Raptor vocalizations

I don't know if you remember, but last week when I wrote about Red-Tailed Hawks, I promised a blog entry dedicated to the Red-Tailed Hawk's notable scream and how it's used in Human media.  Well, I couldn't find any actual examples of the misusages, but you all know what I'm talking about:  the Wild Western movie focuses in on a desolate cabin in the hills....something isn't right, death is in the air...overhead the vultures are circling, and one of them calls out, "Kreeeee-aaaaaaa!"  Or the truck commercial that ends with a waving American flag and the majestic call of a Bald Eagle, "Kreeeeee-aaaaaaaa!" 

Yeah, right.  Bald Eagles sound about as majestic as mourning doves sound dangerous.  It simply isn't true.  The call you're most often hearing in the movies, the one that's attributed to almost any large bird except seagulls (thank goodness) is actually a Red-Tailed Hawk.  Does this sound familiar? 

So, you may be asking yourself, if that sound in the movie isn't actually what an Eagle or a Vulture sounds like, what do they sound like?  Well, I sorted through all the horrible YouTube videos out there to give you the best-available video clips of raptor calls.  Here, for instance, is the majestic Bald Eagle...clucking:

It's a wonderful sound, isn't it?  But it's just not what the Hollywood producers are looking for.  It doesn't strike fear or awe into the hearts of many the way the Red-Tailed Hawk does.  How about the Golden Eagle?  Any more majestic?  Not really.  Here's a pretty common sound from one:

Again, really interesting, but not awe-inspiring.  Then again, does an Eagle need to be any more awe-inspiring?  They're pretty darn impressive to begin with. 

Finally, what's with the Red-Tailed Hawk call being played when Vultures are circling?  As a critic of Human movies, I'm always noticing this error.  Turkey Vultures are mostly silent birds.  The only time you'll hear one vocalize is if you really disturb it, which, of course, is something you shouldn't do.  And when they vocalize, it is the farthest thing from a scream that you can imagine.  It's more of a hissing roar.  Honestly, I think Humans should use Turkey Vulture vocalizations in movies about dragons!  Here's an example:  

So there you have it.  Next time you hear an impressive, piercing call from a bird in a movie, be it an Eagle, a Vulture, a Hawk, or any other bird, maybe you'll notice it's the wrong bird entirely, then laugh at the ridiculousness of it.  And, on that note, I leave you with the chattering call of an American Kestrel.  This bird is not often depicted in movies, but it certainly has the voice and attitude for the silver screen! 

Please note: all these videos were found on YouTube and are not the property or responsibility of the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program. 

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!

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.

Raptors in the News: Forensic Vultures!

I should go back and update what I wrote about Turkey Vultures after reading  this. 

Who'd have thought that Vultures would help the progress of forensic anthropology? I especially like the closing sentence: Hamilton said he used to hate Vultures. "But now I kind of appreciate what they do, how they dispose of decomposing animals on the landscape," he said. "They perform a really serious function." 

I can't wait to see if they use this in the TV series, Bones. Yes, I'm an Owl with Netflix. And I think my choice in TV shows is fitting. Don't judge. 

Why Turkey Vultures Are Cool

As I mentioned a few days ago, I've decided to write a profile of each of the Raptor species we often see here at the RMRP. I plan on getting the information primarily from interviewing birds here at the RMRP, with supplemental goodies from Wikipedia.

First up on the list, simply because they're due to arrive any day now, is the awesome and amazing Turkey Vulture.

As a general statement, Humans really seem to dislike these birds. That is, they dislike them until they get to know them--then they love them forever. I think it's the whole "carrion thing" that deters the Humans, but once they understand how the "carrion thing" is part of a whole suite of really hootin' cool evolutionary adaptations, they seem to come around. So, in an effort to help the Humans who read this blog learn to love Turkey Vultures more quickly, I'm going to write about all the neat things Vultures have going for them.

Since I've already mentioned the "carrion thing", let's start there. Or, even more basically, let's start with this little fact: Turkey Vultures are not Raptors. A Raptor is defined by (anyone? anyone?) how it uses its feet to catch and kill its prey. Turkey Vultures (like most Vultures) don't have big strong feet like Raptors because they're not concerned with catching and killing prey. They're too smart for that (or so-say the resident Turkey Vultures...I think I'm plenty smart, and I killed a rat the other night). Instead, they find animals that have already bitten the dust, and eat them.

jeffreyagordon.com 

The way they find these dead animals is pretty cool. First of all, they have a "sense of smell". Not really having one of these myself, I'm not sure how to describe it, but I know that Turkey Vultures are pretty unique in their ability to smell ethyl mercaptan, a chemical emitted during decomposition, from such huge distances. Humans can smell ethyl mercaptan at 2.8 parts per billion. I haven't found the number, but Turkey Vultures can smell ethyl mercaptan from as much as two miles away--how many parts per billion is that?!  As an interesting aside, Humans add ethyl mercaptan to natural gas so they can smell it if there's a leak, and leaks in gas pipelines are often discovered early by circling Vultures.

More about Turkey Vultures and carrion: they spend their days soaring around on their broad wings, hardly flapping, until they detect some ethyl mercaptan in the air (or they see other circling Vultures in the distance). Then they slowly fly down, land and feast. That's where the other adaptations come in: Turkey Vultures have featherless heads so that they stay clean while dipping their heads into body cavities; and in addition to helping them detect smells, their nostrils (called nares on birds) go clean through their face so nothing can get clogged in there.

Now, imagine you're a talonless bird standing on the ground around a carcass, trying to eat your lunch...except all the other scavengers want it too...and they're bigger than you. What will you do to defend yourself? Turkey Vultures have a simple (if gross) solution: they regurgitate partially-digested rotting meat. Humans claim that the smell is vile, and it works well at deterring predators.

aviandissuader.com 

Alright, enough about food, time for intelligence. Turkey Vultures are endlessly curious and inquisitive. Hinges? Open them! Feeding mat? Turn it upside down and fold it into a wonton! Shoelaces? Untied before you know it! They learn quickly and remember forever, and they always test their limits. The Humans are always talking about how they can't flinch when an educational Turkey Vulture tries biting the soft fleshy bit of the arm just above a glove, or else the Vulture will remember it and never leave the Human in peace. Intelligence comes with a price.

And, finally, let's talk about how good they look. Seriously, Turkey Vultures are some of the handsomest birds, with their bright eyes and rosy skin. Don't get me wrong, my tastes lie more with large yellow eyes and a deep hoot, but there's no denying the dapper good looks of a Turkey Vulture.

A few more tidbits: Turkey Vultures migrate in enormous flocks called kettles; they roost communally at night, then catch the thermals to go soaring around in the morning; they mute (poop) down the backs of their bare, featherless legs and let the evaporation of the urates cool them off; their heads are greyish black for the first two years, then turn red when they become adults.

lansingwbu.blogspot.com 

The RMRP has two educational Turkey Vultures. One of these is young and mischievous, always looking for a shoelace to untie and a new volunteer to intimidate. The other is referred to as the Old Male. He was admitted to the RMRP in 1988 as an adult bird. That makes him at least 25years at this point! That well exceeds the wild lifespan of 16 years. The Old Male isn't as much of a troublemaker as his counterpart, but he still keeps an eye open for exposed flesh.

So, there are some cool facts for you. And as the Turkey Vultures make their ways north, slowly winging towards Fort Collins for the summer, I hope you look forward to their arrival more than usual. Not only are they the harbingers of spring, they're also perfectly evolved creatures here to clean up the icky rotting carcasses of the world. And they're interesting to boot.

Next bird profile: Swainson's Hawks! Check back next week.

Buzzard Day!

Now that you have all been educated about the term "Buzzard", it's time to celebrate the annual arrival of the "buzzards" (ahem, Turkey Vultures...) in the town of Hinckley, Ohio.

Each year on March 15th, the Humans of Hinckley gather at 6:30 in the morning with binoculars and coffee, each trying to spot the first arriving Turkey Vulture of the year.

See, Turkey Vultures are migratory. Each year around September they form into large groups called 'kettles' and fly south for the winter. Their bare legs and heads just can't keep them warm during the cold US winters. So they cruise on down to Mexico and Venezuela and the like, where they soar on jungle thermals and feast on the flesh of dead...monkeys? Then, in the spring, they return to the US for the warm weather and different selection of carcasses.

In the town of Hinckley, the Humans understand how awesome and incredible Turkey Vultures are*, so they celebrate their arrival each year with Buzzard Day. It's considered the official start of spring for them! March 15th was selected as the day for this fiesta back in the 1950's, when for six years in a row the first Turkey Vulture arrived in town on March 15th. It doesn't always happen on that day, so the inhabitants of Hinckley just pretend they didn't see that Vulture back on March 11th...

I haven't yet seen any Turkey Vultures here in Fort Collins this year. Have any of you Humans? Because I agree with Hinckley: when the Turkey Vultures arrive, spring is here. Of course, there are other migratory Raptors I could use for that same purpose (the Merlins and the Rough Legged Hawks should be heading north now, and the Swainson's Hawks will be hot on the tails of the Turkey Vultures), but there's something about the uniqueness of Vultures that makes their arrival more notable. More 'springy".

Now, even though I support the idea of Buzzard Day in Hinckely, I had to ask: where is a town celebrating Owls? Unfortunately I asked this question too late, as the International Festival of Owls in Houston, Minnesota just happened a couple of weekends ago. I don't know how I'll make it happen, but next year: I'm going.

In the meantime, Happy Buzzard Day!


*Telling you about how cool Turkey Vultures are will have to wait for another article. In fact, I think I'm going to start giving a profile on each of the amazing Raptor species seen here in Colorado, maybe one a week. Stay tuned!