ICU and Owl Release

My third week in ICU starts with some sad news , one of the two golden eagles that came in died. We did get an osprey in ( also known as a water eagle). He had the funniest ruffle of feathers on the back of his head that made him look like he had constant bed head. Im not going to dwell too much on the ICU that day because not only did anything really crazy or interesting happen ( it was just a typical ICU day) but I got to do my first Release that night!

Once our animals are rehabilitated they are able to be released into the wild. The key turning point where we know our animals are ready for the wild again is when they are able to successfully complete a live feed. This is when a live food is put into their enclosures and the birds are able to successfully hunt and capture their prey. Knowing that they are able to catch their own food lets us know that in the wild they are also capable of hunting.

So there are two ways you can release a bird, the simple one is just opening the box and allowing the bird to come out on its own. The second option is wearing a pair of gloves and taking the bird out of its box and launching it into the air. Since it is my first time and I am still relatively new at grabbing birds it is recommended that I just open up the box.

4 p.m. rolls around and I get to pick up my owl. I recruit my friend to drive me so I can hold the bird in his box. Even though the boxes have a top that isn't meant to open on its own I figured better safe then sorry. I wouldn't want to be driving by myself and have an owl get loose in my car. I get to Liberty and here is my package!. Sara Great Horned Owl Sun night! I take my box and my owl is moving around like crazy! You hear him scratching around in there and you hope he doesn't somehow manage to escape! I decide to take the owl out to the Superstition Mountains which will give him lots of mice and rabbits to eat and lots of cactus and trees to perch in. We release our owls at dusk because since they are nocturnal releasing them at night they are more likely to hunt for food right away and explore their new environment. After driving for a little bit the owl calmed down but through the holes in the box you could see him glaring at you. I don't get spooked easily but seeing a pair of angry looking bright round yellow eyes starting at you from darkness is a little unsettling! IF only he knew we were taking him to a new home!

We arrive at the First Water TrailHead at the Superstition Mountains right when the sun is setting. The view is beautiful and I am so excited to let my little guy go! This is my boyfriend and I walking away from the car and into a denser part of the desert. Here I am opening up the box getting ready to release the owl. A nice view of the sunset. And finally here is our owl out of his box and observing his surroundings! . I was kinda of expecting the owl to come flying out of the box into the sunset but his exit was actually way more comedic. He busted out of that box and spent a while glaring at his. He must not have been a fan of his box! Sorry the picture did not come out more clear, my friend was using her camera for these pics and we didn't find out until we were reviewing them later that on some pictures her focus was not , well focusing. The owl hung around in that spot for a couple minutes and of course right when we turned our recordings and cameras off he flew off into the desert! Unfortunately there is no video of him flying away but I have included a video of him coming out of his box. :)

It felt so good to watch this owl being released into the wild! Knowing that with the help of an excellent team of people an injured or abandoned bird can be taken in, rehabilitated and successfully released into the wild is an amazing feeling. I can't wait for my next release!

Note* For some reason I cannot upload a quicktime video of the release so here is the embedded video from YouTube. Again sorry for the bad quality. Next time I will use a camera instead of my iPhone!

Day 3- ICU

So its my second day in ICU and I am pumped up. I walk in and this is what greets me. HELLO, golden eagle. This guy and a buddy came in from Utah where they had apparently been hit by a car. I am not sure if this was a juvenile, I don't believe so but a lot of juvenile birds are the ones that end up getting hit by cars. They are practicing their flight and sometimes cannot avoid cars in time and such. This one was in way better shape then the other golden eagle and sadly about a week later the second golden eagle passed away. The one pictured is thriving though and is now able to eat on its own. Let me just say how massive and amazing these creatures are. Whenever I take a look at it in its ICU cage I just see its HUGE talons, its feet are bigger than the palm of my hand. It is also so regal the way it just stands on its perch watching. A specialized trainer is the one who handles the bird and he has to put on these huge gloves that go all the way past his elbow to avoid the bird's talons. Hopefully this guy keeps on recovering and we can soon let him back out into the wild!

A funny story for today though, I prepared food for our ravens which is a smorgasboard of mice, dog food, cheese, eggs, and fruit. I was cooking the eggs in the microwave when I went out to the fridge to get some cheese and fruit. When I came back I see someone stopping the microwave. I open the door and inside waiting for me is a giant mess of exploded egg bits everywhere. HA. Apparently I was cooking the eggs for way too long , even though ironically this was the second batch I was making with the same amount of eggs in the same amount of time. Obviously I had to clean the microwave and I have never seen such a big mess in a tiny space. It was like the movies, there was egg hanging from the ceiling of the microwave, the door, sides, bottom . basically everywhere. Good times.

I got to bond with an education great horned owl named Virginia who is just the sweetest owl you can meet. She is so friendly and comes to the front of her cage to watch you clean the cages. You can put your finger in the cage and she will give it a little nibble with her beak,precious because she is still a juvenile but pretty soon that habit will have to be stopped because her beak is going to get sharper and tougher. I prepared her food ( mice) and when I was putting it in the cage someone told me to give her one by hand. I didn't have my leather gloves on so I was nervous but I put my hand up to Virginia's mouth and she took some mouse right out of my hand. Owls are my favorite animals so it was so exciting feeding her by hand! THis isn't a picture of anyone at Liberty Wildlife but I just wanted to put up a picture of what Virginia will look like when she is all grown up. This was actually a bird demonstration at the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, Az.

I also got to practice my bird wrangling skills and grab a Red Tailed Hawk He had an injured wing and when I tried to grab him in an effort to escape he fell backwards off his perch. Poor guy. I went in for the grab again and he got my glove with his talons. Now I understand what the bird steel grip is like, so strong. It was to the point where I had to get someone to distract him so he would release my glove and I could grab him correctly. This is why leather gloves are mandatory when handling any birds with talons. If I hadn't had gloves that grip would have been so painful, just feeling it through the gloves was enough for me. Those talons mean business. Once he was grabbed though he received his medicine and went back into his cage. Here is a picture of someone else who grabbed another red tailed hawk we had in ICU.

The rest of the day went out without a hitch and I finished up my second week in ICU.

Pictures

Here is a movie and pic I took with my phone of one of the Education guys working with his eagle. I believe it is a juvenile bald eagle.

Day 2 with picture!

My second day at Liberty WIldlife was in the ICU department inside the building. Thank God, Air Conditioning! I have some new team members today who are also training in ICU. You train in the 3 different departments at Liberty Wildlife, Rehab, ICU and Education.
Today will by my first day in ICU of what will be my month long training before I move to a month in both Rehab and Education. The ICU has a section of cages set up for the little seed eating birds, a section for the meat eating bigger birds and also some bins for the smaller / babies to be kept in. The animals stay in ICU until they are well enough to go to rehab. We start off the day with cleaning the newspaper trays for the birds in the metal cages. Luckily a bunch of them were fairly clean and you just had to roll up the newspaper and throw it away but some birds ( especially the Ravens) left some nice, wet surprises on the newspaper for you. After all the newspapers are clean its time to feed the birds. Some birds like doves are seed eaters and those are pretty easy to take care of, you just stick your hand in the cage and give them seed and water. The insect eaters like the cactus wrens and night hawks ( very cool bird by the way) get little meal worms in their food dishes along with water. Some of the more sickly and little birds require a little bit more extra attention and they will be tube feed. The tube feeding food is a mixture of water and some gritty seed like material. The birds are tube feed by inserting a tube into their crop and filling it up with this mix. ( This mix does have a name but I am blanking on it right now, I will get back to you). Birds have this crop to store food after they eat so they have some for later. Im still working on getting the knack of tube feeding because not only do you have to hold the bird in one hand but you have to make sure to stick the tube into the crop and not down the throat to the lungs. Getting food in the lungs, just like us will make the bird choke. The seed and insect eaters are fairly easy and calm to take care of and get down the quickest usually. I forgot to mention while the ICU team is at work a specialized medical services personnel is working hands on with the animals that require medical attention. The med services will administer pills, shots, force feed, stitch, bandage etc.

The bigger, meat eating birds are next and a lot of them are grumpy from being bandaged up. In the ICU today we have barn owls, great horned owls, peregrine falcons, ravens, hawks and kestrels. Its a party and everyone is invited. For these birds you have to pick up any scraps in their cages and weigh them, this allows you to see how much the bird is eating compared to what is being given to them. Any time an animal is fed it is recorded onto a chart the day and how much the food weighed. You can tell if a bird is getting better or worse by the amount of food they eat. Some birds are picky and will leave just the tails of the mice or the wings and legs of the quails we give them. Some might not finish their food because they do not feel well or they are just getting too much food. Once the scraps are picked up you weigh new food and give water as well. Anytime you stick your hand in the cage it is recommended that you where gloves. Most of the time the birds will back into a corner and just watch you as you change their water and food but some will try to bite you or foot you with their talons. The peregrine falcons and kestrels love to eat chicken and quail while the owls, hawks and ravens usually like mice. The barn owls are particularly aggressive when it comes to being around their cage. They will hiss at you , open up their wings and bob at you back and forth while you clean their cage. The meat eating birds go without a hitch and then its time to start handling the birds for the medical services. The trainees have to suit up in some gloves and grab the birds out of their cage to hold them while med services checks them over and gives any medicine that is needed. I am asked at first if I wanna grab an owl but I decline because I wanted to watch some people do it first because I just shot my hands in there. The first guy pulled out was a barn owl and all he did was SCREAM while being held. This scream was raspy and loud and just incredible to hear. Its hard to believe a bird can make such noise. Here is the guy that made so much noise. This was taken just after he was fed some mice so his face is a little messy. Next up is me and I start off easy with a little Kestrel. He was small enough to be held in my hands but I still had to wear gloves to watch out for his talons and beak. He is given some food and medicine then put back in his cage. Yay, for me I grabbed my first bird! No one was hurt in the making of this bird grab. The day goes on successfully and after all the animals are fed and full the first day in ICU is wrapped up at Liberty Wildlife.

P.S. feel free to ask any questions.

Day 1

I woke up at 5 a.m. Sunday to start my first day at Liberty Wildlife. I was extremely nervous as I drove to the center, I had read the start up manual over and over so I could be as prepared as possible. I arrive at meet my Team Lead Eric and my Team members. The first day I will be in the rehab facility.

Liberty Wildlife is a center made up of 3 main parts, ICU where the new injured animals go. Rehab where the recovering and getting ready to be released back into the wild go. Last is Education where animals who cannot be released back into the wild, whether due to imprinting or injuries to severe, are kept and used for educational purposes. These education animals are the ones you see at presentations at school, conventions etc. For example some birds might have a wing too badly broken to heal properly and this does not allow the bird to fly. Obviously a bird that does not fly cannot live in the wild so this would be an example of a bird kept for education. Imprinting is a state an animal goes through when it gets too used to human contact. It can either see the human as one of its own, for example an owl sees all the humans as other owls, or it cannot distinguish itself from the humans, hence the owl will think it is a human. Unable to tell man from animal this does not allow an animal to survive in the wild, however some can shake this imprinting process.

So I begin my day with my partners and I am instantly thrust right into the process. First of all, I might mention that even though its early in the morning, it is an Arizona August summer morning and it is already hot. And having the bird's food, fish and meat in the sun is not pleasant! Luckily for me I get over smells easily. The water birds are first and they consist of herons, storks, ducks and geese. I watch my partners clean the first few enclosures to get the hang of it and then I get my first chance with some little herons. This a was about a month ago so I can't remember the exact species but I think it might have been a green heron. I go in nervously, even though the birds are small it is my first time and I don't want any to leave or peck me! The basic cleaning of an enclosure includes cleaning out the water bowl and giving new water, same with the food dishes, cleaning off any messes and also making sure all the animals in the enclosure are still alive. The herons are wary of my entry as they should be so they can also be afraid of the humans in the wild. When its time to feed the herons things get a little juicy, its a bowl full of dead herrings. I finish the feeding and I successfully complete my first enclosure. I finish up the water birds with the duck and geese enclosure.

Next we move on to the aviary with the seed eating and insect eating birds. I love little birds so this was fun. The aviary contained doves, quails ( adorable), woodpeckers, grackles, pigeons, swifts, sparrows, finches and many more. These aviary cleaning follows the same guidelines as the water birds, clean water and new food. The best was the quail enclosure because it was filled with baby quails who were just running around frantic everywhere but when you put the food down they all ran and stood in their food bowl to eat. The woodpeckers had a good time pecking at their wood enclosures and were very sneaky and tried to get out more then once.

We round of rehab with the raptorial birds, the meat eaters. This is when feeding gets a little gruesome. That day in rehab we had ravens, coopers hawks, harris hawks, kestrels, red tailed hawks and peregrine falcons. The enclosures we had also had barn owls, great horned owls and bald eagles but the owls are fed at night and the bald eagles require special feeding by people a little more specialized on bald eagles. For these meat eating birds you have to prepare them a gourmet meal of cut up mice, quails and chickens. You have to get over any squeamies really fast when you are preparing their meals. The ravens get more of a smorgasboard that includes meat, eggs, dog food and fruit. My first task is the Harris Hawks and my heart is pounding there are about 5 hawks in the enclosure and I am to go in take out scraps, dump the water, give new water and food. I try to calm my heart down and go in, I walk along the sides to give the birds the middle of the enclosure to fly in. Its crazy feeling these birds fly past you as you are in their enclosure, a little scary as well because they all have sharp talons which they can scratch you with. The scraps I get to pick are nice and moist thanks to the random downpour we had the night before. When I get to putting the food in I get nervous again because I don't know if the birds are going to try to swarm at me when I have the food. I put some on their posts and on their perches and I leave. The birds just stayed in their places and watched me, the occasional one flew across the enclosure but for the most part they stayed away. I also take care of the Coopers Hawks, Kestrels and Peregrine Falcons. The kestrels I thought were interesting, they were tiny little birds. You don't think something this little would be a meat eater. I also was in awe of the peregrine falcons, I mean I was in an enclosure with one of the fastest animals on earth. I got to feed them! It was absolutely amazing.

So that was my first day at Liberty , sorry for the post being so long. The next ones wont be as long and they will also include pictures. :)

First Post

Ok, here is my real attempt to have a blog that I keep up for more then a couple weeks. As the about me states, I am a biology major at ASU and I am currently volunteering at Liberty Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Arizona. At Liberty we take in injured Arizona Wildlife and get it back up and out to its natural environment. Those animals who cannot be let back out into the wild are used for education purposes to teach others about the world around them. Ill take pictures and post videos and just write a little about how my volunteer day goes. Feel free to ask any questions :)