Babies and Releases

I know it's been awhile since I've written--the heat has me lazy, and the afternoon storms are distracting--but some pretty exciting stuff has been happening recently and it's well past time to give you all an update!  First of all, check out this progression:

The Tiniest Kestrel is all grown up (except for the head fluff)

Can you believe how quickly they grow up?  The little Kestrel is now flying like a champ and is due to start live prey testing this week.

Next in line, the baby Cooper's Hawk.  He's not quite as fluffy as he was a week ago, and would you look at the size of those feet?  Cooper's Hawks are accipiters, a certain group of Hawks designed to hunt and kill birds on the wing.  The super-long toes help them reach out and grab their prey in flight.

Baby Cooper's Hawk

The Humans have also been admitting lots of baby Swainson's Hawks, most right on the cusp of fledging (learning to fly).  It is expected that more and more of these kids will be coming in over the next few weeks, looking for a safe place to finish their flight and prey training.  By "safe place" I mean not in the middle of a road or parking lot, which is where a lot of them are found.  Orphaned Swainson's Hawks who come in this time of year simply need to grow up and get kicked out.  However, if a broken Swainson's Hawk comes in towards the end of the summer and doesn't heal in time for the fall migration, the bird will be overwintered in our large flight cages.  We currently have three of last year's birds in there, mostly waiting for better feathers to grow in.  They include the Swainson's Hawk that had all his feathers burned off last year.  He's growing in new feathers like a champ, but he still has a ways to go.

Baby Swainson's Hawk 

An interesting Swainson's Hawk story is unfolding in cage R-14 right now:  there was an adult Swainson's Hawk, probably male, brought in a couple weeks ago with bodily trauma but no broken bones or wounds (likely hit by car).  He was moved out to a small flight cage, R-14, pretty quickly.  Then a grounded immature Swainson's Hawk was found in a parking lot just six blocks away from where the adult male was found.  The Humans put the kid in the cage with the dad, and wouldn't you know it, the kid rushed up to dad and started food begging instantly!  And when the Humans go in to catch the kid, dad gets really defensive and protective over him.  Usually, "foster" raptors act more as role models than parents, so the overt parenting behavior in this dad probably means the two are related.   Looks like a family was reunited! 

Probable Swainson's Hawk father-child reunion 

In other news, lots of birds are being released these days.  Instead of twenty-something Kestrels in the cages, there are only about ten!  Kids are growing up left and right.  And another very exciting release just happened: the beautiful adult Mississippi Kite that was admitted with a broken wing was released in good habitat in Sterling!  The RMRP only sees a handful of Mississippi Kites in a year, if any, and they're usually immatures that fell out of a nest.  The fact that the RMRP got an adult Kite, and were able to successfully heal and release the bird has everyone feeling warm and fuzzy--except for me.  The only time I feel that way is when I have something warm and fuzzy in my talons. 

Mississippi Kite progression and release

And, last but not least, the Peregrine Falcon that came in with a wing injury is flying circles around her cage, building up stamina and  hopefully looking forward to a release soon!

Peregrine Falcon

That's it for now.  I'll honestly try to stop being such a perch-potato and start writing more blog posts!  And remember, I'm always willing to answer questions and take on requests, so email me at talonsofdoom@gmail.com whenever you want to, or leave a comment below!

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!

This week's general update

The biggest news (to me, at least) is that my baby has become a good enough flier to graduate to another cage. After all, a mom with a bum wing isn't very good at teaching a kid how to fly. However, thanks to me, that kid was sent over to his new mom with a healthy Great Horned Owl attitude (if he took the "Which Raptor Are You?" quiz, he would definitely get "Great Horned Owl"). Still, I sneaked into his new cage to see how he's doing, and it's clear to me that while he may be able to fly with his new mom, he obviously liked me more:

In other news, the Undead Red-Tail likes to perch with his foot outstretched like a total goofball. He's still under the weather and fighting off an illness/infection, but he's improving daily.

He spends most of his time like this

The Swainson's Hawk that survived a run-in with a methane burner last year is molting out his feathers, and the Humans are hopeful that his new set will be high-quality so he can be kicked out of here this year. Here's a pic of what a feather molted from a hawk that caught on fire looks like:

Amazing that he's okay, isn't it?

There are still four Bald Eagles in house, all plodding their high-maintenance way through the rehabilitation process. And we also have three accipiters (two Cooper's Hawks and a Sharp-Shinned Hawk) at the center, which is a pretty high number for them, too. All three were admitted with impact injuries, probably from hitting windows. This includes the Cooper's Hawk shown below, the one that actually shattered the house window she ran into.

After demolishing a button quail for lunch

The Turkey Vulture that was going to be released now-ish is instead molting in a new set of flight feathers. I think he's doing on purpose so he can keep room service as long as possible. But when he's done growing in new feathers (a couple of weeks), he'll be out of here, too.

And, finally, the Great Horned Owl with the luxated elbow flies great despite the wing droop, and started on Rat School yesterday. Rat School (or Mouse School, depending on the size of the bird) is when the Humans put the about-to-be-released bird in a large flight cage, and give the bird live prey for a few days. Instead of simply flying down to a perch to eat pre-killed rabbit, the bird has to catch and kill the prey itself. Happily, the Great Horned Owl killed his rat. Killed it dead. Full marks for the Great Horned Owl!

That's all for now!

Baby update

My kiddo was let out of his box a few days ago, and now he spends all his time cozied up to me.  He's growing up fast, putting on weight and feathers every day.  Before I know it, he'll be fully fledged and on his way out of here.

But for now, he's my responsibility, so I'm teaching him all of my best stuff.  For instance, when Humans peek in the window, I hiss extra loud, and even throw in some beak-clacking and feather-fluffing.  The kid is starting to mimic me very well, and with our fearsome displays combined, the Humans don't seem inclined to come into the cage.

Here he is practicing his scary-face:

I taught him that!

When Humans do come into the cage, I make a point to avoid them as much as possible, instead of my usual behavior of letting them approach and jess me.  I can't have my kid thinking that wild Raptors are supposed to spend time near Humans!  He's becoming very evasive as well.

I have other responsibilities, too, like showing him how to rip and tear his food.  He's at that age right now where he just swallows everything whole, but once he's out in the wild and catching larger prey than the mice the Humans are feeding him, he'll have to know how to shred prey into manageable sizes.  So I make a point to grab my mice with my talons, and tear them apart with my beak...but he's still just gulping his down.  Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually.

Did I mention that the baby gets fed tons of mice?  He has a lot of growing to do, so he's always chowing down.  It's a perk for me too, because I get to eat all the mice I want!  I'm an old hand at this, and I learned long ago that when I have a baby, the Humans have no choice but to keep feeding us if the mice are being eaten, because they can't let the baby become malnourished.  I think Humans call this "milking the system", and it's a very nice side effect of raising a kid on room service!

Ooh, speaking of mice, some more just dropped in through the food chute. Signing off!

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.

Egg Laying at the RMRP

While watching the Kestrel's twitter account (@RaptorProgram), I noticed that he's been posting about the number of eggs being laid by the educational female Common Barn Owl (she's up to four!) and realized you Humans may have some questions about egg-laying. To that end, I've created a list of egg-related questions and answers:

1. When is egg-laying season?

Female Barn Owl in her nest box

Egg-laying season is different for every bird, and a little bit different every year. This winter was warm and mild, with lots of tasty mice running around, so the Owls have been able to start breeding (and therefore laying eggs) earlier than usual. Typically, at least around Fort Collins, the Common Barn Owls lay eggs in mid-April, and the Great Horned Owls in February (although it can be as early as January). This year Barn Owls are sitting on the eggs right now, and Great Horned Owls already have chicks! In fact, a briefly orphaned Great Horned Owl chick was brought in to the RMRP two weeks ago, but was able to be returned to the nest that same day.

Male Barn Owl standing guard over his lady

2. Do captive birds lay eggs?
Yes, we will lay eggs, but only some of us, and only in the right conditions. It takes the perfect combination of conditions (food base, stress, and age key among them) for a raptor to lay eggs, even in the wild. In captivity a raptor has a steady, healthy diet, so that usually isn't a factor, but if the raptor never gets completely comfortable with being in captivity, she simply won't lay eggs. On the other hand, some birds take to egg-laying in captivity like an Owl takes to nighttime. We have numerous educational birds that lay eggs each year, and those birds often lay large clutches since they have the diet and care to support the effort.

3. What does the RMRP do with eggs laid in captivity?

Common Barn Owl eggs weeksbay.org

According to the Humans at the RMRP, it takes a lot of work, permitting and money to breed raptors in captivity. They have decided to not follow that path for a number of reasons: they already have enough work and permits to worry about, and none of the species the RMRP cares for have at-risk populations that require captive breeding. So in order for the Humans to not break the law when the educational birds do lay eggs, they have to destroy them. What this usually means is taking the eggs from the nest and replacing them with fake eggs, or taking the eggs from the nest, making them unviable, then returning them.

Young Great Horned Owls with "mom"

Here's the great part of this process: because the parents are allowed to sit on fake eggs and stay "in the zone", they're ready to take on mom-and-dad duty when orphaned raptors are brought in to the center! When it comes down to it, we raptors are only as smart as our instincts. So if one day we wake up and there are baby birds in the nest, even though they seem a little old for new hatchlings, and gee, I never saw them actually hatch...we don't care! We're wired in one way: if it's an egg, sit on it; if it's a baby, feed it. Through this quirky process, the RMRP is able to supply orphaned raptors with real-life role models. The educational birds teach the kids how to eat (and what to eat), how to keep feathers in good condition, how to hiss and strike at Humans, etc. It works out for everyone.


4. Why don't you hand over the orphaned raptors to other birds in rehabilitation, instead of giving them to educational birds?

Young Great Horned Owl reacting appropriately to a Human

 Well, not all raptors are good parents. Add to that the stressors of being new to captivity, and healing from a traumatic event...they certainly don't need to be raising babies, too. The educational birds are tried-and-true parents, and the Humans know the educational birds aren't going to kill the babies, or steal all their food. Here are some amazing numbers to prove it: the Grey Female Great Horned Owl who passed away a month ago raised ~50-75 chicks with her cage-mate during their time at the RMRP, and the pair of Common Barn Owls have raised over fifty babies between them! And don't worry: the Humans are very careful about how they interact with young birds, so all those chicks were released to the wild with a healthy level of Human-hate.

5. How many eggs do captive raptors lay?

Baby American Kestrel eating lunch

It varies from bird to bird, and from year to year. Last year the female Barn Owl laid six eggs and the female Kestrel has laid as many as 10 in one year. The female Swainson's Hawk (at the ripe age of 21) still produces ~2 eggs each year! The normal clutch size for these birds in the wild is typically 4-5 for Common Barn Owls, 4-5 for American Kestrels, and 2-3 for Swainson's Hawks. In a really bumper year for the prey base, some Barn Owls will lay a second clutch to take advantage of the conditions!

                               -------------------------

Those are all the questions I've come up with today, but if you think of any more, feel free to email me (talonsofdoom@gmail.com) or simply post a comment below, and I promise I'll answer! And stay tuned for details and pictures of eggs and, eventually, baby owls.

Hey Baby

You may not realize it, but spring is in the air. Actually, spring was in the air weeks ago when I first started exchanging hoots with the gorgeous wild Great Horned Owl that perches in the tree outside my cage. It's very Romeo and Juliet, except that I (Juliet) am only flirting and leading the handsome fella on. But I can't help myself--his hoots are so deep and resonant. Still, he'll be pretty surprised the day he comes down for a visit and realizes where I live.

It's not just me in a lovin' mood right now. The old Red-Tailed Hawk nest on the property is being taken over by a nesting pair of Great Horned Owls, and they're hooting up a storm every night. It's all "Hey baby" this and "Hey Baby" that. Even a couple of Great Horned in recovery cages are cozying up to each other and hooting sweet nothings in each others' ears.

Yes indeed, spring is in the air, and it's at least two weeks early. That means, of course, that what the Humans refer to as "Baby Season" is just around the corner. Then the orphans and other youngins start pouring through the doors, and the busy time of year is officially kicked off.

I can't tell what exactly the Humans think about this. On one hand they seem unenthusiastic, like they're already anticipating all the work that goes into raising raptor chicks without imprinting them. But sometime they seem excited, and I definitely overheard someone mention "the way baby owls smell" with a touch of longing in her voice.

Any way you slice it, there will be babies here at the RMRP sooner than later. And as a foster mom myself, I can assure you that some interesting stories and fun pictures will definitely be coming down the line.  I'll be sure to let you know the moment our first babies come through the door!