Hoots, Howls, and Hollers

This is one of those strange times of year.  I don’t want to keep harping on the heat, but it was beginning to cause unpredictable issues.  Here’s the deal.

We have lots of babies that are in different stages of readiness to be released.  They have been raised with foster parents. They have been in with trainer adults.  They have been allowed to take live prey (not my favorite time of the year, but a necessity!).  And, they have been readied to fly free.  The weather hasn’t cooperated…..until now!

One day following another of intensive heat warnings made it very difficult to send these youngsters on their ways. So, they remained in the flight cages getting stronger and readier, but taking up badly needed enclosure space.  We have three young Swainson’s hawks that need to make their long journey south and the migration is happening now.  They will have to be readied for release before they miss the migration so we find ourselves doubly thankful for this respite of cooler weather.  This week has seen boxes of birds leaving the facility on their way to freedom, driven to selected release sites by many excited volunteers who have helped in this process.  What a great reward it is to see these patients go from “helpless” to “I’m so out’ta here!”

And, there is further proof that the migration is here.  It seemed that last week we got the message loud and clear ……migration of song birds.  In a manner of hours, we received the following birds that were stopped in their journey (hopefully only briefly) to reach suitable climes for making a living through the winter months: a MacGillivary’s warbler, a yellow warbler, a western tanager, a green tailed towhee, and a black headed grosbeak….that kind of admittance at the intake window all before noon on one day only happens during migration and somehow our window appears to be on the path!  Well, some of them had help getting to the window, but there is a definite indication that the migrants are on the move.

Watch for these jewels at your feeders and in your neighborhood…a glimpse of one of these rare visitors could make your day!

This Week at Liberty

Posted by Terry Stevens

The intake total is now at 2992.

OK, we didn’t really take last week off, we just had a bunch of other deadlines to make and since it coincided with the holiday, it made sense to slide a week. But we’re back, so here it goes!  In addition to getting in a northern goshawk, a special sparrow arrived, and we made another trip to Bark Avenue to get some much needed X-rays done. Some of the news was good, some maybe not so much, but the work continues…

Pikachu...with large talons!

Max holds Phoenix for Jan

One aspect of maintaining raptors (especially eagles) in captivity is controlling the growth of their beaks and talons. Normally, this function is handled by the natural wearing process that takes place as the bird eats and cleans itself during everyday activity. Since they no longer have to work so hard, beaks and talons tend to become overgrown which can cause serious problems in terms of overall health. Every now and then, these large birds have to be brought in to have their talons trimmed and their beaks “coped” by skilled medical services people. Last week, it was time to bring Phoenix in for  a routine beak adjustment and ‘pedicure’ procedure. (The only towel available that was big enough to hold him was a Pokeman Pikachu style, donated to Liberty from a local family!)

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Visiting lark sparrow

There are three species of birds that are commonly found in the local area that are not considered natives: pigeons, starlings, and sparrows – but in fact, only the european sparrow is the true alien. there are several sparrow varieties that are native to both North America and Arizona, one of which is the lark sparrow. We took in one of these LBB’s (little brown birds) a few weeks ago, kept him until he was healthy, and last week he got released to rejoin the wild population.

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Beautiful northern goshawk

We don’t get to see goshawk’s too often as they live in cooler forested areas normally, so when word came down that one had been injured up near Pine Top, Peggy was happy to provide transportation for the big girl down to Liberty. Having survived one surgery up north, X-rays provided much needed information as to the extent of her damage.

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Another glue trap targets our state bird!

Jan and Art work carefully to free him

Finally unstuck!

I won’t waste time saying it again…oh yes I will – GLUE TRAPS ARE NOT A GOOD THING!! Just like broadcasting a non-species specific poison to target one species, sticky traps cannot exclude creatures that are caught unintentionally in the glue. These devices are like drift nets in the ocean which actually trap and kill many more “by-catch” species than they are supposed to target. This cactus wren got stuck, lost many feathers, and broke his leg on a trap set out to catch scorpions. Ironically, he probably would have eaten more scorpions than would have been caught in the trap.

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Dr. Wyman checks a wing wrap

Sharon has a new friend

Tuesday afternoon is usually set up for “vet night” when all the animals in the ICU are checked individually by the senior Med Services volunteer or Jan, our Animal Care Coordinator. Sometimes Dr. Wyman is on hand to assist in this process which helps the staff as they check the rehabilitation status of the birds and other animals in our care. The system works well as everybody gets a thorough exam and evaluation as to their progress and prognosis.

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Will it work?

Dr. Orr checks on an RTH who lost an alular

Zone tail gets an X-ray

Three pellets are found...

Dr. Orr checks the goshawk's wings

The little golden is examined

Why it's called "bendy bone"

Dr. Orr is now working at Bark Avenue in Mesa (a wonderful place to take you pets for vet service!) and this gives us an occasional opportunity to get X-rays of animals and birds who need this service. Last week, an RTH, a HaHa, a zone-tailed hawk, the little golden eagle, and the goshawk were taken there for X-radiology. Sometimes things show up that were not totally expected, such as the three pellets found in the zone tail’s wings and body. Other times, this confirms what was deduced through external exam, such as the folding fracture damage to the golden’s legs and rib cage. The goshawk’s X-rays showed that she indeed had a broken wing on the opposite side as the patagial damage.