This beautiful bird apparently had smacked into a window, sustaining a broken leg. Time will tell how this leg heals; wish him luck! Thank You to Animal Emergency Care Center North-again-for taking the time!
The other day Sage was crossing Union at Academy when she spotted what she thought was a grasshopper hopping up and down in the middle of Union. Upon closer inspection she realized it was a small bird, hopping up and down on the hot pavement. She picked up the tiny bird and brought back to work with her, placing him in a box and offering cool water until she could find help. Sage called us and volunteers Cheryl and Phil picked the bird up after work and brought here. The youngster is doing fine.
John’s young flammulated owl from Monument.
The Swainson’s hawks are coming in droves (youngsters having accidents,) more red-taileds arriving, and more owls. Yesterday an injured owl arrived from up the road and I was really surprised to find an adult long-eared owl, didn’t know we had those in our particular area. John in Monument found a bird in his barn that couldn’t fly, suspecting it was a baby, and what showed up is a young flammulated owl in terrible condition. Maybe he found his way into the barn and couldn’t get out, I don’t know for sure, but he is very, very thin and not too alert, let’s keep our fingers crossed.
This is the first thing I saw upon entering the duck enclosure this afternoon-eeeks!!!!
It took about 15 minutes for the bullsnake to get his jaws around the duck egg but with a few crunches of the shell the bulge disappeared in that muscular body.
He also took the old dove eggs I threw in there for him and it only took him a minute to get them in his mouth and down his gullet-wait, do snakes have gullets?
This afternoon I went outside to visit my ducks and the sight that greeted me just inside the door was a bit of a shocker. The ducks were all in their pool and quite safe at the far distance of the enclosure but one of Daffy’s eggs (fortunately she doesn’t seem to have a clue what they’re for so I doubt she’ll miss this one!) was about to be consumed by one of the 4-foot long bullsnakes we see around the property. I ran inside and grabbed the camera, got some cool video, and the entire time I photographed him he hissed. I watched while the snake worked his jaws around the big egg and eventually he got them around it, and with a couple of quick peristalsing movements and lots of shell-crunching from inside, the bulge of the egg disappeared on its way down his body. For fun I threw a couple of old dove eggs in there and he took those, too, before cruising out the door I had left open for him.
This morning volunteers Cheryl and Phil were on their way to work, driving on Highway 94 thru’ Yoder, when they saw a small object in the road and cars swerving around it. When they got closer they could see it was a young cottontail, apparently had been hit by a car. Phil stopped the car and they got out to see if the rabbit was alive or dead, while traffic zoomed past them on both sides. The critter was still alive so they picked it up and placed it in their wildlife container, then dropped off at EWRC. The rabbit suffered a gash under his eye and some bumps and bruises, and we’ll see how it goes……. Thank you Cheryl and Phil for stopping and taking the time, risking life and limb, to rescue this critter!
Injured GHO from the Air Force Academy is doing well.
Two hummingbirds with major problems-note back wound on the right.
Ron’s female red-winged blackbird, thank you Steve for identifying!
Young Swainson’s cut out of barbed wire, major damage. Keep your fingers crossed. Note area of bruising-green.
Young Mississippi kite from Fountain, sent to Pueblo for prerelease training and release.
Railroad worker Tim found this unfortunate GHO lying on the railroad tracks in the hot sun, apparently having been hit by a train. Broken wing and head trauma.
We’re really going to miss Cindy! We’ve worked with Cindy for 6 years at Belcrest Animal Clinic, where we take the birds that need help. Cindy is fearless when it comes to handling birds of prey and a very compassionate lady that cares alot about each and every one. She’s been a volunteer that has put in a lot of hours helping us to help wildlife. Cindy has moved to Montrose and we wish her the best.
Volunteer Tom O’Toole releases the Parker prairie falcon-a great release!
The 1st batch of geese has grown and is ready to go, the turkeys are just about there, several songbirds have been released, the Pine Creek hawks and other red-tails ready in a few short weeks, more songbirds about ready, with more coming in almost every day.
I’d just like to again thank all of the transport volunteers who are doing the majority of the driving of these birds all over the State. Sunday volunteer Tom O’Toole made the trip to Parker to release the prairie falcon that had broken a wing, and volunteer Diana Biggs picked up a young Swainson’s hawk that was found hanging in barbed wire, and helped Dr. Congdon examine that wing. Volunteer Cheryl Cable made the trip late after work to pick up a couple of badly injured hummingbirds and brought them out to Ellicott. Volunteer Ray Schuler made the trip of taking a red-tailed hawk to Dr. E. last week as well.
Another special thank you to Kathy Meyer, who isn’t a transport volunteer at all but a wildlife rehabber herself who in addition to working full-time like the rest of us and rehabbing a couple hundred cottontails this year around her family and pet care work has driven all over the State to pick up animals to help us out, including birds. Kathy, you’re awesome!