This Week at Liberty 10/05/2009

Obviously, the fall migration is on. Lots of birds of all types are moving south and whenever such a large number of fragile creatures travel the vast distances involved, there can be problems. Migration is fraught with endless dangers, many of which are human-generated. That's where liberty comes in...

Hand feeding diets for the week - and more!

Almost all of our education birds are hand fed daily. This means that somebody has to prepare food for upwards of 30 or so birds each day. Missi is the senior dietitian who, with the help of Anne and a few others, cut and weigh planned diets for each bird, sometimes over a week in advance.

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The sora rail is a "Miracle" bird.

The little sora rail (see TW@L 09/14/09) is getting better! Last week, Jan and her Tuesday staff unwrapped his leg and it is actually improving. Keep your fingers crossed for his continued recovery!

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Checking his own chart...

A little male kestrel came in that appears to be possibly imprinted. I suppose they are so cute as babies (or, as adults!) that people will keep them too long, but it's a sad malady. These birds are perfect physical specimens, but they can never be released.

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A young cooper's hawk arrives.

Jan finds an injured wing as Nina and Toba help with "vet night."

A songbird's nightmare!

Sporting a new wing wrap and a tail guard.

One of the birds that is migrating right now is the cooper's hawk. As they pass through unfamiliar human territories, the young birds especially are prone to colliding with windows as they pursue their target birds. These feather/glass impacts lead to lots of injuries to wings, backs, and heads. The lucky ones make it to Liberty for a second chance...

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I'm feeling better - REALLY!

A burrowing owl that arrived a couple weeks ago was examined last week and seems to be recovering nicely. Hopefully the little guy will be scheduled for release soon.

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Another wayward migrator... a hermit thrush.

Both ends of the food chain are in motion during migration: the predators AND the prey. Although this little hermit thrush was the victim of another cat as opposed to a cooper's hawk, at least he has a chance to try it again in the future.

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A young raven is under treatment for some human-related problems.

This trimming might look better on a cockatiel.

A first year raven was brought in with a variety of problems, not the least of which is his flight plumage. It looks like somebody had him in a cage and had trimmed his feathers as they would a pet bird. Both his tail and primary feathers are lopped in such a way that he will be with us for several months as he first molts, then replaces the damaged ones.

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A juvenile northern harrier.

A beautiful loggerhead shrike.

Two other birds that we don't see too often at Liberty arrived over the weekend: a northern harrier and a loggerhead shrike. Harriers can be seen flying low over open fields looking down (and possibly listening - note the facial disk.) searching for their prey. This sometimes makes them prey to automobiles. The little loggerhead is another bird of prey, normally eating larger insects, but also catching and impaling small birds on thorns and barbed wire - hence the nickname "butcher bird."