General update: 5/31/12

Well, it seems like slow season has come to a close.  Yesterday there were two calls for bird rescues (a downed Eagle and a baby Kestrel) before the Humans opened their doors for the morning!  Before 9:00 they received two more calls (another Kestrel and a baby Screech Owl), and later in the day the Humans picked up a Kestrel that had been both oiled and caught by a dog. Whew!  That means my weekly updates may be a little more interesting from here on out (although I can always hire a Cooper's Hawk to write for me--that was entertaining!).

Anyways, here's what's going on at the RMRP:

There are now FIVE Bald Eagles in rehabilitation!! 

 Yeah, that's right, five insatiable and difficult Bald Eagles, a mix of immatures and adults.  The newest arrival is this year's kid, still growing in feathers. He fell out of his nest but didn't damage himself too much, so the Humans are going to try their best to get him back into his next as soon as possible.  If there's a chance for a kid to be raised in the wild like they should be, the Humans try to make that happen. Even with the kid hopefully leaving soon, that leaves four Eagle-sized appetites to feed, and four Eagle-sized doses of medications, bandaging materials, vet consults, and cleaning materials. If you can help by throwing some money or fish our way, the Humans would really appreciate it. Click the "donate" link to the right!

We got in an Eagle, but kicked out a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, the one with head trauma and a fractured metacarpus (wing).  Of course, a Sharpie eats next to nothing compared to an Eagle, but a trade is a trade, and the Humans aren't complaining.  He flew out of sight faster than you can blink, and hopefully he'll steer clear of windows in the future.

Another baby Great Horned came in with mild abrasions. He's hanging out with me right now, until he can fly well enough to join the others.  This one is particularly cute, and he spends a lot of time cozied up next to me.

All the other birds are status quo, nothing to report except general improvements overall!

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that the Cooper's Hawk is getting pretty close to release.  He's still convinced that he's been "captured" and is being "held against his will", but he's healing well and should finally be leaving me alone soon.

Alright, that's all for now. I'll be sure to let you know how the new admissions are doing!

General Update

Still not a whole lot going on at the RMRP, but certainly some interesting cases coming through the cages.  Here's the quick-and-dirty:

--First off, I can't remember if I told everyone that the Humans released the grill-head Red-Tailed Hawk! Remember him? He was found with his head stuck in the grill of a truck, and came in looking like this:

Very sick Red-Tailed Hawk after colliding with car

Well, he was released last week! Despite a fractured skull and awful head trauma, he's out there striking fear into the hearts of small rodents again. Congratulations to the RMRP for a job well done!

--Onto more current cases, a few days ago the Humans admitted a Cooper's Hawk that hit a house window...and shattered it. Can someone who's better at physics than an Owl please explain how a soft, feathery bird that weighs about half a pound can shatter a house window? Unfortunately, the outlook for this bird isn't hopeful, but it is a good reminder to keep your bird feeders away from windows, and apply decals to your windows if you have lots of birds zooming around.

--Admitted two baby Great-Horned Owls last week! Same nest, different days!  The first kid to come in was still very young. He was found at the base of the tree in fine health, but pretty vulnerable.  The Humans were able to put him back in the nest with his younger sibling.  Then, the very next day, the Humans had to rescue another young Owl from that same nest.  This one had gone out on his maiden flight and ended up standing in the middle of the road.  The Humans couldn't put that bird back in the nest because he was more flighted than his younger sibling. If they tried, the Humans would place him in the tree near the nest, he'd instantly fly away again because of the Human in his face, he'd end up on the ground, and the cycle would begin again.  Therefore, when the RMRP gets in mostly-flighted babies, they have to keep the baby until it's fully-flighted. So the mostly-flighted baby is here at the RMRP, finishing growing in feathers and learning how to be a fearsome creature.  Hm, I wonder where they put him?

Poor wing position, but excellent flight! Can't judge a book by it's cover...

--The Great Horned Owl with the luxated (dislocated) elbow is doing surprisingly well.  Despite the fact that he holds his wing out at an awkward angle, he's doing laps around his cage like nobody's business.  Soon he'll graduate to a cage with fewer perches to depend on.  Then he'll attend mouse school, and if he passes that he'll be released!

--The Red-Tailed Hawk with the broken foot is out of his splint and beginning to use the foot to grab the perch. That's excellent news because while wings need to be perfect for release, feet only need to be functional enough to grab perches and food, and this guy is well on the way to two functional feet.

--There are still FOUR Bald Eagles in house. Enough said.

SWHA's nest-building skills at work

--As for Educational Ambassadors, the female Common Barn Owl is busy rolling and tending her fake eggs, and the female Swainson's Hawk is contentedly arranging sticks in her cage.

And that's all the news for this week!  Time for me to get back to my baby.

Quiet week

Not much going on at the Raptor Program this week. In fact, not a single bird was admitted in the past seven days! That's unheard of here. Sometimes it seems like the Humans should install a revolving door, or maybe a conveyor belt, to bring in all the sick, injured and orphaned raptors...but not this week. Not only were there no admits, there were two releases! An Eastern Screech Owl and a Red-Tailed Hawk were both given their second chances at freedom this week.

Even though no birds came in this week, there was still plenty of hustle and bustle at the center. Judging by the sounds of shuffling and stapling coming from the main building all week long, the Humans are using this low-bird week to catch up on paperwork. Sooo glad I don't have the opposable thumbs necessary to do that stuff. Also, because the weather is warm again (yuck!), the Humans are coming into my cage armed with scrub brushes and buckets of hot water, dead-set on scrubbing all my carefully-placed mutes off the walls. They have no appreciation for art.

Still, with the end of the year only a few days away, the Humans are expecting a few more birds to come through the doors at the last minute, just to bump the numbers up a little bit. Like they need it. Two-hundred and forty-two birds have been admitted this year, and that's plenty. But hey, that's what the Raptor Program is here for! As I overheard a Human say earlier today, "We'll just enjoy this quiet week while we can, and not bank on it lasting much longer!"

PS: I have noticed that lots of people have been visiting my blog, which is excellent...but I have no idea who you are. I'd love to read comments if you care to leave them! Then I can pass them on to all the other birds here in the cages! I'm sure they'd enjoy hearing from you. Also, so you don't have to think about checking back all the time to see if there are new posts, you can just subscribe to this blog by typing your email into the box in the sidebar on the right of the main page. Thanks for reading!