Thank you! Have some pictures!

Huge thank you to everyone has donated since I wrote my baby Kestrel plea earlier this week!! It's been very helpful!

And, as promised, an update of the tiniest Kestrel!  Except...he/she's not really very tiny anymore.  Her/his weight has stabilized around 130g, and that's just three weeks after being admitted at 29g!  Those youguns can really pack it on. 

At 29 grams and ~7-10 days old = cute!

At 130 g and ~1 month old = not so cute? You decide. 

The chick is still covered with lots of fluff, but has begun growing in flight feathers, which is where most of the calories are going for now:

Flight feathers growing in on the left wing

And now that the chick is old enough to live with a role model, he/she has been given a roommate, a male Kestrel also at the RMRP for rehabilitation:

Chick and father-figure

Again, thanks for the donations!  I'll keep posting pictures!  Also, check back soon for pics of the newest young kid: a baby Swainson's Hawk!

The tiniest Kestrel--an update

Last week the Humans admitted their youngest bird yet for the year--a tiny baby American Kestrel approximately one week old.  He was found after some Humans moved some machinery, revealing the little ball of fluff with oversized feet.  There were no other birds (parents or siblings) around, so the Humans brought the chick to the RMRP to raise him. 

6/27/12 - 29 grams

I know the baby and I aren't even the same species, and that in the wild I'd be happy to have him as a midnight snack (I'm too well-fed for that kind of stuff, now), but I have to say: he is so flippin' cute. 

The baby came in weighing a mere 29 grams, and has steadily been putting on weight. A few days ago he weighed 66 grams! In recent days he been putting on 11 grams a day! Us birds don't waste any time growing up.  

When he first arrived he wasn't old enough to eat on his own, but already he's figured out how to eat on his own from a small pile of chopped mouse placed in front of him.  He'd fed only mouse because a single mouse provides all the nutrition a growing bird needs.  While older birds can have a diet supplemented with rabbit and chicken and prairie dog and goose, babies really do need mice.  For instance, I'm fed one mouse with my meal twice a week, and the rest of the week I get other food.  Why is that?  Because mice are expensive, and those other foods are either cheaper or free (thanks to generous donors). I'll explain how they're expensive:  

In order to put on that much weight every day, the baby is eating 1 oz of mouse each day.  As he gets older and starts growing in feathers, he'll require even more food to make up for that energy-expensive process, about 2 oz per day.  Since this bird came in so young, he'll be staying with the RMRP for about 60 days.  One mouse (about 1 oz) costs $0.75.  Let's figure he'll eat 75 mice while he's here.  That's $56 just for that one bird, just for food.  Factor in the time taken to care for him (tiny babies require a lot of attention), the cost of live prey when he attends Mouse School...he's racking up quite a bill for a non-profit organization. 

7/2/12

But here's the kicker: the RMRP currently is taking care of 23 American Kestrels, most of whom are young and voracious.  Let's figure 50 mice per bird for all those other younguns, and that equals $826 (just food!) for only those birds (we see way more than 23 Kestrels each year, those are just the ones currently at the RMRP).  Some of those Kestrels are young and broken, so they require additional healing time (and more food) as well as medical care (antibiotics, pain killers, homeopathics, bandaging materials, etc).  In the end, it's quite a lot of money to take care of these kids. 

7/4/12 - 77 grams!

Don't get me wrong: the Humans love taking care of these birds, and they'll turn backflips to make sure ends meet all year long.  It's just that some times of the year are more expensive than others, and that makes some times of the year are scarier than others.  This is one of those times. 

So here's the deal: for the next fifty days I'll keep posting pics and stories of this awesome little kid as he (or she!) grows up, and in exchange maybe you could throw a few dollars towards his lunch money, and towards the lunch money of all those other kids blown out of their nests, starved out of their nests, or knocked out of their nests by clumsy Humans or clumsy siblings.  What do you think?  Sound like a deal?  If so, the link is here.  Thanks in advance! 

Stay tuned for more pics! 

General Update: 6/27/12

First of all, congrats to the little cat-caught Eastern Screech Owl! He passes mouse school with flying colors (flying fur?) and was released yesterday!

And in other big news, the Humans have officially caught up to and surpassed last year's admissions for this time of year.  They have admitted 93 birds for the year, and it seems like half of those came in just these last few weeks!

Young female American Kestrels

The Humans are up to their ears in baby American Kestrels.  Every day they admit new ones, move the last arrivals out to the rehab cages, move the rehab-cage birds to the large flight cages, and start the large-flight birds on live prey testing.  Whew!  There are dozens of the little falcons to keep track of, all with different colored leg bands on to help ID them.  Thank goodness American Kestrels are sexually dimorphic (males have blue backs, females are all brown), or there wouldn't be enough color combinations on leg bands to give them all a unique identifier! 

Young male American Kestrels

Other recent arrivals include a young Red-Tailed Hawk, a hit-by-car (HBC) Swainson's Hawk, and a high voltage trauma (HVT) Peregrine Falcon.  The Peregrine's injury is old, so he probably won't die from the injuries, but it's unsure whether or not he'll be a releasable bird. Stay tuned: the Humans are trying their best.  He's young, just a second-year bird, and he's very handsome:

Peregrin falcon in a critical care cage

Here's a pic of the HBC Swainson's Hawk.  He's a striking bird, with very pale undersides and a very stark bib.  He's also a fighter (even being hit by a car on I-25 didn't break any bones!), and he's a good reminder that not all Swainson's Hawks are "young and dumb".

Swainson's Hawk in a rehabilitation cage

The Mississippi Kite the with fractured wing has had her bandage removed and is trying it out in a larger cage this week.  So far she's holding it straight and using it well, so feathers crossed that it's perfectly healed!  The RMRP rarely admits adult Mississippi Kites, and usually they're broken beyond repair.  It would be a wonderful thing to give a second chance at freedom to this amazing bird.

Mississippi Kite, holding wings well

Perhaps the best news of all is about the two remaining Bald Eagles.  One was a power line victim, and she had a tough time healing the wound the shock left on her wing.  But the Humans were very determined and creative with her medical care, and the wound is now completely healed.  Soon it will be time for flight training!

And the other Bald Eagle is the one who came in at the end of 2011 scarcely able to walk or stand on her own.  It took weeks to get her to move around flat ground, then weeks to get her to perch on low perches.  It seemed like she was making good progress--slow but steady--when she hit a plateau.  For a few months she made no improvements.  The Humans were almost certain she would never be released, but decided to give her a little more time.  Well, whatever needed to click finally did so a few weeks ago, and all of the sudden she's flying and landing and moving around a double-length flight cage with ease!  Every day a Human goes into her cage to encourage her to fly laps so she'll build up strength, stamina and agility.  She's still a little tentative with her feet, so she's not 100% done with rehabilitation yet, but the progress she's made recently is an inspiration to us all.  Here's a photo montage from today, showing her spread her wings and launch from a high perch in her cage:

Here's hoping she continues making progress and gets out of here soon!  Not only do we want her to fly free again, but she eats a lot of food.

Stay tuned for another update: the RMRP has been receiving a lot of phone calls and emails about the High Park Fire and its effect on the RMRP, and I'll be writing about that soon.  But until next time, wish us luck in rehabilitating and releasing my awesome feathered brethren! 

General update: 6/12/12

The Humans have had another busy week taking care of sick and injured raptors at the RMRP.  Not only are there bird cases coming in daily, but there's smoke from the nearby forest fire to contend with (more on that later). 

Since last week, 11 injured and orphaned raptors have come through the critical care unit.  The majority of these are immature American Kestrels.  The Humans refer to these uninjured birds as "young-and-dumb", because there's nothing wrong with them other than making bad decisions during their first flight.  

When the Humans receive a call about an immature bird, the first question they ask the good Samaritan is "Can you find the nest?"  Often times the nest is nearby, and can be found by following either the peeps and screeches of other babies in the nest, or the aggravated screams of mom and dad as they watch over their grounded offspring.  If there's a nest nearby, the good Samaritan on the phone, or one of the RMRP Humans, will move the bird back near its nest, setting the bird on a branch that's off the ground and out of reach of lazy house cats, curious dogs, and hungry foxes. The addled kid will figure out how to get back up to the nest from its safe new perch.  Contrary to popular belief, parents have no problems accepting Human-contaminated chicks back into the nest.  They can't "smell" the Humans on the bird.  In fact, most of us can't smell at all. 

 If there' no nest in the area, the RMRP gets the bird, which is how we ended up with five American Kestrel kids (all from different nests), another immature Great Horned Owl (currently cozied up next to me), and our first immature Red-Tailed Hawk of the season.  They're all completely fine--just young-and-dumb...and hungry. 

Aside from immature birds, the Humans also admitted an adult Red-Tailed Hawk with a broken wing, and an adult Mississippi Kite from Sterling.  The prognosis on the Mississippi Kite (we call them Miki's around here) is very guarded.  We hardly ever see Miki's here, and when we do they're usually immatures.  When an adult comes in, it's usually because they're very injured.  Fingers crossed for the new guy. For those who've never seen one, this is what an adult Mississippi Kite looks like: 

oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com

In other news, we only have two Bald Eagles!  Unfortunately, one of the original four passed away.  But the other one was a gunshot bird transferred from Wyoming to our large and excellent cage system for flight training and molting.  He soared out of here last weekend.  I'm hoping to nab some pics from a Human who was at the release so I can show you what it was like.  The two Bald Eagles that remain are the long-shot adult with the leg problems and confidence issues, and the high voltage trauma adult with a healing wing wound from a power line.  I'll keep you updated! 

We also kicked out the Turkey Vulture that had been here since last summer.  He flew away to join a kettle (group) of Vultures living in La Porte.  

As for other birds, a lot of the kids (including some of the Kestrels and the one young Screech Owl) are ready to attend mouse school.  As soon as they prove that they know what to do with a mouse [read: catch it, kill it, eat it], they'll be released to the wild.  The Great Horned Owl with the hole in her face is gaining weight (and attitude and strength), and the wound is slowly healing.  The Swainson's Hawks are waiting to finish a molt so they can be released.

Okay, that's enough about birds, how about that enormous wildfire burning just west of here?  For those of you who don't know, a very large forest fire is raging away in the foothills outside Fort Collins.  It's called the High Park Fire, and as of today it's 46,000 acres and 10% contained.  It was started naturally by a lightning strike.  Thousands of Humans have been evacuated, one life has been lost, and well over 100 homes have burned to the ground.  The RMRP has not received any birds from the burn area, but the smoke here in town is a hazard that the Humans are dealing with.  Birds have much more sensitive respiratory systems than Humans (remember the canary in the coal mine?), so the Humans are making sure we're not being disturbed so we won't start breathing fast or heavy.  A lot of the Human staff and volunteers are involved in either fighting the fire, or evacuating from it.  So far no one has suffered any losses.  Here are some pictures from the fire, all taken at or from the RMRP. 

Day 1 (June 9, 2012)

Today (June 13, 2012). The sky would be blue if it weren't so smoky.

Today. The view of the mountains is completely gone. 

Today. Sunbeams shining down through the smoke in the cages. 

On a final note, the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, Colorado is in full swing.  The RMRP is there every Saturday and Sunday all summer long as "Ye Royal Birds of Prey".  This weekend's theme is Ale Fest!  I can't imagine a better time to visit.  Hope to see you there!

Re-nesting the baby Bald Eagle

Here are a few photos from that young Bald Eagle the Humans returned to the nest a few days ago!

CDOPW gearing up to climb the tree

Bald Eagle chick is in the bag!  No, it's not a pinata...

Mission accomplished! Now the chick and his sibling are ready to defend the nest!

Another successful release.  Thanks for your support for the RMRP! 

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!

He's not cute at all

Really, I mean it...

So not cute...

And not goofy-looking, either...

I love being a mom!

New baby!

The Humans coming into my cage left behind a new baby Great Horned Owl!  This one is even smaller than the last one, and is already very full of Great Horned personality (by which I mean he's clacking and hissing and trying to talon the Humans).  What a good kid!

He told me that he was trapped in a window well of a house for a few days and couldn't get out.  But his real mom was still bringing him food, so he wasn't too skinny or weak when he was brought to the RMRP.  Now he just needs to finish growing in feathers and put on a little more weight before going to join the other kid.

Aw, he's food begging from me already! What a good kid!