This Week at Liberty

Hoots, Howls, and Hollers

It has started.  The onslaught has begun.

Our Orphan Care Department is officially standing at the door (read intake window) starting on Sunday, April 10, ready to accept this year’s batch of babies.  We have already had orphans for a few weeks who have been diligently tended by the Medical Services staff, but now the numbers have grown to the size that tending all of the daylight hour turns out to be too much for the Med Services staff to handle on top of their regular responsibilities.  Enter the Orphan Care volunteers….the saviors of many unfortunate orphans but fortunate second chancers….

From now until late August or early September the OC area will be a bustle of energy.  Every morning two or three dedicated volunteers will arrive for a shift.  There are four shifts a day with varying lengths of time attached to them.  The early morning shift picks up babies dropped off at the Emergency Clinic the night before and gets them logged in and settled into their new temporary homes.  This includes feeding them, medicating them, or tagging them for medical service attention.

The mid shifts have their feeding and cleaning duties and the evening shift makes sure everyone is well fed and “tucked in” for the evening and then there is a final cleanup for the next morning shift to start. It happens like this for the next four or five months.

During this season they often arrive with broken bones, contusions, or other health needs. Medical Services steps in to address these issues.  And, while injuries are always a drag, young bones heal quickly and cuts with sutures draw on amazing healing energy that helps the babies move out of the danger zone fairly quickly.

The cacophony of noise with cheeps and tweets from many little mouths demands attention, and the volunteers find themselves moving from one bin to the next satisfying hungry little tykes.   Then there is the continual food preparation and cleaning duties that make the shift fly by.

Meanwhile the orphan raptors are being cared for by foster parents and the look of camouflage and the whispers of volunteers becomes the modus operandi for the season.  We pride ourselves on not imprinting any orphan that finds its way to our doorstep.  Vulnerable babies imprint on the sound and sight of the food delivery system…so looking or sounding like a human as the babies are fed is a no-no.

Add to the mix the number of small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians that find their way to Liberty Wildlife, and it is easy to see why this is our busiest season.  We have many reasons to be grateful at this time.  We have many friends in the state who recognize that they can get help with their wildlife issues including finding orphaned babies.  They know where to bring them.  We are grateful for the dedicated and compassionate volunteers who join us to care for these creatures.  And, I am particularly grateful for the small but hard working staff who orchestrates the symphony of the season.

In future entries of this blog we will follow the saga of OC at Liberty Wildlife…so bring it on…..and thank all of you for the part you play in helping to nurture the nature of Arizona!

This Week at Liberty 04/11/11

The intake total for the year is now up to 334.

OK, we’re on a new website, and along with the new platform comes a new blog. We’re still in the state of flux due to the new formats for everything so have some patience and let us know how we’re doing! There’s a lot of dust in the air and stuff is laying around in boxes(!) just like when you move to a new house. We’ll egt there. We want to make the website and the blog more user friendly and fun for the readers so, again, leave some feedback so we get it right! This will be short this week as I’m still trying to figure out the best way to input posts, but hopefully I’ll get it all up and running soon!

Cottontails are the tiniest babies!

Well, the bunnies are doing what bunnies do so well – and so often! Brought to the door by cats, dogs, and kids, they find their way to Liberty for care. Totally helpless when they are this old, they require constant care and nearly constant feeding!

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Baby mourning doves.

The greatest proportion of orphans we take in each year are doves, mockingbirds, grackles – the “backyard birds” that seem to be everywhere this time of year. WHen the first light goes on in the OC area each morning, the peeping begins! We’re still recruiting OC volunteers so if you have an extra couple of hours a week, call Carol Suits. It’s some of the most rewarding time you can spend!

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Yet another orphan GHO

That's totally not my color!

Ready to meet his new mom...

It seems as if each day two or three baby GHOs show up at the facility. Blown from nests by wind, taken by other birds, or just crowded out by siblings, they reach the ground and are found and brought to Liberty. They are weighed, examined, and marked with different color talon paint for identification. Our foster parents accept them all,  raising them as if they were their own. Hogan and Wyatt, Igor and Sedona, and Heddy all have growing broods. I’ll try to get some “family photos” for the update next week.

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The penultimate "Mean little kid!"

OK, this shot probably belongs with the dove item, but the expression on the face of baby mockingbirds is priceless! And, as it turns out, mockers have this attitude when they grow up as well. Nobody messes with a mockingbird!