From far away

Last night I received a call from Alcova, WY which is just west of Casper. It concerned what the person thought was a sick or injured baby magpie. She said it didn't have a tail and seemed to have balance problems. As she was worried about a predator taking it I told her to put the baby in a cat carrier for the night. Alcova is almost a four hour drive from Cody and when I told her that I was unable to make that trip she volunteered to drive the bird here.

Nina and Peter Morzenti arrived this afternoon and what I found when I opened the carrier is a half grown, perfectly normal, black billed magpie. His name is ALVIN and I can't find anything wrong with him other than he's just a youngster who should be branching in the nest tree. For some reason none of the adults would take over the care of this baby. Thanks to these good samaritans this baby has a chance of living life in the wild. He's not flighted yet but doesn't seem to have any problems walking around his cage. He's also eaten some of my corvid diet.

I don't believe there's anything wrong that time won't fix. When he's grown a bit more I'll put him in a flight area and then release him, possibly right here as I do have magpies living around the area.

Thanks to the Morzenti's for driving ALVIN up here so he can gain experience and be released back to the wild.

More shooting

Today, thanks to Missy and Joey, a beautiful American Crow was brought here from Riverton. The bird, NICK, was seen in their yard unable to fly. They graciously agreed to drive him here to be cared for.

I took NICK into the vet this afternoon and found out the devastating news. This wonderful bird has been the victim of a gunshot. This time it was a pellet gun with most of the pellet still in his wing. The long bone between his shoulder and elbow is broken in two pieces with the part nearest his elbow completely shattered. There is no way of repairing the damage so he was humanely euthanized.

So far this winter I've received three birds who have been shot. What drives people to just shoot something for the sake of killing? These birds are not causing problems, are not a threat to livestock, but someone felt compelled to try and end their lives. In this one case that is exactly what happened. Of the other two, one may fly again, one never will. I am so angry.

Another big black bird

It's rare to find an injured corvid, they are so smart and can usually get out of the way of any danger. The one thing they can't fly away from is a speeding bullet. Today I drove over to Ralston to pick up a raven that had eluded the rancher for four or five months. He just couldn't run fast enough to catch the bird.

Strangely, today the bird just stood still and let himself be picked up. He was quick and grabbed my right arm as I was taking him out of the crate they had him in. I stopped at the vet to get some xrays and found out there is a pellet lodged in his left wrist joint. It fractured his radius and ulna and ruined the hand joint.

As he will never fly again I'm hoping he can be placed as a bird ambassador along with the other non-releasable raven living here. He came in a few weeks ago. Now they're sharing a room so they'll have company and can compare damage.

Amazing release!

Back on July 22 I received a call from Bob Divaccaro about a downed raven in his yard on Sage Drive. The bird was unable to fly because his right hand was broken so I gathered him up and brought him here. I didn't think there was a chance of the raven flying again but he was such a character and a super eater I just gave him time.

And that time was worth it, I released the raven on a ranch outside of Cody where there are lots of ravens living and a good prey base. His first flight wasn't a long one but when I approached him he took off and this was the resulting photo. He made a few other flights while I was there as if he couldn't believe he was actually out in the wild again without a wall to stop him.

NOTE: You'll notice his mouth is open. As with most ravens, they talk constantly and this one certainly had a lot to tell his friends.

Visitors

Ever since I had the power company remove a raven nest from one of my power poles I've been stalked by them. They fly over at least once a day, land on poles and caw at me. This time I found them sitting on my front gate. Just couldn't pass up this photo.

Necessary removal

This awesome nest was built by a pair of local ravens. The removal was necessary due to the fact that they chose one of my power poles for its location. Because the chance of any chicks, or even the parents, being electrocuted, I called Rocky Mountain Power to come and take it down. Mark did a wonderful job as it came off in one piece and fell to the ground.

My plan is to place it on a corner of my eagle flight barn in hopes that the adults, or another raven pair, will use it. Maybe even a GHO as they borrow nests. This one is full of large and small twigs plus what looks like pillow stuffing and deer hair. Possibly even cow or horse hair too. It's well made and will be available for whatever bird wants to use it.

Very illegal

As far as I can tell this is an adult Common Raven. You will notice, however, he is wearing some jewelry not normally found on wild birds. Unfortunately this bird was apparently raised from a baby by people who thought it cute to put different colored cable ties on his legs.

The very upsetting news is that some lady drove up to the Ponderosa Campground this morning, stopped, tossed the bird out and then drove off. Luckily the people there are smart and caring so they gathered him up and called me.

It is very illegal to keep this species in captivity without the proper permits. It's also very disturbing as this is probably an imprinted bird having been raised by humans and looks to them for care. Right now he's in one of my mews and has just finished a meal of mouse parts. I will remove the ties from his legs and then go about trying to find a perfect place to put him.

Strange bedfellows

Today I received a baby brancher Black-billed Magpie. Unfortunately the nest is very high up in an evergreen and I'll try to get him back to it tomorrow. For tonight he has a "foster mom" in the form of a stuffed bald eagle toy. He seems to like snuggling down with it and it gives him some reassurance. He's also liking the pinky mice I've been feeding him.

Victim

This is BLACKJACK, an adult American Crow who came in from Greybull. He was spotted walking alongside the road, after dark, by volunteer Sara Sprung. She knew that wasn't normal so turned around and headed back to see why the bird was on the ground. When she got to the bird there was a cat trying to catch him too.

Luckily Sara prevailed and brought the bird to me. Xrays revealed not a broken wing but an air rifle pellet lodged in his chest but not known if it was in his digestive tract or in the muscle. A follow up xray proved it to be in his chest muscle and therefore ruled out his getting lead poisoning from it leaching into his body.

The other thing noticed in the xray was some inflammation to his left wing muscle between his shoulder and elbow. That will take time to repair itself. In the meantime he's doing well and will be released when ready to resume his life.

Oh yes, he's wearing a hawk hood to keep him from eating our fingers as he's being examined. Turns out they work for corvids too.

Two of a kind

I rarely get in ravens but yesterday it happened twice. The top photo is BEAN, a young barely fledged bird found caught in her nest in the Park Co. Fairgrounds. They had to get the power company to use their bucket truck to get the bird out of the nest. And to add to the problem, there was a small mass of string caught around one foot and leg. Luckily the circulation wasn't cut off but for some reason this young raven just won't fly or stand for very long. Xrays show nothing wrong so I'll give her time to see what happens.

The lower photo is an adult found in a yard in Sheridan. It is unknown just what caused the wing to break but they had a very severe storm there last Thursday with tangerine sized hail stones. The lady who found him was willing to make the long drive to Cody to see if he could be fixed. She lost four buildings in the storm but her main thought was to find help for this bird. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow to see if the fractured radius and ulna can be fixed.

Gunshot victim

Not everyone likes corvids but I do and it pains me to see one injured in just this way. They are very intelligent birds and are rarely hurt in the wild. The exception is when a human decides to just go out and shoot something. In this case it's CROW, a beautiful American Crow. The xrays reveal one shot still in her left wing between her shoulder and elbow. Unfortunately another one smashed through her left wrist joint damaging it beyond repair. When the wound is healed I will try and place this super bird at a facility for use in educational work.

Black & white

SPARKLE came to this facility yesterday after being found almost two weeks ago when the rest of the baby magpies were killed. Luckily some very caring people found this survivor. They did a good job of keeping the young bird alive but remember, it is against the law for anyone to take in and keep a protected bird. Black-billed magpies are such a bird.

Right now this beautiful little fellow is learning how to eat food on his own as he's been hand fed by his rescuers. He should be ready to join all the local magpies in a couple weeks.

Soon

This is the most recent photo of CASSIDY showing him way up high in his mew. As seen in an earlier post, he came here from Cheyenne suffering from a broken leg. It was repaired and after the pin was removed he took up residence in an 8'x 20' flight area along with a magpie. He's now flying just super so will be released this weekend, probably around here as I do have quite a few crows flying by.

Again, thanks to Cathryn and Melissa for transporting the bird to IBR.

Flying free

Today I released the two baby Black-billed Magpies with the help of Shig Yabu and Fern Bath. She found them in their nest after the parents weren't seen for two days and Shig raised a baby magpie while at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center during WWII. You can see their outstretched arms a moment after release. You'll also notice that each bird was heading a different direction. I hope they found each other later on so they would have company until they make their decision as to where to live. Thanks you two for the help.

Howdy pardner !

Her name is CASSIDY, aka HOPALONG. Okay I know that one of the stars of my childhood is a man but as you can see from this photo, this American Crow has shoes on both feet and a cast on one leg. She came up to me from Laramie suffering from the broken leg and one foot that wouldn't work. She had surgery today and hopefully all will heal and she'll be releasable.

Thanks Cathryn and Melissa for transporting her up here, it's a long drive from the SE corner of WY to the NW corner.

Now flying

Here's a photo of the baby magpies in their mew. The older bird (long tail) is non-releasable and waiting to go to NC as an educational bird. In the meantime she's being a great role model to show these babies just how to eat all the stuff they'll live on in the wild. Both of the little ones are now flying altho the larger is going farther and higher. They will be released in a couple weeks with the help of Shig Yabu, the gentleman shown in an earlier post who wrote a childrens book about the baby magpie he raised while interred at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center during WWII. (See earlier post)

Now you see it...

No one can say I'm overly observant. Yesterday I went out to see the power meter reader and spotted this lump in one of my trees. And it's not small either, probably at least 18-24 inches in diameter. Of course it's a magpie nest and I certainly hope that it was recently built and will have babies hatched in there this year. Magpies are very clever nest builders as they put a roof over it. Not rain proof by any means but does provide more protection to the chicks from weather and predators.

The last time I had nesting magpies was a few years ago and altho the roof has collapsed on it the nest is still in a different tree. I decided to just knock it out one day but it's very well lodged in place. Oh well, when the leaves come out it's hardly noticable.

Black & white all over

This is WHISKY, a black-billed magpie. Oops, they're now called American magpie. I believe this is a young female that showed up in a yard with a broken wing. Luckily the owners found her and called me. She's since gone through repair surgery on her right humerus. Normally I leave the support bandage on for at least a week, WHISKY left hers on for approximately two hours. As she's a pretty quiet bird in the cage I opted to let her remain bandage free. In the photo it appears she has no tail but she does, it's just canted off to the side. Hopefully she'll be able to fly in a couple months and she can join all those other amazingly intelligent corvids in the wild.

Black bird, black bird.....

Okay, they're not blackbirds but they are black birds. The top one is another of NOIR in a new pen and with his own tree to sit in. He's doing well and eating his meat mix. Hopefully he'll be releasable in the near future.

The second photo is of CRACKER, a young raven of this year that apparently fell out of her nest when she was very young and broke her left wing. As they are very intelligent and will eat most anything, she's survived for a few weeks without being able to fly. It took about 45 minutes of climbing up and down some pretty steep hills west of Cody to finally catch her. The adults were flying overhead and saying, in no uncertain terms, to "let their baby alone!" Luckily she tried to get away down a dry creek bed and I was able to move faster than she did and finally caught her with my net. There were a few people standing quite some distance away who saw just where she was going and kept giving me hand signals on directions to take. I know she'll never fly again but I do have a facility in KY that wants another raven to replace the one they got from me many years ago and had just died of a heart attack.

Talked too soon

Well, baby crow NOIR is back at IBR. His mom wasn't there at the time I put him back in the nest tree but I assumed she was in the area. I got a call from the homeowner the next afternoon saying they'd not seen her at all. I drove back to town and the minute I got out of the truck, there was mom, yelling at me. She did, however, not seem that interested in her offsping, probably too busy with the other two who were already flying. So NOIR will stay here until he's ready for release, hopefully in a week or so.