a bird being hunted in a rehabilitation setting, what I mean is that we are offering the bird live prey to assess whether or not it is ready to go back out into the wild. If the bird hunts the prey, than things are looking pretty good for that bird's release. If not, then the bird will likely stay for a little longer. Both the Cooper's hawk, and one of the Red-tailed hawks had A large metal tub, filled with a small amount of bedding, that the live prey would be placed into, in order for the bird to hunt it without it being able to escape.   

Here's the Coopers Hawk enjoying a bit of a rain bath.                                        ....

Once my work outside was done for the day, I retired into the kitchen for the night. Once again I helped keep the newer volunteers busy, and we prepared foods for the next day, and stocked everything up. There were several of us there today, so things were going pretty quick, and we found ourselves able to start preparing the bird and mammal rooms for baby season. The rest of my night was pretty much consumed with getting things all cleaned, and ready. 

A bit of birding.

I've been doing some (not necessarily successful) birding lately. I keep making the mistake of bringing the dog with me, so I feel less awkward walking around with a camera. She's not the greatest birding companion to be honest. In any cay, over the course of the last few months I'd been trying to gather up enough fuel to do a blog on my birding experiences. So far, nothing too great, as I'm still learning where it comes to wild bird photography. I'm lucky to have the opportunity to get pretty close to the animals at Sarvey. I doubt I'll be so lucky where the wild birds are concerned. What I really need is a partner to go out hiking/birding with. Someone who already has a pretty good idea of how to go about things. In the meantime, I'm left to wander the neighborhood following the sounds of Red-winged Blackbirds.

Speaking of which, I finally was able to get a good enough look at my mysterious blackbirds to decide that they're definitely red-winged black birds. I also feel as thought their main goal in life it to taunt me, and lead me around like a lovesick puppy. These birds will land yards away from me, and when I attempt to approach them, they fly just a few yards further, all the while singing their smug little songs. You win this time Black birds.

Here I've included several, blurry, and not so great images of the blackbirds. They like to flock around the retention ponds/wetland preserves that we have several of in the neighborhood. Three to be exact. We get a lot of other wildlife as well, (the dog flushed out a cottontail not too long ago, which resulted in me chasing after her down the street, while she pursued it), but these black birds are definitely the most consistent. 

I can hear them out there singing at the crack of dawn if I care to get up early enough for it. Most of the time I really don't, as they still play chicken in the mornings, and I have less energy for it that early.

When it starts to get warmer the frogs will begin to show up in large amounts. I have a ton of left over pictures from last summer. I have to say, when I move, the wildlife will probably be what I miss the most, since I'm bound to end up in an apartment for awhile. At least I might be able to set up a bird feeder of some sort if we get to have a balcony/porch. I hope we do. 

Other than the black birds, we also get a decent variety of water fowl, that are also starting to crop up now that it's getting warmer outside. While I was out the last time, I was excited to find a bonded pair of Ring-necked Ducks. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but they've got pretty unique looking beaks. I traipsed around to the other side of the pond, but I still had a difficult time photographing them, as they were pretty wary. It makes me really want a zoom lens of some sort. They were joined shortly after I arrived by a male Mallard, who proceeded to crash the party and follow them around the pond.

I promise I'll stop combining photos, when they start getting better.

Moving on later in the month, I was on a ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston, and had the chance to get some decent pictures of some of the birds on the way over. There were a ton of gulls and Cormorants, everywhere along the way. So many cormorants.

After pouring through my bird books, and comparing gulls for around half an hour, I decided this guy looked most like a Thayer's gull. which is entirely possible given that we're right on the coast, and in these guys' territory. Though we don't get nearly as many of them as some parts of Canada. 

Then there were these guys. I nearly missed them entirely until they started making noise. I knew right away they were Cormorants, mainly because you tend to get a good long look at a bird after spending twenty minutes mopping up it's poop. And I literally mean mopping. These guys are messy, messy birds. I wasn't sure what type of Cormorant it was though, until I got the chance to look through the bird book, and compare it to others. I'm pretty sure they're Western, Double-crested Cormorants. (There's a difference between Eastern and western physically, and though they appear to look more like Easterns, It's more likely they're non-breeding westerns and it's just hard to tell with the lighting.) The only other possibility is that they're Brandt's Cormorants, since again, we're right in the territory for the bird, and have a decent population of them. But if you zoom in on the pictured I took, the very slight crest atop their heads, and the placement of their eyes don't seem quite right for Brandt's Cormorants. I'm fairly certain they're Double-crested.

That's really all I've had the opportunity to do as far as birding goes. I've pretty much always have my camera on me nowadays, so if it comes down to it, and I see an interesting bird, or really any bird at this point, I'll push to stop and take pictures. 

If you haven't had the chance to read my last Sarvey blog, including the Eagle Festival, then you should visit the previous blog. It was posted within hours of this one.