HARRY away

Thanks to Cynthia and John Kendrick I have a photo of DIRTY HARRY flying away over Dome Lake. This was an amazing release and I'm glad to have this record of the event. Harry can be seen to the left of the large tree in the center of the photo. I didn't crop it down as I wanted everyone to see what an awesome place this bird lives in. There are two large lakes there and since his release there have been sightings of bald eagles. Hopefully one of them was good old HARRY.

Thank you

To Rebecca, Michelle and Joanie for donating the feed I use for my birds. Because of the variety of raptors who come to IBR I need a variety of food items too. I use only a natural diet for these magnificent birds of prey.

Free at last

Some good news this time. Baby CLARK, a Swainson's Hawk who was found in a field up on Sunlight Ranch flew away this morning. She was banded by Dr. Charles Preston and then driven to the nest site of a pair of Swainson's Hawks. They weren't in evidence when we were there but are in the area.

These birds spend their winters in South America and start staging for that migration the end of September. As she's never made the trip, she's only about five months old, she needs a guide. Hopefully she'll have a successful trip and be back here next year. Thanks Chuck for again picking just the perfect release site for one of my rehabilitated birds.

Isn't she cute?

Well I think so. Her name is CHARM and I made a trip down to the other side of Thermopolis to pick her up. I say her but don't know if that's correct. She was found by Tony in his yard not able to fly. I think her wings are just fine but legs, not so much. She has a weak left leg and a bad wound where her right leg attaches to her body. She's been down long enough for flies to blow that wound so I had to deal with cleaning the maggots out of it. A lot of them but newly hatched so not very big.

She'll go in tomorrow to have xrays and see just what damage has been done to her body. Hopefully it's just bruising and will heal quickly. The open wound will have to be sutured and she's already on antibiotics. That wasn't fun getting one down her as vultures are very accomplished in vomiting. I'll update her story as soon as I get more information.

UPDATE: Sad news again. The wound was so severe it was almost into her abdominal cavity. And her pelvis was fractured, her left foot didn't work at all. She was euthanized this morning. Her body will go to the natural history museum here in Cody for use in educational programs.