Baby away

He came out of the crate and studied the area before takeoff.

He's finally off on the adventure of his lifetime. Hopefully it will be a long and exciting one. Today SEBASTIAN was released near Eagle Pass east of Cody. He had his departure delayed for a few weeks til his wounds healed up but they're all fine now so it was time for him to literally spread his wings and fly away.

Just after launch, landing gear not pulled in yet.

All systems go!

One away

Change of plans, I took only one of the baby golden eagles to the YU Bench road for release. Only TAYLOR got to leave and start her life in the wild. I decided to keep SEBASTIAN a while longer due to some wounds on his right foot. When they're healed he'll be headed out too.

Susan came along to video the event but it was the second worst eagle release on record. TAYLOR couldn't decide if she wanted to fly or land, fly or land. She finally went off about a quarter mile and again landed. She's not used to seeing such wide open spaces so we left her there to contemplate what her next move would be.

On high

In preparation for their big release day on Sunday, both baby golden eagles are sitting up on the high wall perch. SEBASTIAN on the left is a male from Upton. On the right is TAYLOR, a female, who came from the Diamond Bar Ranch on the Southfork. Both will be released at the same place, same time on the YU Bench road in Oregon Basin. They may hang together for a while or go their separate ways. The prey base at the location is excellent and both have proved they can and will make live kills so they should survive.

Doing great!

I took TESSA in this morning for a check-up and xray of her broken right leg. It's healing wonderfully so far and she has full use of that foot and leg. She rips and tears into her rabbit half every day and is very feisty whenever I open the cage door.

If all goes well she'll get her pin out in four weeks and then it's a matter of putting her into the flight barn to strengthen her muscles for release.

Sad news

TIP died yesterday evening. I finally got a diagnosis for what was making her so sick. I had her tested for WNV but that was negative. She had a blood parasite called leucocytozoon. The prognosis once they get this parasite is very poor because quite often the bird shows no symptoms. It's transmitted by black flies, luckily I don't have them here. She came from south of Buffalo, apparently they are living there.

I went to Dr. Blessing and got the medicine to kill the parasite but she was gone when I got home. She was doing so great up until Wednesday when she didn't eat her rabbit. Yesterday she just stood in a corner with her head down. I sent the blood in last Thursday to the state lab for testing but only got the results yesterday afternoon. Just too late to help her.

Number four

This is TIP and he was found in the middle of the road about 15 miles from Buffalo. Yes, Buffalo. This time I didn't have to drive the whole way, USFWS biologist, Pauline Hope and her husband met me in, where else, Tensleep. That's about half way so saved us both driving.

I have no idea what's wrong, he's not starving, altho only weighs 6#7oz. He does tend to stand with his wings extended but they don't seem broken. I'll take him in tomorrow for xrays and blood work. And if he cooperates, a stool sample.

He looks a bit ragged around the edges but Pauline dribbled some water on his head as it was very hot there and I wanted to try and cool him off. As soon as he fluffs his neck feathers he'll be all beautiful again.

As noted in the heading, this is the fourth baby golden eagle now here, all around 12 weeks old. The two in the flight barn are gaining strength and trying to fly up to the low wall perch. The third one is TESSA who is going in tomorrow for surgery.

And don't forget the baby bald eagle, ROBIN, who is also 12 weeks old. She has a broken wing and appears to be very visually handicapped. She can see some out of her right eye, nothing in the left. She'll go into Dr. Barry Welch as soon as I can get an appointment.

More gold at IBR

Susan, TESSA and Chris

I just got a call from my friend who has a tree nest with two golden eagle chicks in it. The adults have done a wonderful job in raising these babies. Both fledged within the past week or so but one came down today practically under the nest. The landowner called me so I quickly went there to see what was wrong. It's possible she has a broken right leg but naturally it's after hours at the vet. She's settled in one of my 6x6 mews and will be taken in tomorrow morning for xrays.

Hopefully this is just a case of a bad landing and her leg is only bruised. In that case she'll rest here for a bit and then be taken back to her home place and released. Her name is TESSA.

DOVE update

I just received a letter from the federal office in Denver informing me that DOVE, who was taken from here on Saturday, the 16th, was expected to be delivered to the Navajo zoo sometime today. TODAY! I was originally told she would be getting there the day after she was taken. It's a 15 hour drive from here to the zoo. This is five days later. Oh, I've been told that she's doing fine and being cared for but in what manner? What type of mews has she been in? And in how many since leaving here? Being caught and crated is very stressful to any wild bird so if they had her moved even a couples times between being on the road, she's suffered.

There's a big difference between want and need. The Indians "want" golden eagles, not balds, for their feathers. I "needed" DOVE for what she provided to other eagles, babies especially. The Indians won't see her heart or mind, just the numbers of feathers she molts for them. Perhaps bragging about "how many golden eagles we have". I saw her beautiful soul and the energy she gave to the young birds.

I sure wish I would win one of those big lotteries so I would have the money to sue the DOI and USFWS to rescind that discriminatory ruling made in 2010 giving the Indians the right to take whatever eagles they want and to hell with the rest of the taxpayers whose money probably built a good percentage of their aviaries.

ANGER !

I AM SO ANGRY. This morning, with no advance warning, the USFWS agent showed up and told me he was there to take DOVE. He was meeting a G&F person in Thermop in a few hours to transfer her into another crate. Then she'll be handed off to a number of different people to shuttle her to AZ and the Indian zoo. I have no idea if the transport crate is large enough or has soft padding on the floor. Or if they cover it to make it dark so she'll calm down. All I know is that she'll be stuck in some crate for over 24 hours on her way to my idea of hell.

Now the two 10 week old baby goldens in her care will no longer have a mentor or role model. But gee, the damn Indians will have yet another bird to molt feathers for their costumes. DOVE leaves an amazingly, peaceful, calm home to go to a zoo, literally. And in 100 degree weather just to make it worse.

At her age, if she decides life over death, she could be forced to live there for possibly 20 years. Just for feathers, to hell with what's best for her or all the good she's done for the baby eagles in her care in the past and could have done in the future. I AM SO ANGRY!

Sad day

A very sad day as I had to put my beautiful adult female golden eagle, COTTON, to sleep. Her original injury was from what appeared to be an electrocution to her right wing. After treating the wound didn't work we amputated the wing at the elbow. She would then become an educational bird as she obviously would not fly again.

Also showing some damage was her right foot. We removed the outside toe as it was frozen, she couldn't straighten out the talon. She appeared to be doing just fine, ate everything she was given, and new feathers were coming in at the wing surgical site.

Unfortunately her foot swelling never completely went away and recently it appeared to be coming back. She was unable to make a fist (curl her toes) and the bottom of the foot was becoming bruised. Because that foot would never come back to normal, and the bruising would get worse and worse, I made the decision to humanely euthanize her today. She was an awesome lady and will be greatly missed.

Double trouble

(l-r) TAYLOR, DOVE and SEBASTIAN on top of the tower. She's a super mentor to these awesome babies.

Not really trouble but there are now two baby golden eagles in the flight barn with DOVE. The second one came today from a tree nest on a ranch south of Cody. For the past two years this pair has produced one chick each year and took care of them until they left the nest. Then it was as if the adults figured the kids could look after themselves. Unfortunately both years the babies died. Two years ago it was found dead on the property. Last year the chick was found alive but only four pounds and severely infested with lice. He did not live another day.

Last year Matt and I decided it wouldn't happen again so we've been keeping an eye on this years baby. He came out of his nest a few days ago, was seen on the ground and one adult seemed to be keeping tabs on him. Until yesterday. The baby, TAYLOR, was found on the ground again with the adult in the nest.

Today the chick was sitting on a fence post near the nest and when I approached him he flew off. But not very far and only a few feet off the ground. After watching him crash into a bush hedge I was concerned. Another short, low flight ended up in more bushes. Luckily I had two nets and there were a couple of the ranch people willing to help. I can't run very fast anymore but one of the men could and did.

The baby is now in the flight barn with SEBASTIAN and under the watchful eye of DOVE. He's pretty thin so he'll be given all the food he needs to get strong enough for high, long flights. He's approximately the same age, nine to ten weeks, as SEB so they should bond. I've been saying "he" but this may be a female.

Mom and me

Young SEBASTIAN came out of his tower nest two days ago but was back in it yesterday morning. This morning he's back down and in the back of the flight barn sharing a perch with his mentor, DOVE. I don't know how much he's flying now but he'll get better and better in the days and weeks to come. Then he'll be ready for prey training and eventually release. He's a very handsome baby.

PS: Yes, DOVE is still here as it's too hot to send her south and the feds have apparently not found anyone qualified to drive her there. I have one other person who will hopefully try to convince the Indians in AZ to leave her here but don't hold out much hope.

Graduation day

Sort of. Baby SEBASTIAN is now out of the nest box and up on top of the tower. See the white spot on his chest? That's the half a bunny he ate after I put him on the top. He did a lot of looking around before commencing to eat, it's a big world out there for a baby only about nine weeks old. That's his mentor, DOVE, on the ground below him.

Unfortunately I don't know how much longer she'll be able to help him as I'm being forced to send her to a Navajo zoo in AZ. I asked to have her remain here as a foster mom, she's excellent at that job. Because she is non-releasable the federal government made a ruling in 2010, not a law, that all non-releasable eagles have to be sent to the Indians "for religious purposes". In other words, she will spend the rest of her life in a zoo for the sole purpose of molting feathers. Here she's lived a life of peace and quiet. Not there. Screaming children, talking and confusion will be a daily happening.

For her remaining time here she is taking over the job of mentoring SEBASTIAN.

Rescued baby

This is SEBASTIAN, a baby Golden Eagle found out of his nest near Upton, WY. He was seen for five days before Don decided his mom wasn't feeding him down there. He gathered him up last night, called the Teton Raptor Center in Jackson (didn't have my number) and settled him in a crate for the night.

Teton called me this morning about his plight so I started calling all the game wardens in the area. Luckily both Game Wardens Dustin Kirsch of Gillette and Troy Achterhof of Newcastle called me back. Troy volunteered to drive more than an hour to pick up the chick and meet me in Gillette this afternoon. It's a four hour drive for me but we met exactly on time. After a pit stop for some water I headed back to Cody.

As there were two other much larger chicks in the nest it was decided to bring him here as he might have just been pushed out again. SEBASTIAN is about 45-50 days old and is in better condition than I'd expected. This morning he packed away some venison that Don had thawed for him and I skinned a cavy for him this evening. He ate the whole thing!

Saturday UPDATE: I gave him a whole, skinned, cavy this morning and he's doing all the ripping and tearing on his own.

Pure gold

Her name is COTTON. This beautiful elderly female golden eagle came to me yesterday thanks to Bart Kroger, WGF Biologist from Worland. She was found in an oil field unable to fly. It is the same field where he'd found a dead golden under a transformer. I don't know if it was the male of this pair or not.

COTTON has a very severe wound to her right wing near her wrist. If it is from an electrocution there could be even more damage as time goes on because it kills from within. You'll note she's also wearing a sandal on her right foot as she doesn't have full use of it right now.

Thanks to help from Mike, and taking 20 minutes to remove them, all the maggots in the wound are gone. He held her while I picked, not a pleasant job for any of us but both bird and man came through with flying colors. I'm treating the wound with two meds and she's on antibiotics. Right now her attitude is excellent and she even ate a half of a rabbit yesterday after her wound treatment.

Solid gold

And he certainly is. This is an adult male golden eagle found up on the mountain off of Sunset Rim Road. He was spotted by three people while hiking and biking. Luckily Ward met me at the base of the road and led me to where this handsome fellow was laying. I don't know what caused his injury but his left wing is badly broken altho it is mid-shaft humerus, the easiest to fix. The bad news is that the wing had been twisted in a circle twice so I don't know how much the blood supply has been hurt.

More bad news, the pairs are now setting up to lay eggs and he probably has a mate in the area. There are a few nests nearby, anyone of which could be his home base. If his surgery does go well, it will be a couple months, at least, before he'd be ready to go back to the wild. That is way past breeding time so we've lost this season.

UPDATE: He's gone. I got up during the night to check on him and he was dead. Altho he didn't spend much time on the ground after he was injured, it was bad and just too much for his body to take in. Thanks so much to Peter, Buzzy and Ward for spotting him and calling for help.

She's finally away

It took two tries to release SHERRY. The first time she only flew about 100' and came down. When I approached her to make her leave she again flew only a short distance. After doing that a couple more times I just tossed my jacket over her and brought her home.

This time it worked. Nathan and I drove her out to Whistle Creek Road east of Cody and found a perfect release site. We tried off of Eagle Pass but the winds were howling and I didn't want them to push her the wrong way.

When she left the crate, she flew off, made one big circle, and landed on the ground about a quarter mile away. She stood looking at her surroundings probably wondering where the wall was. She roused once and a few minutes later took off again and flew out of our sight behind a hill.

She's been here for many months having come from Sheridan almost starved to death. She'd gained confidence, strength and proved she would make live kills so it was time. I have no idea why she wouldn't fly off the first time a few weeks ago but today it was perfect. As you can tell by my smiling face.

PS: I'm wearing Nathan's GoPro camera so there may be some film of the momentous occasion.

Today was busy. I got a call about a downed golden eagle between the WGF office and the landfill road. I was told it was on the west side of the road but couldn't find it. On my second pass I had a state trooper stop behind me. He was also told about the bird so we both looked for it. He found the eagle on the east side of the road.

Unfortunately he was probably hit by a vehicle and couldn't use his legs. I took him to Dr. Blessing for xrays and learned the devastating news. His spine was broken, completely severed above his hips. He was humanely euthanized.

Number six

I started out the month of October by getting in the sixth baby golden eagle of the year. This one came from Duke Energy in Glenrock. He was found unable to fly and so far I can't find a reason for that. He moves very little but at least now he's standing whereas when he arrived he was so weak that didn't happen very often.

At this point I believe there are two possible reasons. Either WNV or poison. He's not eating on his own so I'm tubing him with Carnivore Care, a high calorie, critical care oral food. I've also started him on some solid food, right now it's venison steak. He readily swallows when I put the meat in his mouth but won't take it on his own.

You'll notice in the photo that he appears to have a white eye. That's because his lower eyelid is closed. The only time he opens them is when I pick him up or otherwise make him move. And now I'm not sure he can see. I'll check with my eye doctor, Dr. Barry Welch, to see when I can take him in for a check of his vision.

He's a beautiful baby, about six months old, so I hope I can find the problem and fix it. His name is DEVON.

UPDATE: He doesn't have WNV, he has a bacterial infection that worked its way to his eyes. One has a cataract and the other has the beginnings of glaucoma. He is totally blind and because the quality of life would not be good, he was humanely euthanized.

In with the big kids now

My newest baby Golden Eagle is now in the flight barn. She is huge and was beginning to try flying in her smaller mew. She's sitting in the middle of this group with her adult mentor, DOVE, on the right and a two year old Bald Eagle on the left. I would love to know just what's being said between the two younger birds. So far everyone is getting along. The one photo is of DOVE taking off to the other end of the barn. She's had enough of the teeny boppers for the moment.