The vultures are in a larger flight cage now, flying and growing, doing well! Recent video of the vultures can be seen at Ellicott Wildlife Rehab Center Facebook.
Belted kingfisher with wing injury, flying within a day and released!
The goslings have all grown up and were released on private property in Pueblo!
Very sad, this Red Tail Hawk came to rehab after being electrocuted on a power line. The kindest, most humane gift we were able to offer was a speedy, gentle end to his suffering.
More songbirds, including this blue jay, are ready for release!
On the outside looking in, this bullsnake between the wire and the outer board of the songbird cage had the birds inside in an uproar. Of course, the snake couldn’t get inside the aviary and everyone is fine.
The last few weeks have brought hawks, hawks, and more hawks to rehab, mostly young Swainson’s hawks that just need a little time to get flying before release. Great Horned Owls are scheduled for release this month, all grown up now and ready to go! Goslings and broken leg goose have been released, songbirds released with more ready to go as well. Sharp-shinned hawk recovered from his trauma and was released back to his home. Coyotes will be released in three weeks. We call this progress!
Car hit burrowing owl continues to gain weight; however, still exhibits head trauma and wing injury symptoms.
The Ellisons brought out an injured adult Swainson’s hawk with a wing injury…
…which turned out to be he was shot in the wing. This (above) is one of the pieces of metal Dr. Becker removed from his wing. Let’s hope he heals well and will fly again to migrate back home to Argentina.
Suspect car hit for this cottontail who came with a foot laceration and dragging her hindquarters. She’s outside now and improving.
Jane and Dave heard a CRASH! and went outside to find this sharp-shinned hawk had collided with their picture window, arriving to rehab without the use of his legs and feet. He has his “sea legs” now and is up and around, and was moved to an outdoor aviary today, where I’m sure he’ll continue to improve.
The vultures continue to grow and do well, and are now perching up high! Soon they’ll be moved to a larger enclosure for flight training in anticipation of a fall release.
Swainson’s hawk fledgeling recently arrived to rehab with a right wing and leg injury, but continues to improve. Keep your fingers crossed!
Volunteer Pam picked up a young Swainson’s hawk after work to bring to rehab.
Kyle and adult Swainson’s hawk.
It’s August now and while babies are still arriving to rehab, others have grown up and are being released! In the next couple of days more songbirds will be released as well as the geese (hopefully without separation anxiety this time!) In the next few weeks, the now-mature red-tailed hawks and great horned owls, as well as the coyotes, will be released as well. The long, hard, hot summer and mega lack of sleep is passing us by. A big THANK YOU to Aurora and Alison!!!
The last few days have brought us the usual heartbreaking picture of fledging Swainson’s hawk either left in the roads or moved off the roads, only to end up back in the roads, where they are hit by cars and dying or needing to be put down because of irreparable injuries. PLEASE call us if you find a hawk in or near the road so it can be picked up and brought to rehab until flying and ready to be returned back to the wild. Moving them off the road, we have learned over the years, just results in them returning to the road to be hit by cars. Please help us help these magnificent hawks by giving them just the little bit of time they need until they’re ready to soar.
Liz’s Exhibits Class from Pikes Peak Community College, in Nate’s enclosure post-project.
Nicole leads the tour, as well as the feeding detail.
Nicole’s donated pine branches and limbs are brought over.
April cuts outdoor carpeting for the project.
The previously-kenneled critters are brought back out to their newly-decorated aviaries.
April releases Red Tail Hawk Nate back to his favorite perch!
On Sunday, Liz’s Zoo Keeping Exhibits class, led by instructor Kris Gates, came out and spent the day re-astro-turfing and re-roping perches, platforms, and ladders, as well as hollowing out logs, cleaning, and re-decorating the animal enclosures. Nicole came out to help, too. Paul was well-prepared and had brought out his tools and meticulous work on the projects.
Bob digs holes to set the posts.
Posts are set in concrete and the bottom of the enclosure is wired.
Phil, Sharon, Tom, Darryl, and Kris.
Panels are built and put up.
Looking good! Another workday or two to complete and place panels, and then the roof goes on. The fun part-decorating!-and the Lauren Townsend Memorial Mammal Enclosure will be ready for critters!
Nicole and Liz kennel up the now-mature mallards for release to Fountain Creek Nature Center!
Kyle assists with the duck roundup, and all were released back to nature! The dux, not the interns!
Amy’s vulture chix continue to eat well and grow, developing “real” feathers.
Sinika’s stunning hummingbird suffered a wing injury.
It’s back to school time and I just can’t believe summer is just about over! With the help of so many dedicated volunteers, including students and interns, our busy baby season was entirely manageable this year. The help with the day-to-day chores of cleaning, feeding, watering, and several transports a day combined with wiring electricity to the Triage Clinic and organizing the Clinic; construction of aviaries and mammal enclosure, plus the gazillion other things that need to be done every day, all day long, made this a successful and smooth season. Babies are still arriving almost daily but now the earliest of the babies are being released, including migratory birds, non-migratory wild birds, dux, and next week the (grown up) goslings and more songbirds!
Eagle Scout Geordan Brickey and his Troop 246.
The area prior to the project was really quite, ah, visually unappealing…
…but in no time at all, the area was transformed into a pretty, tranquil garden!
Megan removes care tags for us. Native, hardy trees, shrubs, and flowering plants are installed.
Everybody who showed up worked very hard; raking, moving rocks, shoveling soil, mulch, and sand, placing trim bricks,and planting the plants.
The completed project!
We extend a huge THANK YOU to Geordan Brickey and Troop 246 for their time and hard work in building the EWRC Friends of Wildlife Garden. Geordan planned the garden and all aspects pertaining to it, obtained approval from the Council, and organized a sizeable team of fellow Scouts in his troop to tear down the old, weed-populated area in front of the facility, raked it out, prepped the soil, and placed a path around the garden before planting hardy, native trees and plants for beneficial wildlife habitat and forage. There are no words to express our gratitude!
This emaciated burrowing owl was hit by a car and suffers severe head trauma. He is improving enough to start trying to feed himself.
Hummingbird found alone and cold in the grass.
Castle Rock apartment dweller Nate scraped this bird as a tiny baby off the sidewalk and provided critical care. We’re happy to report the towhee is doing quite well!
Steven’s quick thinking and considerable actions provided the care necessary to ensure this hatchling’s safe arrival to rehab, where so far it is doing well.
Update 07/27–Steven’s little sparrow is getting tiny feathers!
This swallow had an accident in Suzanne’s back yard, sustaining a wing injury.
This afternoon, Fort Carson brought out an orphaned swallow nestling. Here, Kyle places the baby in a nest in a nearby swallow colony to be fostered by swallow parents with another chick of the same size in the nest.
Baby poorwill from Kiowa working on gaining some weight and flying.
Liz power-washes the cages while Nicole gives moral support!
The vulture chix have already almost tripled in size! They eat a lot, nap alot, and are outside now enjoying fresh air and sunshine.
Still busy around here! Ellicott 4-H came on Saturday, and helped with cleaning, lagomorph enrichment projects, and decorated pinecones for our holiday fundraisers. THANK YOU Becky and Shelby Reynolds! Thank you Destyne, Becky, and Liz for helping out on Saturday. Birds are still coming to rehab nearly every day while others are preparing for release after a summer of growing and prerelease training.
O’Malley the meadowlark, named by Andre, the boy who found him with an injured wing.
Long-eared owl spent upwards of 20 hours entangled in a car grill, suffering severe dehydration, stress, facial fractures, and wing injury.
Cottontails from Fort Carson.
Swainson’s hawk with dislocated wing.
Alison’s crossbill enjoying some watermelon. She suffered a shoulder injury.
Another mallard duckling from 7 Falls.
A couple of coyote pups came from Greenwood.
Mountain bluebird and Say’s phoebe are pals.
Turkey vulture chicks found with a dead mother in Kirk, Colorado. Doing well, they are self-feeding, producing pellets, growing incredibly fast, and maintaining their dislike of humans, posturing and hissing. This behavior will be maintained throughout their rehab and until their release.
Nicole, Kyle, and Phil repair a cage taken apart by wind.
Ducklings are growing and doing well.
The critters are still arriving to rehab, reaching an expected peak in the next week or so. Corvids, raptors, water birds, songbirds, and mammals are healing, growing, and preparing for release back to the wild.
Kyle and Nicole work on the new flight cage.
Royce, bluejay, and magpie perch in the shade.
Angela’s 5 finches are growing and doing well.
Cottontail catches some shade beneath the picnic table.
Baby rock squirrel flooded from his den, found alone in a back yard, icy cold, soaking wet, and loaded with fleas. He is recovering well.
“Royce” came as a tiny baby crow with a lot of problems, but is recovering well and doing fine outdoors.
Goslings are growing quickly, and enjoying fresh air and sunshine outdoors.
Orphaned little robins are coming to rehab almost daily!
These snipe (thank you Rise and Gail!) youngsters were found alone in the middle of Judge Orr Road, with one suffering a foot injury.
Downy woodpecker orphan is doing well.
Unfortunate mature poorwill with an old open wing fracture that wasn’t salvageable.
We are so very fortunate to have excellent help from volunteers and interns. Due to the volume of babies arriving to rehab, we are building a new prerelease enclosure for additional outdoor animal housing. Kyle, Phil, and Nicole (above) and Liz (below) set the poles in concrete and frame the pen.
Nicole feeds hungry little nestlings.
Though off to a slow start, baby season is catching up in no time at all, with GHOs, RTHs, kestrels, corvids (crows, magpies, and jays,) robins, finches, grackles, squirrels, mice, and other critters arriving to rehab daily. A collared dove is the lone survivor of a fierce hail storm up in Denver a couple of weekends ago, and is recovering from the significant hail head trauma. Her swelling has decreased, her eyes are open, and no more seizures. Unfortunately we are receiving a LOT of animals in terrible shape after cat attacks, including baby birds and bunnies, and parent birds, and even a hummingbird. I firmly believe for the safety of our native wildlife that takes a significant hit due to cats, as well as the safety of cats, that cats belong indoors, protected from disease, accidents, and predators as well as to protect our wildlife.
Baby robin just out of his shell.
Nestling finches.
Volunteer intern Nicole helps with cleaning, feeding, transport, and donations.
Phil and RTH Nate educational program at St. Paul’s VBS
Volunteer intern Liz with gosling, preparing for transport.
The ducklings have been coming in droves! These were fished out of a swimming pool in Widefield.
The late cold weather seems to have backed up baby season a little bit, but we’re certainly picking up around here! Fortunately we have good help–Lynn, who has been with us over a year; Liz, Nicole, and Clair, and are helping with everything from educational programs and fundraising to the drudgery and chores–CLEANING!
A very young Red Tail Hawk came to rehab, picked up from people who’d found him a couple of days prior, from Aaron and delivered to rehab by Jeromy. Upon changing the youngster yesterday, intern Liz noted something moving near one of bird’s ears. Closer inspection revealed a maggot in the ear! Further inspection revealed more maggots in both ears. Since the worms dove deeper inside the ear canal upon having light shone into the ears, we were unable to remove them here so “Cheyenne” was taken to Animal Emergency Care Center South, where Dr. Ashley Sides was up for quite the challenge! Ashley, Liz, Alex, and vet techs prepared the hawk for his procedure. Once he was anesthetized, which seemed to draw the worms to the openings of the ears, and further prep with saline to ensure the worms surfaced, Dr. Sides very carefully proceeded to pull worms from Cheyenne’s ears. When she finished, there were 19 worms removed from the unfortunate bird’s ears! Exam so far has revealed no more worms, but we will continue to monitor to ensure the hawk’s ears are clear. Big THANK YOU to volunteer intern Liz. Big THANK YOU to Ashley Sides, DVM, and the caring veterinary support staff at AECS. Big THANK YOU (again!) to Diana Miller.
“Fieri” (named for his feisty personality!) arrived from Schriever a day after his sibling, again having been found on the ground underneath the 2-story ledge.
This young GHO came to rehab from Monument after being deliberately knocked out of the tree by a baseball. Thanks to Tom, who picked the bird up and took to the vet for exam and treatment. PS: Abusing wild birds, including this one, is a punishible State and Federal offense.
Al F. (above) and Flight Chief David O. rescued a young GHO at Schriever AFB after the owl jumped or fell from his nest built on a 2-story ledge, leaving behind two siblings and the adults. Update: Next day Al came back with a second little owl that was found on the ground under that ledge.
Exam revealed that “Dolce” appeared to have suffered no ill effects from the hard landing!
Western grebes have been arriving to rehab, mistaking wet pavement for water and landing on it, and then not able to get up and get on their way. All have survived, recovered, and been released!
The DiVittorio girls have named the owlets Hibou and Gufo–nice and proper French and Italian names! The owlets have very kind sponsors, Becky and Ralph Hare, who are sponsoring the owls until their release.
The robins and meadowlarks are back! We’re expecting the Swainson’s hawks to arrive any day now from their wintering grounds in Argentina. Romeo the turtle came up from hibernation yesterday. There were 2 red-tailed hawks hanging around Nate and Apache’s enclosure all day long, sitting on the top of it and interacting with the boys, and all were very vocal! The Animal Pain Management clinic called because a young man had dropped off a fuzzy little GHO. Phil went into town and picked the owlet up, and 20 minutes later the pain management called again, as a woman had dropped off another GHO owlet! We’ve been experiencing ridiculous, non-stop, gale-force winds the last week or so, and my guess is that nests are blowing apart. Unfortunately, neither owlet dropper-offer left their names or contact info, so we have no idea where the young birds came from. The smaller bird seemed a little stressed on the way here, and shortly after arrival he coughed up a pretty impressive-sized pellet! Both birds were provided with nice, soft “nests” and a nice, warm, juicy meal before bedtime.
Update April 13th–What a difference a week makes! The owls are growing rapidly, eating LOTS of appropriate growing owl food, and producing beautiful pellets. They have discovered they have legs and feet, what those are for, and are very active, with lots of standing, stretching, and preening going on! They’re outside in a nestbox with an adult GHO for company, and we’re thrilled to say they’re not at all happy to see us, preferring instead the company of owls, which is critical for their survival.
Update April 20–The owls have outgrown their nest box. They’re toodling around outside, flapping “new” wings and shaking their tails, and are now feeding themselves!
Update April 27–The owls continue to grow and develop well!
Update May 3–Hibou and Gufo have been joined by a new orphaned GHOwlet, picture coming soon…
Update May 10–Hibou and Gufo are “branching” now, and are using the ladders to get up to the highest platforms!
The ‘”new kid” is shown with volunteer Phil Cable. “Herbie” is out with the other GHOs and is doing well. Herbie is available for sponsorship and will be with us until release in September. If you or your group is interested in sponsoring Herbie, please email us at ellicottwildlife@gmail.com
She was out of her kennel in just a few seconds…
…flew gracefully to a stand of trees…
…and collected her bearings before soaring far and away until she was out of sight!
On Saturday, April 3rd, the golden eagle from Flagler was released at Flagler SWA. She completed her rehab at Pueblo Raptor Center (scroll down to read her story) and on a breezy afternoon, Diana Miller, Duane Stegner, who is the responding DOW rep who brought the eagle to rehab, students and Flager folks who had been following the bird’s progress, met to return the bird to freedom! Duane’s wonderful neighbor, Jeane Linger, shares her pix of the release.
Cottontail babies at one week of age.
The same babies at two weeks of age-eyes opened on Day 8.
Same 3 cottontails at 3 weeks of age.
The spring babies are arriving to rehab. The phone has been ringing with calls of orphans in distress-cottontails, fox kits, and baby birds.
FedEx driver Jennifer called from Peyton yesterday. As she was doing her route, she found a little bird in the road, apparently having suffered a car hit. She brought the bird to Ellicott and the bird is a female crossbill with, of course, major head trauma. She looks a little better today and is trying to pull pine nuts out of her pinecones, eating seed, and sleeping.