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

The word is out

Here's my second hungry visitor. This time it's a Rough-legged Hawk that showed up yesterday. Actually I've been seeing a roughie around my place for quite some time but this time the bird was sitting on top of a power pole in my yard. I had an extra thawed rat so I tossed it out on the ground. That disappeared quickly.

Then today here's the bird again, I assume the same one, sitting on a pole as I drove into my place. I found a partially eaten rabbit carcass that one of the eagles hadn't finished so I tossed that outside my perimeter fence. Sure enough, a few minutes later the bird was chowing down.

Another FIONN update

Apparently FIONN isn't meant to be returned to the wild. Just a few days after her pin was removed she rebroke the wing. She had surgery again yesterday and is now wearing yet another support bandage for a couple weeks.

This time she has another pin in her wing but this one is buried and will not be removed. Because she doesn't have full extension of her wing she will be heading for CA as an educational bird when the weather gets better and her new mews are built to necessary dimensions. Her rare leucistic coloration will be a great enhancement to the Native Bird Connections roster of birds that Jenny takes around the state for many tens of thousands of people to see up close and personal.

Her attitude all along has been amazing and she's still missed few meals in the almost three months she's been here. I will miss seeing her bright face looking back at me but will follow her escapades in her new home.

Hungry visitor

This morning, while doing chores, I frightened off a large bird but didn't see what it was. Then I came out of the bunny barn and spotted a dead pigeon right in front of me. And sitting on top of the closest power pole was the large bird. It's a Prairie Falcon waiting for me to get away from his meal.

Just to make it easier for the bird, I picked the pigeon up and tossed it closer to the pole and farther away from me. I went back to hauling water to the birds but noticed a short time later that the falcon was munching away while taking looks around every couple seconds to see if anything was coming close enough to steal his meal. A couple hours later and all that's left are some feathers......

Eruption

This photo was taken just after he was spotted on the ditch bank.

That's what it's called when dozens and dozens of Snowy Owls move south out of Canada into the US. It happened on a grand scale last year, this year, not so much. Today I got a call from Cindy Lentsch (her husband is the WGF warden in Worland) saying she got a call about a downed snowy.

I met her about halfway and gathered up an extremely starved, absolutely beautiful, what I believe to be an immature male. He was very weak and by the time I made the 45 minute drive home he was unable to hold up his head and died about an hour later.

This is the first snowy owl I've received and he is the first bird arriving this new year. I am so saddened by his loss. As there are no broken bones I assume he just couldn't catch enough meals to keep his strength up. That made it doubly difficult to catch whatever he did find. And so on and so on until he just gave up.

I feel priviledged to have had him in my care for even such a short time. Thanks Randy, Caleb, Stacey and Cindy for taking the time to try and save him.

Super release day

I set a record today with releases. An earlier post showed KIRBY leaving. Then around noon today a friend, Sara, and I took two GHOs and one Saw-whet Owl to Green Creek west of Cody for release. SW went a few miles up the road to Jim and Madonna Zumbo's place, an ideal habitat for these tiny owls. This photo shows s/he sitting in a tree scoping out the terrain.

This photo is of the two GHOs, PUDDLE and GOOSE just before they made a leap of faith to head back to the wild. PUDDLE suffered from a badly broken wing but thanks to the expertise of Dr. Erin Pedersen he flew with strength and never looked back. GOOSE came in because for some reason he just wouldn't fly when the game warden approached him. He also left the crate, albeit, after thinking a bit longer but never stopped at the close trees, he headed out for parts unknown.

Beautiful lady

A most awesomely beautiful adult Northern Harrier, BECKY was found alongside a road, the victim of a losing battle with a vehicle. She has a broken right wing but again, only the ulna is fractured, the radius is okay. Amazingly it's the smaller of the two bones between her wrist and elbow. As the bones are in wonderful alignment she will not have to undergo surgery but will have to wear this bandage for a few weeks until the bones knit.

I've had female harriers make outstanding recoveries from the damage inflicted upon them and I hope this pretty bird follows the trend.

Moments away from release

KIRBY is sitting on the highest perch in his mew just before I gathered him up for release. Of course he didn't head the direction I thought he would when I tossed him in the air. And of course I didn't have my camera with me as most birds go too fast for me to catch a photo.

This time he not only flew right above me but circled many times as if to get his bearings, or say goodbye but I don't think that was it. He flapped and soared around and finally headed west over the hills behind my house. Now all he has to do is wait until March when Rough-legged Hawks make the return migration to their breeding grounds above the Arctic Circle in northern Canada.

Almost ready

This is INGALL, an immature female Prairie Falcon I received in Auigust with two broken wings. Amazingly they were broken in exactly the same place on her radius but both ulna were okay so they acted as splints.

For the past two months she's been with master falconer, Chris Pfister, my subpermittee, getting in condition for possible release. With his experience in working with falcons, he will know when she's ready and if she's strong enough to make it on her own. At this point all systems are go!

Another wee patient

This tiny owl, as a lot of you know, is a Saw-whet Owl, the second smallest found in this area, weighing only a couple ounces. S/he was found in a large garage between Cody & Powell. S/he probably went in there after a mouse and decided to stay. As all the three large doors were open I don't know why it remained, maybe looking for more meals.

As you can see, s/he loves mice and was chowing down as I took the photo. I'll take this mighty little hunter out to a habitat where there are no people or garages and release her/him.

More about FIONN

FIONN is now in a much larger pen and she seems a lot happier. We still haven't removed the pin as xrays taken last Thursday show no improvement, perhaps even backsliding a bit. As you can see in this photo, she's full of herself and it daring me to come close. Unfortunately she can't open the other wing so it loses something in the translation.

I am still in awe of her beauty every time I see her. She's an amazing bird and I continue to have hopes she'll fly again one day.

Another young redtail

This is BUNNY, an immature female Red-tailed Hawk. She was found alongside a road near Powell, probably hit by a vehicle. As you can barely see, her right eye is very swollen and her wing is drooping. I can't find anything wrong with the wing but she goes in today to have both injuries examined by Dr. Blessing.

She got her name because while she was walking alongside a county road she happened upon a rabbit carcass and decided that even with her damage it was too good a meal to pass up. Luckily the young man who called me agreed to stand by so she wouldn't disappear by the time I got there. Now it's a question of the extent of the damage and if shes blind in that eye.

Another sad ending

Today I made yet another long drive, this time to Shoshoni, to meet Meghann Karsch of the WGF. She had called earlier this morning about an injured Great Grey Owl. They are very rarely seen as they spend most of their time back in the deep woods. This beautiful adult female had been hit by a vehicle and suffered a broken right wing.

It appeared to be a very horrible wound but because this is only the third GGO I've received in 25 years I wanted to see if we could help her. Unfortunately xrays showed that her humerus was broken in three pieces with the blood supply so compromised she would have had to have her wing amputated at her shoulder. The USFWS, in their infinite ignorance of what we do, has decided that no bird can be kept if the wing requires full amputation. So instead of this amazing, rarely seen, awesome bird being used as an educational ambassador to tens of thousands of people, we were required to euthanize her.

I am so sad when this happens, this has been a bad week for saving our precious raptors.

Cruelty by hunter

This morning I went to Lovell to try and find an injured bird. I got a call last night from Mike Johnson telling me about a hawk he'd seen when pheasant hunting near the Big Horn Canyon Wildlife Habitat. His dogs pointed the bird but as he thought it was just on the ground eating he called them off, came back to Cody and called me after thinking it over. I then called the Lovell game warden, James Hobbs, but unfortunately he was also here in Cody for a regional meeting and couldn't get back home until late. Oddly, the bird was located just about a quarter mile from his house. He did look last night for some time but as it was very dark he couldn't find the bird.

Thanks to a willing Mike Johnson and his amazing German Wirehaired Pointer, KAISER, we returned there today and found the beautiful adult female Northern Harrier within about 10 minutes of arriving on site. The horrible news, hence the title, is that she had been shot and suffered a broken left leg and right wing. Neither was repairable so she was euthanized.

That particular area is the perfect habitat for harriers, we saw two or three flying around as we were driving into the field. Unfortunately some hunters either don't take the time to identify their target or just shoot at any flying bird the size and color of a pheasant. So sad for this amazing bird.

PUDDLE is flying high again!

After two surgeries on his broken wing, PUDDLE is now in the owl flight area and after only one day is sitting on the highest perch. Thanks to Dr. Erin Pedersen for doing such an amazing job on this young owl. He will spend some time in this area to gain needed strength in his flight muscles so he'll be ready for release after the first of the year.

New kid on the block

Here's the newest boar in the cavy herd. His name is TWISTER as even his whiskers are kinky along with his hair. His grandfather is a Teddy variety of cavy and is also roan. He is much too young to be used for breeding but I'm sure his genes will bring a wonderful array of babies into the world.

Before & after

I have no idea what makes them do it but these photos show FABIO before he was put in with some sows and after he'd been in there for a week. For some reason the ladies don't like his long hair and barber it off. It will grow back when he's put back in his own room but for now he looks rather moth eaten albeit still a very handsome young boar.