Their new digs

The six baby Chickadees are now in a much larger place so they can try out their wings. It's the Reptarium on loan from Sara, originally for my little bat, YODETTE and now working perfectly for these teeny birds. The very small one is still hanging on, the rest will probably be flying sooner rather than later. And they have a small glass dish full of mealworms and chopped up sunflower seeds so when they feel the urge to self feed it's there for them.

Mystery ? ? ?

A couple days ago a young lady called me to say she'd found an egg near the turn off to the Lower Southfork Road. She thought it was a pelican egg as there were some of those birds nearby in the water. When I got it I knew it wasn't a pelican, they're spotted but on a white background. So far I've sent this photo to Dr. John Fitzpatrick at the Cornell Ornithology Lab, Chuck Preston at the museum here in Cody, Doug Faulkner, a very knowledgeable bird person in CO and even to Paul J. Baicich, one of the authors of the book Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. It has hundreds of photos of actual eggs from hundreds of bird species so thought he might know.

This egg is 2 3/8" long and as you can see rather dark colored with darker spots and swirls. I'm not sure it is viable but the egg is now in my incubator and will stay there for a while to see what happens. Either hatch, explode or just sit there. I've candled it but am not sure what I'm seeing other than the yolk. I'll keep you posted.

Getting higher

All three of the recently arrived baby Great Horned Owls are now as high as they can get in their flight mews. Unfortunately their foster mom isn't flighted so she's on the ground. Just before I got my camera they were all together on the top of the box but naturally, by the time I got back, they had split up.

A bit more flying time and some hunting lessons and they'll all be ready to leave on the journey of their lives, into their future.

From far, far away

This is an amazing tale of survival. The babies in the photo are about 14 day old Chickadee's. The were born in a nest box in CO, about an eight hour drive from Cody. The people who owned the house moved here today and brought all their prized possessions, including a very colorful handmade bird house.

Unknown to them, until just about the time they arrived here, the birdhouse was full. I met them and could barely get my hand inside this tiny house. What came out are these six babies. There is one very small one, in the center, the others are all about the same size. Because they hadn't been fed for so long I gave them each some Ringer's and 5% dextrose for dehydration and then some yummy (to them) mealworms. They are very small but each one of them quickly gaped for food.

Hopefully they will make it and I know the perfect yard to release them in. Mine won't work, chickadees don't come here, but the Neal yard has everything they would wish for.

Number four

Yes, after not having but one baby GHO last year this is number four so far in 2014. He was found inside a shop at the Redi Mix plant in Powell. His mom has her nest way up near the top in an opening which would be difficult to reach. And because of the heavy traffic on the road I decided to bring this baby here and put him with the other two already in residence. He's a bit younger but that shouldn't make any difference. When they're all ready for release I'll probably do that at the same time just as they would in the wild.

Super Memorial Day

It was a hot and beautiful day today so Sara and I decided to drive out the Southfork and see the sights. As she'd never been up Carter Mountain that's where we headed. Packed a Subway sandwich and altho we couldn't get up to the top as we could in the past, we found a wonderful spot on the road to see across the river to the north mountains. And just to prove that even if it's almost June, there's still snow in them thar hills. That's the large white patch behind us in this selfie from Sara's phone.

Newest photo

These two wonderful kids are my godchild, Ian Atkinson and his beautiful bride, Annie. I met Ian when he was two days old back in September of 1978 and have only been able to physically see him once since then when he was about eight. They live near Austin, TX but will be moving to CO soon.

I met his parents when we all lived in Boulder, CO and boarded horses at the same stable. His mom, Linda, and Ian, moved back to her hometown when Ian was just a few weeks old. She has traveled to Cody for a visit a couple times and I've been down there once. I may take the plunge and make another trip south this Fall depending on bird circumstances. I always have to plan around them.

Flowers

I have very few flowers growing in the ground but right now two of my trees are just beautiful. The top one is a Canada Red Cherry I saved from being destroyed when a new building was under construction. It came from Katie Brown's place and is the only tree saved when the bank went in.

The lower tree is the apple tree just outside my front door. With the horrible start to Spring this year I doubted it would get any blossoms but as you can see, it came through. I never get any of the apples, the magpies or wind knocks them down and then the dogs eat what's left.

Treasure ! ! ! !

I just spent a couple hours looking for buried treasure. Actually it's my grandfather's pocket knife that is missing. And that happened way back when I had my horse in the early 80s. I'd seen Joe Ryan's photo in the paper telling about his adventures using his metal detector and thought he might be able to help me. The photo above shows the wonderous finds we made. Okay, they aren't worth anything but it was amazing to see how sensitive those machines are in finding the smallest piece of metal. No luck finding the knife unfortunately.

Survivor, so far

I've talked before about the dangers of lead in birds. This beautiful adult Golden Eagle, ROSE, was found in an open field by some asparagus hunters near Powell. At my first view of her I immediately thought "lead poisoning". She couldn't stand, couldn't open her feet and both wings were very droopy. I gathered her up and as it was too late to take her in to Dr. Blessing, I settled her in a cage here and started her on EDTA, the medicine to remove lead from her system. I also and gave her fluids and put her feet in sandals to keep her toes open.

The next morning she was able to stand for a short time and even walk in her odd shoes. Her trip to the vet for xrays was very enlightening as they showed she has seven lead pellets in her stomach. That is the most dangerous place for them as the acid will leach the lead out and send it through her bloodstream.

Today, Sunday, she's even better. Hopefully the venison and elk meat I'm feeding her will work through her system and carry the pellets out of her body. In the meantime she'll continue the EDTA shots, six per day, until tomorrow morning then another xray will tell us if the lead has passed through.

This is just another reason to ban lead bullets. She wasn't shot but she apparently consumed the pellets from a dead animal/bird that was left in the field.

Caught!

This little Great Horned Owl was caught in a barbwire fence but I can't call him BARBIE, I believe it's a male. So his name is KEN. He was found near Lander and taken to the Wind River Veterinary Hospital for immediate care. They sutured up the damage caused by the fence and the next day he arrived here thanks to two WGF people from the Lander office.

KEN is on antibiotics and he'll go into Dr. Blessing on Monday for xrays to make sure there are no broken bones. He's been a quiet bird and takes his mice from the end of my forceps. Hopefully he'll heal well enough and have strength in that wing for flight.

The other two

Today Sheila and I moved BONNIE 3 out of her mew to ready it for the two remaining baby GHO's. It has a safe box for the babies to hide in plus a place for the foster moms to sit either in with them or above on the box top. There is also a branch leading to another perch for when the babies are old enough to venture out of their nest area.

We went back to the area where they were found but no adults or nest site were seen. Therefore, they will remain here in the care of the resident adult owls.

They have two foster moms, SMIDGE and her roomie who raised two babies last year and did an awesome job. When the babies are older and about fledged they will all go back into the owl habitat so they'll have room enough to fly around and make strong muscles so they'll survive back in the wild.

One down, two to go

Today my visiting friend, Sheila, and I drove back to the area where little CHOMP was originally found. I was astounded when we pulled up to the bridge he had been rescued from and there, sitting in the nearby tree, was an adult GHO. Probably his mom from the size of the bird. We parked and walked that direction to replace him in a tree. The adult flew off to another tree but I put him in the one she had originally been perched in.

These photos show me smiling as he was a handful taking out of the crate and getting gathered up enough to release. Then it took a minute to get him on a branch open enough to hold him. The portrait is the best as he's sitting there with the confidence of a born Great Horned Owl. The final photo is a long shot from the bridge showing him in the tree. His mom is in one about two trees farther away.

And then there were three....

That's CHOMP in the back. He was joined, just a bit ago, with twins, MUTT and JEFF. The new babies are a week or two younger and were found over near Byron in an open field. The finder, Clinton Cordova, didn't see any adults and they were quite far from the surrounding trees. At this point they're just to the waddling around stage so I don't know how they got so far from where their nest tree would be.

They are in good condition, both weigh 24 ounces to CHOMP's 38 ounces. They will stay here under the watchful eyes of foster mom, SMIDGE, until they're ready for release in a perfect habitat.

Don't you come near me

Oh my! He's a tough customer all right. His name is CHOMP and he's about two weeks away from fully fledging from his home nest. Unfortunately he didn't know that and found himself in the middle of the highway, in the middle of a bridge just north of Emblem. Luckily a caring family drove up, snatched him from certain damage and called me.

He's a bit thin but not starving. I don't know how many siblings he has, probably at least one or two. So far he's eaten five mice at a sitting and seems to be very hungry even after all that. As his parents were seen in the vacinity I will take him back and put him in a safe place in that same area.

More new little ones

This is the latest arrival in the cavy room. Two moms had a total of eight babies, one had five the other three. Their dad is TJ and he's been one before, these little ones are just as cute as can be.

Punk kid

His name is PUNK but he's not a kid. This is an extremely handsome adult male Kestrel in breeding colors. He seems to have hit a window last week and is now flying well enough to be returned to his mate. She's been flying around calling for him, wondering where in the world he's gone to. He's being returned to his territory tomorrow.

UPDATE: The release went just the way it should have. There were two kestrels at the site but just before opening PUNK's crate they flew off. He headed for the tip of a dead tree and sat there. Then he flew up to the top of a tall tree and was immediately joined by another kestrel. I have no idea if it is his mate, couldn't see the coloration on their backs due to the suns position.

Just before I left Ken's place one of them flew over to the transformer right next to the drive. Still was facing me so don't know if it was PUNK or not. I'll let the three of the little falcons figure out who's who.

A wonderful day for all

First step to freedom. Loki, the human, opens the crate door for LOKI, the eagle.

First full wing beat.

He never looked back, just forward to his future as a wild and free bird.

Back on December 13th this beautiful almost two year old Bald Eagle arrived here with a broken left wing. Dr. Blessing inserted a pin into the ulna and then the wait began to see if the bone would repair itself and be strong enough for flight. The pin was removed on January 28th and after another two weeks he was put into the eagle flight barn.

It took him about six weeks to finally make it up to the high wall perch but after he found out it was possible he only came down to the ground for food.

Today he was set free at a perfect spot, on Joyce and Nic Patrick's place on the Southfork. With a mile of river front and a large bluff overlooking it, the site was all this eagle could have wished for. It was sunny, calm and beautiful in Cody when we started to drive the 22 miles to Patrick's. A half hour later it was gale force winds, trying to rain and cloudy.

The release went beautifully as you can see from the photos. Thanks to Dan Thiele, WGF, who drove LOKI over the mountain from Buffalo, Dr. Blessing for his usual excellent surgical work, Sara and Loki Sprung for assisting in the release and Joyce and Nic, their daughter, Becky and one grandchild as an enthusiastic cheering section and for volunteering their place as a release site.

My "angel" is flying away

This is certainly not an angel altho his name is HALO. He's a nasty owl and was not at all pleased to be caught up this morning. Little did he know but he was flying free in about an hour. Sara, Loki and I drove up the Northfork near Wapiti, drove south on a very muddy, slippery road into the National Forest and opened the door of the crate. He blasted out and headed west, we never saw him land.

HALO came here in February after being flown over from Story via Gillette. He had a fractured wing and was very weak. Needless to say, this photo shows just how strong is is now. Thanks to Diane Morse in Gillette for arranging the charter flight, Bob and Ryan of Flightline for donating their services, Erika with the WGF who accompanied the owl here and Dr. Malcolm Blessing for the repair surgery on the broken wing bone.

My baby has flown away

It happened a couple months ago, got the photos today from his trainer, Master Falconer Chris Pfister. This amazing young Prairie Falcon came here in such a starved condition I didn't think he'd make it through the night. He only weighed nine ounces, about half his normal weight. Thanks to rehabber, Diane Morse, who gave him a fighting chance with her first night emergency care, he did and has now been released.

Still?????

Yes, there was a 90% chance of about one inch of snow last night, or possibly rain. Well, it was snow and it's still blowing around. There are drifts about a half a foot deep and it's stuck to everything. Not the latest snow on record, that would be in July one year way back when. I think I'll take advantage of this moisture and sprinkle some wildflower seeds on top of it over my small tree garden so they'll get a head start in germination. Of course a lot of my bushes and a couple trees are already putting out buds, don't know what will happen to them. I'll bet, tho, that the weeds will come up like gang busters when this melts.

Mine, it's all mine

A friend who has a couple cockatiels and parakeets, took over raising a baby "tiel" for me when my adults abandoned her. HONEY is all grown up now and has decided to become a mom too.

Well.........that won't work as she doesn't have a mate and is not laying eggs. She didn't care, so she tried to "sit" on a chicken egg in the carton. To keep her from become too frustrated when she kept falling off that huge egg, I gave her a half dozen eggs I've been keeping from hens who, for some reason, laid very small ones.

The top photo shows her picking out the one she liked. Bottom shows her in her "nest" under a couch end table, completely happy having one of her own.

A thin old man

This photo was taken today after I moved him out of the crate and into a 6'x 6' mew. He's doing so much better after only two days.


Yesterday I made yet another trip to Thermopolis to meet Pat Hnilicka of the USFWS. This time he brought me a Golden Eagle. The birds name is DEUCE and he's about as close to death as could be but still breathing. He only weighs 5.2 pounds which is about 3 pounds less than he should be.

I believe he's an electrocution, the most hideous thing to happen to such a magnificent raptor. DEUCE is, I belive, also very old, probably well into his teens. His right eye brow ridge is also damaged but the eye works. Even with all this against him he has spirit and so far so good.

I'm tubing him with lactated ringers and hand feeding him small pieces of venison steak. He's so pale and I wish I could give him a transfusion but that's not possible.

In the past weeks I've received way too many adult eagles who are starving. In some cases there doesn't seem to be a cause, in one he was hit by a vehicle and had internal injuries. And then there are the electrocutions, they account for two. DEUCE and I will put up a valiant fight and hope for an excellent outcome.

He's on his own now

After a long time, difficult surgery, and learning how to use his foot again, the time came today for HIGGINS to fly free. I took him down to a large ranch south of Meeteetse for the momentous occasion. He didn't want to leave the crate but when he came out and sat on the bank above the creek he rethought the situation.

His strong flight ended up on one of the ancient corral poles so he could just look around and enjoy freedom at last. He proved he was strong enough to make live kills so there was no reason for him to stay here any longer. HIGGINS was an amazing bird while here and I know he'll do well out where he belongs.

Not a joke !

This isn't an April Fools Day joke, it's April 2nd and this is what I woke up to today. Yes, that's about six inches of snow! As you can see, it's still coming down so who knows how much we'll end up with. And here I thought, with our upper 50 degree temperatures over the weekend, that Spring really had sprung. NOT! Back to using 4WD to get in and out of my road. And what in the world will all the songbirds, trees and flowers think when they venture out this morning?????