Wednesday, April 22, 2009

This Week at Liberty 04/27/2009

Many new arrivals this week, both young and old. As the pace quickens, procedures are modified and adapted to give the best care possible to the animals in our charge.  Some things work well, and the things that don't are discarded or changed so the efficiency of the operation remains high. In a few weeks, the education season comes to a nominal end, but the full brunt of the Baby Bird Season has yet to hit...
Two reps from Merial get a tour of Liberty from Jan and Pawnee.
Since west nile virus has been a threat to our birds for the last few years, we have inoculated all of our education collection with a vaccine that immunizes them from infection. The vaccine supplier, Merial, sent two reps to visit Liberty Last week.  They have been gracious enough to donate the vaccine for West Nile virus to us and came by to see the good being done through their generosity. Their rep, Amy, and her partner from Merial, got a tour of the facility and got to see where their donation was going and how much good it would do!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A baby raven gets a meal.
Where's my food?!?
You HAVE to smile!
OK, I'm too cute for words...
Orphans of all shapes and sizes now inhabit the facility.  From tiny ravens, towhees, mockingbirds, hummers, and lots and lots of doves, to a growing contingent of baby GHOs from literally all over the state. Most of the little arrivals need only gentle care and food, all administered with love by the Orphan Care crew. Our thanks to all these wonderful volunteers!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melanie and Denise give a juvenile turkey vulture a bite to eat. 
A young sharp-shinned hawk gets some fluids.
The nestling bald eagle regains his appetite after surgery.
Are those Manolo Blahniks?
On top of the orphans, we also get in our normal ration of injured birds of all ages. A juvie turkey vulture is in the ICU, keeping everybody's nose wrinkled from his peculiar way of showing displeasure - throwing up his last few meals! A young sharp-shinned hawk is also in our care, recuperating from what appears to be a cat attack. The little bald eagle is eating better and is slowly recovering from the surgery on his two broken wings last week, and a small dove got a pair of striking red and pink "shoes" to correct a foot problem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jan and Dr. Amy assess the first-year RTH.
This little guy is just a kid...
R&T volunteer Donna brought in an injured first-year RTH last week. Initially, it was thought he had an electrical injury, but upon careful further examination, it was determined he had been attacked by another raptor. It's a tough world out there, and hopefully this youngster will recover and be able to apply the lessons he learned during this experience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The single-parent bald eagle mom is still doing a superb job!
Little(?) Mo is growing at an amazing rate.
I can almost do it!
The single-parent mom raising the little bald eagle chick (named Mo by the nest watchers) along the Salt River is doing an unbelievable job. Against all odds, she has kept the little bird alive and thriving and he's actually not so "little" any more.  Approximately 10 weeks old, he's getting close to flying and is now venturing out to branches around the nest, stretching those beautiful wings, and still eating what mom brings in each day. Even the nest watchers are giving up their days off to be there when he makes his first flight!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you didn't attend the Wishes or Wildlife event last week (or read Megan's H3 comments above!) you probably don't know the latest on Apache, our long-term resident golden eagle. Apache was our first eagle to present to the public.  He was such a cooperative and eager educator that he was the "entry-level" bird for the Eagle Handler Crew. 
Recently, he was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes, causing a progressive loss of vision.  It is estimated that he has 75% vision in one eye, and 5% in the other. His enclosure is being modified to make it easier for him to get around as his vision dims, and his public exposure will be limited to what his tolerance to this activity will allow. But since he seems to really enjoy doing shows, he won't be totally "retired" for now.  A lot of people know and love him and as this was the first WFW fundraiser that he was not seen welcoming the guests, we showed this tribute at the event -  for a truly remarkable bird...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't forget to leave comments if you feel so inclined! (Even anonymous comments are appreciated!)


4 comments:

Julia said...

I love your blogs! I forward them to my friends. Thank you for the tribute to Apache. The video brought tears to my eyes.
Julia Ripps Daily Care

Deborah said...

Hey Terry, you should do a video of Apache walking around looking in the other mews! That would be so cool. I'm sure he will enjoy retirement, just like me!

Deborah

zopeloti said...

Even though the video is stunning, it made me kind of sad. Great job on the tribute to our handsome APACHE!!

Anonymous said...

These blogs make my day. They put everything into perspective. Thank you.