Today Phil and I were working outside when we happened to look up as a shadow passed overhead, and look what we saw! We counted 34 turkey vultures but are certain there were more! We then watched while they flew a very short distance and landed in some trees to roost for the night. Wow!
Susan called from Monument the other day. Her boys found a “big bird of prey” sitting on the property, unmoving, with a droopy wing. Susan was able to place a box over the bird, taking care to avoid the talons, to contain him until volunteer Dana could get out there and pick him up.
For the past several days people have been calling here and asking how to reduce the bear activity in their yards/neighborhoods. Please remember that right now bears are preparing for hibernation and need to put on a substantial amount of weight, and are looking for food. They are also opportunistic! The best way to keep the bears out of your yard and neighborhood is to bring pet food and bird feeders-even the high ones-inside at night. This goes for hummingbird feeders, too. Put your trash out on trash day-not the night before-unless you want to be cleaning up trash all over the next morning. Keep the trash in tightly-covered containers in your garage. Clean your barbecue grill; the smell of grease could potentially attract bears. This might be a neighborhood effort, as if you clean up your area but have neighbors that don’t, you may still have bears. If you find the bears close by, don’t follow them around to take pictures! Quietly leave, and leave them alone. Don’t go out and feed them. Please remember calling the DOW doesn’t mean they’ll come out and remove the bears, unless they are posing a threat to people; the DOW will probably tell you to LEAVE THE BEARS ALONE and let them move on. Feeding the bears can turn them into a nuisance animal, and eventually somebody will have had enough of it and will ask the DOW to remove the bear, which might not end the way you wish. So if you care, be bear-aware!!
This is also the time of year when critters are looking for nice, warm resting places. This could be your home, your garage, or even your car! This is a good time of year to check around the house/attic/window wells to make sure there are no places for critters to get in. Moving the pet food out of the garage is a good idea, as that may attract mice that are sometimes inspired to build their nests inside of your car-not cheap or easy to remedy, especially if they have chewed the electric wires under your dash!
Lastly, don’t feel the need to take down your hummingbird feeders right away! There are still stragglers that come through and will be very happy to find a clean, freshly-filled feeder available. We’ve seen hummers come through as late as Thanksgiving. There is no truth that keeping hummingbird feeders up late will make them miss migration; migration is an instinct, and they will migrate if they can. Did you know that hummingbirds migrate at night, with the geese?
Thank you to Kathy for sending these back to me after my computer got hit by lightning! Earlier this year a pair of flickers built a nest and took up residence in Gail’s garage, and Gail took these pictures to share of the flicker eggs and hatchlings. Scroll down in the blog and look at Flicka and James to see what these eggs and hatchlings look like when they mature a bit.
Flicker eggs in Gail’s garage.
And here they are after hatching. Scroll down in the blog, and look at James and Flicka.
Yesterday was another busy day. We met up with Scott and released the Cooper’s hawk, who was definitely ready to go! Upon arrival home there were a zillion messages (we need a cell phone one of these days!) about an injured owl in Falcon and injured hawk in Colorado Springs, as well as other calls, so back in the car we went. Priscilla’s young Great Horned Owl was apparently caught in some barbed wire fencing, and the UPS delivery driver, Laurie, took him out. Surprisingly enough, the damage appeared rather minimal but to be sure, to the vet we went with him. And Mike’s young Swainson’s hawk, unfortunately, appeared also to have tangled with some barbed wire several days prior, with severely necrotic tissue crawling with maggots and he was emaciated. Again, to the vet we went. By this time it was 9 PM and we were fortunate to catch up with Dr. Jamie Arviso at the Animal Emergency Care Center South, who as usual did a very thorough exam on both birds and wing x-rays on Priscilla’s owl, and determined the hawk was not going to make it. The owl’s wing seemed to have some relatively minor soft tissue damage, no fractures or dislocations, and we were happy to hear that. So thank you again to Dr. Arviso and the ladies at AECS for helping us with these birds. Last evening before heading out to pick up critters we were able to release a couple of Great Horned Owls, Woodsy and Oscar, who looked SO HAPPY to be free!
Dr. Arviso prepares to x-ray Priscilla’s Great Horned Owl. Food cost in rehab=$4-$5 per day.
And here goes one of the GHOs on release….
One of the pronghorn along Highway 94. Another casualty of the privately-owned toll road/railroad?
Well, here we are in September, expecting an intake slowdown soon. That sure hasn’t happened yet, as it seems we’re releasing almost daily and “intaking” almost daily. The last 2 flickers are FINALLY outdoors during the day, “hunting” bugs and acclimating, preparing for release. Russell’s Cooper’s hawk is preparing for release; the weather just hasn’t cooperated-FIERCE storms each and every afternoon-not at all conducive to releases!! And we appreciate Scott’s picking the bird up, to one vet, and then another. The bluejays are still too accustomed to people to release, as they were raised by people, but we’re hoping more time and their hormones kicking in may “wild them up” soon. Dale’s young Swainson’s hawk from Ramah had wing surgery to repair 2 fractures in the same wing; let’s wish him a complete and speedy recovery. We are confident the surgery was performed by the most capable veterinarian we know! I’d like to thank Toni and the guys for coming out yesterday afternoon and educating me more on homeopathy and naturalistic care for animals; sounds like they’ve had really good success with treating injured and abused horses this way.
A soaking wet “Flicka” just had a bath; an essential release requirement is weatherproofing the feathers, and bathing, sunlight, and preening are crucial to successful weatherproofing. Food cost in rehab=$2-$3 per day, including bugs, etc.
“James” is looking good also. Both almost acclimated, ready for release.
Scott’s/Russell’s Cooper’s hawk. We’re hoping for a release today! Food cost in rehab=$2 per day
RELEASED 09/12!
One of the blue jays also enjoys some sun before storms begin…
This is what our afternoons have looked like most of this summer! Lots of lightning, hail, wind, torrential rain.
And here is Dale’s young Swainson’s hawk from Ramah, after surgery. This bird will not be migrating this fall. Update, 10/08. This bird has his cast off and now we must wait and see if the surgery was a success. There is some muscle atrophy-naturally-and now he’s working on exercising the wing and making it strong and stable. Let’s keep our fingers crossed… Food cost in rehab=$2-$3 per day.
Well, it was a rocky road but “Charlene” was released last night, on several hundred acres of privately-owned property-with the landowner’s permission, of course-and she happily and gracefully bounded off into the evening. Charlene had been hit by a car and needed surgical repair of a leg fracture (thank you, Deer Creek Animal Hospital!) When she arrived at EWRC Charlene was thin, not too ambulatory, and couldn’t/wouldn’t eat. We tried everything we could to entice her to eat, then resorted to syringe-feeding, and finally took her off her meds, at which point she FINALLY began eating on her own. I think the medicine was making her nauseous. She put on weight, healed well, and on release day was a beautiful, not-exactly-plump (don’t know that coyotes get plump) and healthy beautiful animal. We are fortunate we could release her in an area where she wouldn’t need to deal with traffic, and where there is what seems to be a welcoming coyote pack. Thanks to development, good release sites for coyotes-and other critters-are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Thank you to Peggy for all the time, energy, advice, and miles she put into this critter, and thanks to Sue for allowing us to release her on your property!
Jessica was working at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo last week when somebody told her there was “a situation” in the gorilla enclosure, involving a hummingbird! Jessica rushed over to have a look, and it seems the hummer had actually flown into a glass window above the gorilla, and startled the gorilla. Jessica immediately picked the frightened little hummer up and brought her inside, where the zoo veterinarian did a very thorough exam and x-ray series on the wing, and concluded the wing was okay; maybe some soft tissue damage. They provided very good care to this little bird, and despite her ordeal she seems to have maintained a chipper, bright and alert disposition. We will try to determine if this injury will heal in time for migration, and if not we will arrange to transport her farther south, where her rehab will continue with another licensed rehabber.
Today was a beautiful day and 3 young Swainson’s hawks were ready to go! We released the birds in Calhan, at Randy’s place, where one of the youngsters came from, and the adult Swainson’s were still present, and released the young hawks, who were almost immediately joined by the adults! Perfect release. The Swainson’s hawks are now gathering and “kettling up,” preparing for the long migration down to Argentina, and then return back through here in spring.
Imagine Victor’s surprise when he found this tiny (not much larger than an egg) owl teetering along a cliff at Maggie’s Gulch in Silverton! Victor was very concerned the bird would fall over the edge, so picked him up and brought him to his home in Colorado Springs. Victor knew he could not legally keep the bird and contacted the Division of Wildlife to find a place that would take over care of the bird, which is exactly the right thing to do! The DOW contacted us and we contacted Louise, a DOW transport volunteer, to pick the bird up and take to Cheryl, another DOW transport volunteer, to bring here to EWRC. We currently have no Northern Pygmy owls here at EWRC for company for this guy, so Pueblo Raptor Center was kind enough to provide him a home until release. Diana tells me the only problem this adult bird has is that he’s currently in a very heavy moult and just requires some time for new feather growth before release back to Silverton. Again, THANK YOU to Diana at Pueblo, and to Louise, Cheryl, Phil, and Jena for the tranport of this bird!
