This Week at Liberty 06/21/2010

The total intake number for the year is now at 1827

Whew! The pace of intakes has slowed - a little. We're still getting birds in at an astounding rate, but it has stabilized and is at least manageable. Now we're getting in more young and fledgling raptors and not so man y eggs or tiny orphans. But still, the preponderance of the arrivals are youthful. It's fun and exciting to see so many birds in their early stages of flight and plumage!

Calum, Anita, and Cheyenne do a shift in OC.

We have a lot of new Orphan Care volunteers this year. It's heartening to see these caring individuals come week after week and spend hours feeding and cleaning the helpless little birds who arrive at our window. Their dedication is inspiring to say the least!

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The raven babies are getting big.

Thankful for Liberty Wildlife...

Pretty soon all the baby ravens will be outside and no longer require hand feeding. My desk space was the home for the raven brooder and for the past several weeks, every 30 minutes or so, the begging would begin as they got hungry and called for food. Nina, Jan, Holly, and the rest of the staff did their turns plopping a mixture of MEB (Meat Eating Bird diet) and mouse mash (uh, you still don't want to know...) into open beaks upturned like rosy pink flowers, seeking some food distributed fairly and with love from surrogate moms...

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Tiny baby barnie is fed often.

Hard to believe he'll look like this in a few weeks!

The tiny barn owl hatchling is growing up under the watchful eyes of the Med Services team. His eyes are going to open soon and he'll have to be fed with full camo to avoid imprinting on his human surrogates. We also got in a beautiful fledgling/juvenile BO that is already outside with the foster family.

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Arlene checks a wing for damage.

Sharon puts a band on one of the orphans.

This wing seems good!

Our friend in Sierra Vista, Christie Van Cleve, sent us two fledgling red-tails this week. They arrived after a three legged relay from Christie to Tanya Adams, to myself and both appear to be mostly healthy and have been banded and placed with our RTH fosters. (One had been straddled by a moving vehicle but seems to have suffered nothing more than some stress and a few ruffled feathers!)

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Another fledgling cooper's hawk.

More juvies like this pretty little cooper's hawk are showing up. Accipiters are notoriously cranky and difficult to rehab but our hopes are high for this bird who is now in an outside aviary and learning some flying skills.

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A baby burrowing owl goes outside.

Primary colors for babies.

Two baby burrowing owls were brought in last week. They were evaluated and found to be in fairly good health despite losing their parents. They were both banded and are now in a new enclosure with Digger, their foster dad.

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Toba and Sharon perform some physical therapy on a peregrine.

A very handsome bird.

Adult feathers (the gray ones) coming in.

A recent arrival, a juvenile peregrine falcon, is being treated for some possible wing injury. This little guy is nearing the end of his fledgling period and is about to get his first year adult plumage. A lot of juvenile male birds are mistaken for adult females as their first feathers are more brownish, like that of the females. When we spread his wings and tail to check for injury, we can see the bluish-gray feathers coming in symmetrically on his wings and tail, identifying him as a young male. Hopefully this handsome youngster will progress well enough to be replaced into the wild gene pool!

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Jan performs a sniff test.

Sometimes birds will exude a specific odor that can be a clue as to their internal condition. Last week during Vet Night, Jan gave this "sniff test" to a little female kestrel that had arrived for treatment. The most important part of this exam is: WATCH YOUR EYES!!!

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A TV gets a band.

Sharon and Toba got the honor(?) of examining and banding a young turkey vulture this week. Of all the birds of prey we deal with, TVs are some of the most likely to bite, and are the ones most assuredly to throw up on you! Special handling techniques are called for and Sharon was up to the task!

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"Are you lookin' at me?"

OK, one more shot of one of the baby BuOw's. Is it any wonder that these little birds are a big hit where ever they are found? Sometimes, being too cute can be a drawback!