Total animals so far this year: 799
Gee, it seems like only a couple of weeks ago I had to scrape to get enough shots to make TW@L visually interesting, and now I have to work to keep the size of each issue down to something manageable! The saga of the three orphaned eagles continues this week along with that of another rare visitor from a few months ago. We had a flurry (or should I say "furry"?) of mammal activity last week, along with the usual Liberty routine. OK, time to launch!
A gathering of eagles...
The three orphaned eagles from last week were collected last Monday and each was weighed, measured, and banded by AZG&F and USFW with the help of Jan and Dr. Wyman. After all three were properly "digitized," over the next two days they were all inserted into foster nests around the area for the last days of the fledging process.
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A few months ago we took in a montezuma quail from southern Arizona. These little guys are very reclusive and are officially endangered. This bird recovered from his injury but was held at Liberty a few extra weeks because the winter in the area he was found was particularly harsh. Most of the flock to which he belonged froze from late winter storms and to keep him safe, the project manager, Pedro, asked us to hold on to him. Last week, he was taken back home to rejoin the wild population.
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Last Friday a baby jevelina made a brief stop at Liberty. Looking a lot like a member of the pig family, javelina, or collared peccaries, are actually in their own family due to anatomical variances. His family had abandoned him near a house in Ahwatukee. Carl Price brought him in and before he was transferred to Southwest Wildlife, he got some fluids and a little formula from some surrogate moms at Liberty.
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A few more interesting mammals came in last week, including a couple of baby squirrels. Most of us here have seen rock squirrels in the area, but the little round-tailed ground squirrel is so small that they are frequently missed. A small reed bat also was brought to the intake window and was soon taken by our resident bat expert, Rebecca, for more care and treatment.
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A baby dove with Subcutaneous emphysema.
The collection of baby killdeer and quail is growing, literally by the day. When they are small, they can share a brooder before they are transferred outside to a more normal environment. The orphan GHOs continue to arrive and are checked for injury and dehydration prior to meeting their new foster parents. Sometimes, as with this little dove, an air sac will rupture leaking air under the skin. This large bubble is called 'subcutaneous emphysema' and is relieved by carefully breaking the skin with a needle and allowing the air to escape. Eventually, the air sac will heal preventing future occurrences.
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As this little javelina found out, some times you just need someone...
6 comments:
Too cute! Jan sure has a way with animals. Sounds like some of missed all the excitement with the lil javelina and the bat!
what a great video! You all do such a fantastic job helping all of the animals!!!
AH I LOVE baby javies!! I must be volunteering on the wrong day, I'm so bummed I missed him! Great pics this week, Terry!!
OK people! I did it again! I made a mistake on the post!
I said the montezuma quail was endangered and reader Mark Stevenson pointed out that it is in fact a game bird and is NOT endangered - officially. I guess I just heard it someplace and coupled with it's rarity and the general decline of the species, assumed it was on the ESL. Mea culpa. I will try to be more careful in the future!
Thanks, Mark! You folks keep me honest!
Great shots, as always. My question is, did Jan burp the javelina? ;p I always look forward to these!
I had always heard that the Montezuma was endangered...Maybe he IS endangered but not "officially"?
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