Program at Garden Ranch YMCA. Until we get a donated vehicle with air conditioning, no more daytime summer programs-too hot for the birds!
Kris’ baby tree swallow, one of a few growing and doing well at EWRC.
Kris’ young wren had been stuck in a sticky glue trap. Kris and Bob had to peel her off, clean her up, and trim all the coated feathers so she wouldn’t ingest the nasty stuff trying to get it off of herself.
Bluejay enjoys several baths during these hot days, while robin looks on…
…and then takes the plunge himself!
The heat has been unreal the last few weeks! It’s been a challenge doing rehab in this kind of heat, having to hose down the critters in the cages throughout the day, working on outdoor projects-like cages-in the evenings. We did a morning program at Garden Ranch YMCA and decided until we get a donated transport vehicle with air conditioning, no more daytime summer programs-’way too hot for the birds! With more releases done and more scheduled for this week, we’re moving the remaining birds outside today, except for the babies. We’re looking forward to a cold front end of the week-all the way down to 85 degrees!
Sunday not enough people to wrap wire on the raptor cage so Ray and Phil worked on the ACE Hardware cage.
Today was a very hot day but thanks to several volunteers we got the frame of the project up and set in concrete. Thank you to Joe, Corinne, Diana and Meg, Chuck, Cheryl, and the Phils for all the hard work in the hot sun! More work tomorrow with Ray, Phil, Joe, and whoever else comes, as well as next Saturday, to add 50 feet to this cage for birds of prey, and once the structure is complete we’re installing a sprinkler/misting system to keep the birds cool and hydrated in the hot weather. We’re going to look into putting in a metal ceiling support beam this time for the entire 100 feet of cage, as the wooden ones we used for the last 2 bent and twisted, and we’ll be looking for a welder to weld the support beam together.
One of the young cottontails enjoys some time tanning in the sun!
Prairie falcon from Parker suffered broken radius, now flies in enclosure!
Jet the robin is in front, sitting with a grackle and Maggie magpie.
Several red-tailed hawks in here, all flying around. All doing well.
Crows grown and doing well, release coming very soon!
Phil has to handfeed this injured GHO from the Air Force Academy, but now the bird can stand up briefly!
This was tough. Baby ferruginous hawk with many serious problems didn’t make it.
The turkeys are HUGE these days!!!!
The geese are looking like geese.
Coco the paralyzed, raccoon-attacked rabbit, is making good progress and can sit up!
And as usual, trying to work around the severe Ellicott weather!!
Boy, it’s been NUTS around here! We’ve been releasing like crazy and getting more into rehab, seems like just about every day! The songbirds are doing well with several being released and the newer babies growing. The geese are growing like weeds and the “mystery birds” turned out to be turkeys-both hens, I’m told. They are enormous and I can’t believe how much they eat! All of the squirrels have been released-thank you Anita for releasing the rock squirrels-and Kris has released her foxes, giving her “empty den” syndrome! The baby red-tailed hawks found in the box at Pine Creek are looking fantastic, although for a while all the hawks in there were moulting-it looked like somebody had a gigantic pillow fight in there! The baby cottontails will be released very soon, when they’re too big to squeeze into the raptor cages. Coco, the paralyzed bunny that came a couple of weeks ago, is now able to sit up and walk a few steps. The young paralyzed Great Horned Owl from the Air Force Academy can, as of yesterday, get his feet under him and stand up for brief periods of time. The ferocious, man-eating saw whet owl from Monument seems to be getting back her wing feathers. The crows are grown up and we’re looking for a great release site for them, with lots of other crows and food. These birds came without paperwork so we can’t take them back to their homes. The kestrels are ready to go as well. Difficult to get all the critters together for pictures, as they hide and are very fast-exactly what we are trying to accomplish. Sadly, not everyone made it. Baby ferruginous hawk from Burlington had a struggle with broken leg and major digestive problems. I’m guessing he had defects that caused him to be kicked out of the nest. Very sad. And this summer has brought us sick corvids, I’m sorry to say. Ellicott Wildlife is working with the State and County Health Department in testing sick corvids and raptors that come to us for rehab for West Nile Virus. Stay tuned, more updates later!
Due to this being our busiest season and limited space, this paralyzed rabbit shares accommodations with Becky’s young cottontail that is soon to be released.
Last night about 9 Dr. Sides called from Animal Emergency Care Center South. She needed to know if we could help her with a non-wildlife rabbit that was brought in to her and not looking so good. The rabbit was paralyzed from the neck down, covered in saliva, and very stressed-out. Dr. Sides donated a lot of time with this rabbit during a very busy holiday weekend at the clinic. She gently and carefully anesthetized the rabbit to do an x-ray and thorough exam. Dr. Sides found no broken neck and no broken back on x-ray. She looked very carefully for puncture wounds as it seemed the rabbit had been attacked by a larger animal; could have been a dog, cat, raccoon, fox, or coyote, who knows? Stefanie of Colorado Springs is the one who found the injured rabbit in her own back yard, and connected with DOW transport volunteer Dave, who picked the rabbit up and took to the vet. This is AGAIN the terrible outcome of a rabbit that somebody put outside, likely didn’t want it anymore. Rather than try to place the rabbit with an adoption agency the critter was put outside. Or perhaps somebody figured it was safe to keep the rabbit in their own yard unattended, and something got her or she escaped? We’ll probably never know. What we DO know is this rabbit is a very sweet rabbit, paralyzed, and in need of a lot of time for care. If the rabbit doesn’t recover from paralysis she will need to be put down. I wonder; when are people going to learn? And care?