Two for one! 2/23/12 and 2/28/12

This time around I have two days worth of blog to write. I wanted to wait to release this one, because I knew I'd be coming in on Tuesday as well, and honestly. It's so much easier to have a week to write up the events of the day, then just a few hours. I figure if I work a week ahead I can continue to update, and on a more consistent basis as well.

I came in to the center yesterday (Tuesday), because I had a project I needed to discuss with Kestrel (one of the staff.) I don't believe I can go into to much detail about the project save to say that the discussion went pretty well, and it's something exciting, for me at least. But I digress. So, before I get too far ahead of myself, let's jump back to last Thursday morning.

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The day progressed fairly typically. I started out with my usual cleaning of flights, beginning with the education animals as I tend to do. One of my main reasons for beginning with them, is that they are the most visible to the public. When you visit Sarvey, there is a visitor area in which you can view a few of our educational animals. The earlier in the day that I get their flights clean, the nicer they look for anyone who happens to stop by during the day. The flights are cleaned every day, so they never really get too messy, (some birds make bigger messes than others), but I figure that no one who comes to see them wants to be distracted by a huge splat of poop on the wall.

I made my usual run through the flights, scrubbing excrement off of various surfaces, raking gravel, providing fresh water, and picking up debris left behind by the animals. Debris can range anywhere from pellets to left over "dinner". I can tell you up front that if you aren't comfortable cleaning up the remains of whatever the bird ate last, and that means all of the remains, then you probably shouldn't volunteer to do outside work. There are certain parts of the food animal that a lot of our birds wont eat, and tend to string decoratively about their flight. Some are more notorious for it then others. (I'm looking at you Cetan).

I progressed quickly through the education animal flights. The only bird I really took any extensive photos of was Cetan, who has a tendency to be awfully photogenic. I haven't seen a repeat of her camera-friendly behavior since the Eagle festival. It seems that now that she's settled back into life at Sarvey, she's back to being indifferent or even shy at times where a camera is involved. 

I was excited to find a pellet in her flight though. I don't know why pellets excite me so unnecessarily much, but they really do. I always find myself taking a picture when I find them, and noting who they belong to.

A Cetan pellet!

I Feel like there's so much less to do with Nanjiska the snowy owl, and Athena the Great Horned Owl off limits to volunteers. Sarvey staff set animals to staff only for various reasons. In Athena's case it's because she becomes aggressive when she is incubating eggs, or raising young. The eggs she's incubating right now are unfertilized and they wont hatch, but often, if we receive baby Great Horned Owls during her incubating period, she will take them in and raise them as a foster mom. 

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I did stop by to see Nanjiska, though I didn't enter his flight of course, and I took a couple pictures of him that fall among my favorites so far. I love that my camera has the capability to focus out anything too close to the lens, in this case the netting of Nanjiska's flight. Since Nanjiska isn't likely to move at all, I can get some especially neat pictures of him, with clarity that I may not be able to get otherwise. Other then being a bit hissy, he mostly just sits there and looks pretty while I shoot. 

He's a very charismatic bird, with a wide range of expressions, that although subtle, can be quite telling. Of all the birds staying with us, I'd easily say he's one of the most observant. Snowy owls are diurnal, so Nanjiska is pretty much up all day while I'm puttering around outside. On top of that, he is incredibly interested in everything going on. He's always watching when I turn the corner. At first I wouldn't have said he was anywhere near as expressive as some of the other owls, the Great Horned Owl for instance. Now that I've gotten to know him, and have started seeing him on a more regular basis, I'm starting to see all the little changes in his posture, and expression when he's confronted with different situations, whether it be someone walking by, or his food showing up. 

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From there, I went on to clean the flights of several of our rehabilitation animals, before I worked my way around to I'sta and Lil D the Peregrine Falcons. Right away upon entering their flight I found another pellet and of course I took a picture. 

A Peregrine Falcon pellet.

I'd just like to put it out there, that I'sta and Lil D are messy eaters. They mainly eat quail, and that generally means feathers and quail bits everywhere. Their feeding tray tends to look like their dinner exploded feathers, as opposed to being eaten. In all likelihood they pluck their prey a bit before eating it, which might explain how they manage to get feathers everywhere within a two foot radius. In addition, neither of them seem to like to poop in the uncovered part of their flight. Instead they like to defecate on the dirt, in the back. This means I spend a lot of time loosening up the dirt with a rake while I'm in there. I'm starting to understand why my muscles are always so sore when I get home now.

I'sta, I've found, is actually much braver and more curious when you aren't inside the flight with her. The moment you're outside she's all fluffed up and waddling her way over to the chain link to shove he face in yours. Once you're inside though, her demeanor changes a bit. While she's certainly still calm in comparison to Lil D, who tends to be all over the place, she seems to be a bit more nervous. It changes with the day really. Some days she'll let me get a lot closer to her while I'm going about business, than she will others. This time around she was more on the cautious side. I tried to give her a little space, but she would sit stubbornly in one spot until I had no choice bu to move closer. Only then would she decide it was time to fly away to another part of the flight. I won't pretend to understand her behavior, but I did notice that having another bird in the flight with her, has caused her to be less curious about me when I enter.

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After cleaning my way through a few more flights containing rehabilitation animals, I eventually came to Hanble Okinyan's flight. She was in her spot on the perch right next to the door when I arrived, and was sure to salute me with her usual eagle noises when I showed up. I have to say, I rather enjoy listening to her talk, as it tends to get at least one of  the other eagles going too.

In my mind she's a particularly amusing bird. She's fairly easy to approach, as long as you don't move too fast. Which is great since I generally have to get in around her to clean. She uses the one perch quite a lot, so it needs a good scrub by the time I get there. You can't really ask an eagle to move, and Hanble Okinyan is more then happy to sit in the same general spot and watch you as you slowly make your way closer to that poo spot on the perch a foot away from her feet. It took me awhile to realize I could do this.

 Understandably, I'm not exactly apt to march up to a bird that size, let alone any bird with talons, and expect no repercussions. Granted, I still go out of my way to move slowly, and keep an eye on her while I'm working. She may seem calm and comfortable most of the time, but she's still a wild animal at heart, and therefore unpredictable. If her body language says no, not today, then I'm not going to push it. Ideally, I'd love to get every spot that needs attention in a bird's flight, but It's more important for me to keep my own safety in mind, and if I don't feel comfortable doing something, I won't. There will be another day when I can do it safely. 

I've been cornered by birds, slapped with wings (several times now), scratched, bitten, and nearly fallen on before. Even as a volunteer it's not a job without it's risks, and when working with wildlife you kind of have to go in expecting that you might get hurt, but ready to take every precaution to avoid it. Luckily, I haven't been bitten by anything much bigger then a Barred Owl, and none of my scratches or bites have drawn blood, but I know better then to think that worse can't happen. I've seen the evidence. Fortunately, the majority of the animals you deal with as a volunteer, are more likely to want to put as much distance between you and themselves as possible, and a lot of what does happen is accidental, or due to directly handling an animal. Even then I say directly with a grain of salt. There is generally a towel in between myself and the bird, and any biting that happens is an unfortunate side effect of trying to medicate a scared animal.

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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.)

Here are some of my favorite images of our current rehabilitation animals.

This is a juvenile Peregrine Falcon that has been staying with us for a little while. She somehow managed to foot herself (essentially claw her own foot) on Tuesday while I was there, though it turned out to be nothing too worrisome. Silly bird. It's beyond me how she managed it.

You may remember the Douglas Squirrels spending their winter with us. Here is one of those mischievous little guys posing for the camera. They're always attempting to get out of their run while I'm cleaning it.

A gorgeous ring-necked dove spending some time with us. Hopefully she'll gain enough weight to be returned to the wild again soon.

This little quail is kind of an unusual visitor for us. Or at least, something that I'm seeing for the first time in my volunteering here.

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2/28/12

I decided early on not to take pictures on Tuesday in part because I wasn't sure what to expect, or what I would be able to get done. Tuesdays are fairly busy. All of the produce shows up on Tuesdays, so we had to manage that on top of our allotted work for the day. We still managed to get a ton done, and I was happy to see one of the volunteers I usually work with that day as well. It's always a bit intimidating going into something not knowing anyone you'll be working with. I'll keep the summary of the days events somewhat brief.

When I arrived, everyone was busy checking out Baxter the Bobcat, so I decided to get right to work cleaning outside until Kestrel was free. I actually managed to get a lot done in the two or so hours I was at it. By the time I finished, all of the major flights had been done, and all that was left were some of the small coops, and runs.

After my talk with Kestrel I helped out with catching and weighing a few of the birds outside, as well as a Virginia Opossum. We weigh them to make sure they are eating once we put them outside and cannot monitor them as closely as we can in the clinic. Altogether I weighed five doves, the quail, a sapsucker, and the Opossum. The basic process consists of trapping the bird in a bird-safe net, carefully removing them, and maneuvering them onto the scale on their backs. With some luck, and in my case hovering my hand over their eyes to keep them calm, they'll stay in that position long enough for the scale to get a reading. Overall the quail gave me the most trouble, and surprisingly the Sapsucker gave me the least. The doves were a good mix of personalities in that regard. Some were more cooperative then others, but at least the doves didn't bite.

Once that was done, I assisted the volunteer I recognized in cleaning the outdoor flights, as it was her first time cleaning outside. We went through a couple of the remaining flights, as well as our permanent Flying squirrels, before we retired to do less exciting work for the evening. By this point we had actually managed to pass a good portion of the day. It was already getting dark outside by the time we wheeled the garbage down to the dumpsters.

The rest of the night was spent preparing food, and cleaning. About the usual. Right before leaving, I ran some tissue samples down to the pick up box, but other then that it passed uneventfully. 

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.