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. :)
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