The beautiful Aurora.
Last night several of us had a great time at the Air Force Academy. We released AFA, a great-horned owl that was found at the Academy as a very young bird in terrible condition. He wasn’t able to stand up or feed himself, remained on his belly for quite some time. AFA improved over the summer and yesterday evening was his big event-release! John Van Winkle allowed us to invite several volunteers to the release and then gave us a fantastic view of the mews where the Academy’s falcons reside. What a treat! We were met at the door by Aurora, a beautiful white-phase gyrfalcon; quite the diva, we were told. John then took us to meet several of the other birds, each with a distinct personality and a few that were quite comedic! We met prairie falcons, peregrine falcons, and a variety of amazingly beautiful gyrfalcons. We met Yeti, Ace, Cody, Echo, Banshee, and several others. Thank you, John, for an evening we’ll always remember!
Everyone enjoys good food and visit.
Hard workers put the dirt inside the cage.
Corinne finds a stow-away!
The dirt is in…
…and the wire roof put on! Next will be support beam and swinging doors.
Phil, Ray, Cheryl, Chuck, Corinne, Su, Gina, and Alison all stayed to work on the cage.
As happens every day this summer, the weather took a turn in the afternoon.
Thanks, Jena. You’re awesome!!!
We had some decent weather early enough to enjoy a sunny and breezy picnic and potluck, and then some work on the raptor flight expansion project. Ray showed up a few hours early to help set up, and stayed very late to work on the cage. I asked Ray where he gets all his energy and he attributes that to drinking 2 gallons of milk per week. And here I thought that chocolate-lots and lots of chocolate- was the secret! Jena brought food and supplies, and her new intern Sherri came along as well. We discussed volunteer opportunities. Kris found time around her busy squirrel-feeding schedule to make the drive to Ellicott. John and Louise were here, and Louise and I discussed edu program ideas. Tammy came and brought her hubby, and she was able to see her chukkar’s recently-grown beak. Cheryl and Phil were here, and Cheryl raked and smoothed all the new dirt in the flight cage. Phil and Phil, and others as well, placed the wire roof on the flight cage. DOW officer Jeromy came and brought his new wife, Kim, who will be working at a Colorado Springs veterinary clinic. Kim raised many good questions regarding West Nile Virus and release/immunity potential; questions that have varied answers, depending on who you ask. Until today I didn’t realize what a comedian Shaun is! We were able to meet Shaun’s family as well. Tom and Sharon came, and brought Natalie along. Natalie is really growing! Alison came from Black Forest to visit and work on the cage, and visit her magpie, albeit through a window, to see how her critter is doing. The DiVittorio family was here, energetic and hard-working as ever, and with their help we got an amazing amount of cage work done in a very short period of time! Elaine came, and brought Beverly and Barbara. Nice to see Elaine again and nice to finally meet Beverly! Anita showed up much later, after a long night of feeding baby squirrels and bringing Amanda home from the airport, and Joe and Phil had a nice long chat. We got a lot done before the weather turned nasty and it was nice to visit with the people we speak with on the phone but rarely have the opportunity to see! Another workday or two and the cage phase of the expansion project will be done! Thank you, everyone, for coming out to Ellicott on Bronco Sunday and helping out!
The 3 Pine Creek hawks soared perfectly and beautifully overhead!
The 3 young Swainson’s hawks are flying with the adult pair now.
Tuesday afternoon was the perfect day to take the 3 red-tailed hawks back home to Pine Creek. Clara let us do the release on her property, which is awesome bird territory and just 1/4 mile from where the baby hawks were found in a cardboard box in a nighttime rain storm. The birds took off and soared gracefully overhead. Wednesday afternoon was the ideal afternoon for releasing several Swainson’s hawks, and we released them right here at EWRC because the adult pair of Swainson’s has been visiting them each day since they’ve been outside. They joined the adults late yesterday and are still together now, circling high above the fields.
Cheryl’s Big Brown Bat.
This is not a bat. This is a 13-lined ground squirrel Phil found in a kennel outside when he went to clean kennels yesterday. The critter was in there gathering seed.
Volunteer Cheryl Cable was leaving work for the day yesterday when she found an injured bat lying on the sidewalk beneath a pillar. Fortunately Cheryl has been trained by the DOW in what to do, and especially in what NOT to do, when finding a bat. She retrieved the wildlife container she keeps in her car and with wadded up paper towels, very carefully scooched the bat into the plastic container, being very careful not to touch the injured and bleeding bat, and brought the bat to EWRC, where we contacted a licensed bat rehabilitator in Peyton and then Cheryl made the trip to bring the bat to the rehabber.
Cheryl knew what to do when she found the bat. Most people don’t know what to do. Bats in Colorado do carry rabies so when finding a bat it is EXTREMELY important not to handle the bat. You don’t know if the bat is sick, injured, or both. So if you find a bat please call the Division of Wildlife or a licensed wildlife rehab facility, all of who will know where the bat should go. If there’s even the slightest possibility that you or anyone in your house may have been bitten, even if you don’t see or feel a bite wound, you need to contact the Health Department immediately.
Sophie’s young northern harrier from Elbert.
Young tree swallows.
Can you identify this exotic-looking bird found in Don’s chicken coop?
Here he is a week later; now do you know what he is?
Young Swainson’s hawk from Calhan, not in good shape.
Are we slowing down yet? I think not! The past few days have brought more critters into rehab; squirrels, another baby (!) tree swallow, a beautiful red-tailed hawk caught in barbed wire, sparrow, hawks, songbirds….. With releases happening in the next few days we’re really hoping for some space for everyone and time to take a breather! Time to get the turtle cage ready for them to prepare for hibernation. Maggie Magpie seems to be improving, thanks once again to sound advice from rehabber Nancy in Pueblo. John’s flammulated owl from Monument FINALLY is gaining weight, slowly but surely, and seems a tiny bit more alert. Trax, the great-horned owl that was hit by the train, can fly the length of his 50-foot enclosure; that’s real progress! The Pine Creek hawks are ready to go and so are several of the young Swainson’s hawks, including the guy that had been impaled on barbed wire.