Gotcha!

A few mornings ago I noticed some strange tracks near my chicken yard. I had already caught a couple skunks the weeks before but these looked suspiciously like raccoon. I set my large live trap but nothing came to the bait. It had been set for quite a few days when I happened to look at it this morning. Yep, it was not only tripped but as you can see, two varmints were inside.

They must have walked into the trap shoulder to shoulder to capture both at once. I had to get Sara to help me hoist the trap into the back of my truck, they are huge animals. I took them to a very great habitat and released them both. Neither hesitated and made a flying leap out of the back of my truck towards high grass. Not many predators leave my place alive but these two appeared to be a pair so I made an exception because they are far enough away they won't be back. I hope......

Another broken baby

It was a bad night for this lovely 10-11 month old female Golden Eagle. She was apparently eating on a roadkill and was struck by a passing vehicle on the 18th. She had three strikes against her. First, she was hit at 5:30pm. That person went home and tried for hours to get someone to gather her up. Second, she was two miles inside MT which meant his G&F person couldn't cross the line, he lives in Buffalo. And third, and the worst thing, she was on the Crow Reservation. That meant instead of someone just going and rescuing her immediately, all the agencies had to be politically correct beforehand. That process didn't start until the following morning when Diane started making phone calls after the person who hit the bird remembered she was a retired bird rehabber and called her. She then called me.

It took the combined efforts of the following agencies to make her rescue happen; Joe Gilbert (WGF) in Sheridan, Brad Rogers (USFWS) in Billings, Harold Guse (FWP) in Billings, Shawn Conrad (USFWS) in Billings and Clayvin Herrera (Crow F&G). I drove up to Billings to meet Shawn around 2:30pm and was finally able to bring her to Cody for treatment that afternoon.

LEWEEZE has a broken left leg but she can still use the foot and move the leg up and down so I have very good feelings that this repair will be successful. I'll post further news on her condition and how the surgery turned out.

VERY SAD NOTE: She's gone. I found her about 6:00am this morning having a great deal of difficulty breathing. She died in my arms a few moments later. Her surgery was a success, she was standing and even ate a few rat pieces last night. What killed her was sitting alongside the road for the 17 hours it took to gather her up. Freezing temps after suffering a bad injury is almost impossible to overcome. Now that I have Clayvin's phone number it won't happen again. Fly free beautiful young lady.

FIONN in her new home

FIONN is now living it up in California at Native Bird Connections in Orinda. She flew there last Friday and as you can see in the photo, she's already started her training. She's wearing the equipment that is used when she sits on Jenny's fist for educational programs. She's also munching on her rat. Yuuuuuummmmm!

She's airborne

My lovely FRANNIE is now flying in the eagle barn and doing just great. She's sharing the space with ROXANNE who is recovering from a fractured wing and will be flying as soon as her molted feathers are replaced. Here's FRANNIE just about to land on the top of the tower at one end of the barn.

Beautiful flowers

Yesterday the Buffalo Bill Historical Center here in Cody held their annual Volunteer Appreciation Brunch. As a volunteer there for many years I attend knowing I'd have a super time and get to meet others I only hear about or read about. This time I won. I got a beautiful sliver pin and this bunch of roses to celebrate my 30 years as a volunteer. I started out as a helper in what was then called the Special Events area. I graduated to being the head of that section and then to the graphic department when I retired from my "real job" and could devote more time the center.

Thank you everyone for acknowledging all the super people who work behind the scenes and in front of the public at this amazing institution.

Spiky little thing

His name is Lord Hubert Cumberdale, well that is if it's a male. Otherwise she will be Lady Cumberdale. As s/he's only three weeks old, it will be five years before the sex can be determined. S/he is a Sulcata tortoise from California but now lives here in Cody with my friend Sara along with her snakes and various other animals. Sure is cute and you can see how small s/he is sitting in the middle of Sara's hand.

Temporary visitor

Yesterday a bird came for a visit. This is STINKY, an immature turkey vulture who is going to live with a falconer in Kentucky. Because he was taken as a very young bird and imprinted to humans he cannot be returned to the wild. Now he's going to be an educational bird. Okay, he's not the most handsome bird in the world but he does "have a great personality".

It's a bird, it's a plane, wait.....

Good grief, it's three baby gray squirrels. I got a call tonight from a young lady whose boyfriend found these little babies after cutting down a tree. I didn't realize we had bushy tailed tree squirrels in this area altho in the past I've received two as patients. These three, two girls and a boy, are about two weeks old according to an awesome lady in Louisiana, Emily Winners. She is listed as an orphaned squirrel expert so I called her for advice.

I was amazed when these three took to the nipple on my syringe immediately and sucked down one cc of Esbilac really quick. I have to feed them every four hours but not through the night, thank goodness. I now know I'll also have to use a larger syringe but didn't want to overwhelm them with this puppy diet.

Hopefully they will be ready to go in about three months. By then I'll have the perfect release site picked out.

Jail time

I wanted to take a photo of this bird with his wings in a normal position so it required the closed door. Otherwise he would extend them to the sides as far as he could. This is COPPERFIELD (as in David, the magician who makes things disappear). I got a call about him last week but he had done just that, disappeared, by the time I drove the 20 miles to where he was seen. Then yesterday I got another call from the same person stating the hawk was back on the roadkill again.

It was really windy so each time I got close enough COPPERFIELD just opened his wings and floated off. Luckily he didn't go far, all I had to do was get through one fence to capture him. Rough-legged Hawks are pretty clueless about humans so it didn't take too much time or effort.

Xrays show that he has a couple fractured finger bones and altho he's probably been on the ground for some time they appear in good alignment. As they are so small it would be impossible to pin them so that's why he's incarcerated for the duration. They start their migration to above the Arctic Circle in March, hopefully he'll be ready by then.

He's gone but not forgotten

After successful imping of seven feathers, ASHTON is now back flying and soaring over his home territory. I wasn't sure if the work on his left wing feathers would allow him to fly normally, never replaced that many before. But as you can see from these photos, it did. He was shy about flying when we were around so we got back in the truck and Sara took this photo of him through the rearview mirror. Not long after that he flew to a close tree and then left for good. Hopefully his mate will be in the area so they can renew their bonds and set up housekeeping when the time comes. Thanks Sara and Paul for making this release such fun.

Update on FRANNIE

Here's the latest photo of FRANNIE. As you can see, she no longer wears her "toe shoes" and is now in an outside mew enjoying sitting in the sun on the window perch. She is now able to walk and stand normally on her previously balled up feet. Today she also was given a half of a rabbit to see if she would be able to stand on it and tear off pieces to eat. I'm very pleased to say she's done that beautifully.

Now it's a matter of time to see if the effects of the lead in her system have all been removed and she'll be strong enough for release. At 10 months old she has a very long life ahead of her and I just hope it's out in the wild where she should be.

ASHTON's new clothes

If you go back a few posts you'll see a photo of ASHTON with a bunch of his wing feathers blown off by a shotgun shell. Probably a disgruntled pheasant hunter. This past week he was helped in his plight by master falconer, Chris Pfister. He did what's called imping, or replacing his damaged feathers with those from another redtail hawk. As you can see it takes patience and time to make this happen.

In these bottom photos you'll notice his new feathers and the fact that he's now able to fly up to a pole perch in the flight barn. He'll have a few days to get his muscles back in shape and then go back where he was found to catch up with his mtte.

Awwwwwwwwwwwww!

This is WALTER who was, as you can see, the Honorary Groundhound in the Ellison Bay, WI Ground Hog Day parade. He's a cockapoo cross and the very loved pet of my cousins, Pete and Shirley Repp. He wasn't fully dressed for the top photo, only had his pink crown on. In the parade he donned his black boots and a spiffy coat as you can see in the bottom photo.

Beautiful

This isn't a photograph, it's a painting done by my friend Linda Jolley of Greybull. I met her many years ago when she and her sister brought me an injured grackle. They were born in Scotland and last Saturday we got together at the annual Robert Burns Birthday dinner here in Cody.

She'd told me she had a picture of an owl but didn't know what kind. I thought it was a photograph she'd taken so imagine my astonishment when she presented me with this wonderful painting of a Great Grey Owl. She's donating it to IBR as a raffle item to use for fund raising.

I still have to get it framed but then will set about figuring out how to make the raffle come to life. Thanks Linda, you're the best.

It happened again

This photo shows what happens when an uncaring person aims his shotgun at a raptor. The majority of ASHTON's primary feathers have been blasted away leaving two pellets in his wing.

This adult male Red-tailed Hawk was found in a tree but unable to fly well enough to hunt. There is a nearby game bird farm who allow hunters on their property to shoot game birds. The actual hunting season is closed but this place has permission to continue shooting birds until the end of March.

Because raptors mate for life, and this is the time of year when they're renewing their bonds and selecting a nest, it is very important this male be returned to where he was found. The sad thing is that it will put him in harms way again, and it will also threaten his mate and any babies they fledge.

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.

Thanks Troopers

I want to thank Wyoming State Troopers, Todd Hardesty, Laurie Crocker and Scott Hall for helping to save injured raptors. Todd stood by and guarded an adult male Golden Eagle on Hiway 294 after the bird had been hit by a vehicle. Laurie, another Golden Eagle up near the Chief Joseph turnoff suffering from severe lead poisoning. Scott, just last Sunday, a Rough-legged Hawk that had also been hit by a vehicle.

TROOPER ROCCO was released back where he was found. Unfortunately JOSEPHINE succumbed to the lead in her system and the outcome for JAWS us still up in the air as we can't figure out what the damage is to his wing. It is amazing that these wonderful people would take the time, and care enough, to help injured birds. Thanks again.

And then there were three...

Well, four if you count MUNCHY sitting on top of the power pole in my yard. The top photo is JAWS, a Rough-legged Hawk found on the side of the road yesterday after being hit by a car while she was eating on a dead raccoon (ICK!). She was also being guarded by a wonderful highway patrol officer til I got there.

The the second photo is another roughie found just this morning as I was leaving my house to take JAWS in for xrays. MIKEY was also hit by a car as he was scarfing down on a rabbit. His xrays were so confusing because he was full of rabbit bones making it hard to figure out just what might be wrong with his right wing.

MUNCHY is a wild roughie who comes by every day for a snack. When one of my eagles doesn't clean up the rabbit I give them I toss the remains out in back. About 10 days ago I noticed a large hawk eating on it. Then every day I would see her so naturally I put out something for her to eat. Today when I got home from the vets she was again sitting on the power pole after eating the food I put out early this morning.

Oh yes, you have to count ORSON, the roughie in a previous post to make the total come out to four.

"Toe" shoes

Now don't laugh too hard. FRANNIE got her new shoes this evening. I removed the flat ones and put splints on each of the four toes on her feet. They can move up and down slightly and at this point I hope she keeps them on long enough to make a difference.

This amazing bird has come a long way since I got her two weeks ago. Her lead level was 1.54ppm which is extremely high. Today it is 0.32ppm, a dramatic drop in the number. She's eating cut up rats on her own out of a small ceramic dish as she can't rip and tear on her own. She'd need her feet for that.

I am so excited at this improvement and altho it's not a sure thing by a long shot, her chances of overcoming this horrible poisoning are much better. Thanks Sara for giving me a helping hand with this undertaking.

She's standing !

I was amazed this afternoon when I went to check on FRANNIE and give her some mice. I usually have to coax her to stand in her flat slippers but she was already doing so. She's supposed to start her third round of EDTA to counteract the effects of lead in her system but now I may not have to do that.

I'm not holding my breath and will take one day at a time but this is very encouraging to see. Now if her organs just don't start failing from the poison she may just make it. YAY! ! ! ! !

Really bad feather day....

I took FUDGE out today for release near Eagle Pass but wasn't counting on the wind roaring so hard. Neither was he. Needless to say he was blown all over the place before he got his act together and flew off. Then he headed straight east over the hills, more than ready to be off on his own again.

Another roughie

I drove out in the dark last night to pick up yet another Rough-legged Hawk. I have no idea what's wrong with ORSON but as you can see his left wing is a bit droopy. That isn't stopping him from snacking on his rat. Naturally he was found late on Friday night and the vet isn't open on the weekend so he'll go in on Monday to be examined and xrayed.

Little huns

I used to see these little game birds on my place but not for a decade or more. They used to be called Hungarian Partridge but for some reason they are now called Gray Partridge. We saw this group of six when out doing our yearly eagle count.

Cold and wet

First name, FUDGE, last name, CICLE. Yep, this dark brown baby eagle came in covered with ice. I have no idea what or how it happened but he was very chilled when found. Luckily WGF Warden, James Hobbs, gathered him up after receiving a call about a large bird alongside a road and met me in Powell.

He's a bit thin, weighs only eight pounds, but this morning, after spending the night in a crate in my warm rodent room, he flew up to this wall perch. I've given him a meal and if he eats it all I'll probably take him out and release him in a good habitat in a few days. Hopefully he won't try taking another bath on a Saturday night .

Another poisoning

You'll note in this photo that the bird is not standing quite normally. That's because FRANNIE has severe lead poisoning. She's also wearing some "slippers" on her feet to keep her toes open. One of the signs of advanced lead poisoning is the inability to open their feet.

This amazingly beautiful nine month old Golden Eagle female apparently found food at either a hunters discarded gut pile or possibly a rabbit left after being shot. Unfortunately the raptors pay the price because there is no law preventing the use of lead in big game bullets or .22 rifles. Copper or steel is a much better choice.

Lead is accumulative so any ingested at some point in their life will be added to whatever comes next until the bird slowly dies from being unable to catch food. FRANNIE's knuckles were very abraded after walking around on her fists for some time. She also only weighed 7#10oz which is about three pounds less than she should weigh.

This eagle was started on a product, EDTA, to help leach the lead from her system but that entails six shots a day for three days, three days off, three days on, etc. At this point she starts her second session tomorrow. She's shown some improvement in trying to stand and is now able to eat small, whole mice or larger ones cut up on her own. Hopefully she will recover from this devastating problem