A day in the life of wildlife rehabilitation..............

Yesterday was another crazy day. I planned on going into Utah county with my husband. I had some transfers that needed to be done, so I thought I may be able to slip everything into the day. The night before, a DWR biologist down in the four-corners area of Utah called me about an injured owl he had. So I went to bed and spent most of the night trying to figure out how I was going to get this owl from him tomorrow, while I was going to be in another part of the state. Connie had just got back from that area, sort of, (it's a pretty big area, Grand and San Juan counties) to pick up a Raven, so I wasn't about to ask her to do that again, plus, I needed her here to feed the numerous babies we have......how frustrating.

In the morning, yesterday, the DWR biologist called me to tell me the owl died during the night. That obviously changed things back to the original plan, sadly enough.

So, after taking care of the house and the wildlife in the morning, I loaded up the hummingbird baby in our care and her food. I also loaded the Pigeon that one of my volunteers brought me from Salt Lake that she found need her work and it wouldn't fly. Now, it flies well and although when it first came in, was horribly thin, now it's weight is good so back to Salt Lake she goes. We also loaded up our Magpie and Robin to transfer to DaLyn in Ogden. The Magpie is an orphan and although he's grown and doing well, he needs to go hang out with other Magpies to help him learn what he needs to learn. I only had him, but DaLyn has several in his situation, so that was perfect. The Robin, turned out to be non-releasable due to a shoulder injury, so she too went to DaLyn to become a foster parent for next years orphans.
We load up the van and head to Provo to meet one of my volunteers. We wait and wait at the coffee shop we agreed to meet. No volunteer, so we went and had lunch. She calls me just as we're finishing up, saying she was parked outside. We sat and visited for a bit and then headed out for the transfer.
I turned over the pigeon and she was going to release it the next day (today). I fed our little hummingbird while out there. I also handed over the Magpie and the robin and off she went, headed to Northern Utah.
Now, in turn, I took 3 Kestrel chicks so ours would have some to hang out with. This is so important as those idiots that fed her bread and milk, also socialized her to them. She needed to be with other Kestrels and that was the plan, so now, we needed to wait for the volunteer to get to Ogden and also pick up those Kestrels before heading back to Price. I also got a call from some people in Utah county that had another Kestrel they said was a baby and couldn't fly. So while waiting, I called them and they brought me the bird. Wasn't a baby at all, but an adult male and very thin. Finally, I get a call from the volunteer and 3 hours later, she just got to Ogden. I can't believe it. I can't wait around for another 3 hours!
I called another volunteer in Utah county and he agreed to meet her, the first volunteer in Utah county after she had the Kestrels and meet me in Spanish Fork canyon, the canyon that separates Utah county and Carbon county, where Price is. The canyon alone is about 60 miles.

So we head home, with the one Kestrel and hummer. I get back, start taking care of the night time wildlife responsibilities with Connie and then get the call that my volunteer Jim, now has the Kestrels, so I finish up and put everyone to bed and then got a friend to drive with me into the canyon to meet Jim. I have night blindness, so any night wildlife business has to have a second person involved. We got home about midnight. Then we had to start separating the new birds as the two little female Kestrels were trying to kill the little male. Not really uncommon but I didn't suspect that so quickly.

So now, we have 4 more new Kestrels and Connie got in another Robin while I was gone.
We sure put on the miles doing what we do with just 2-3 people helping with driving once in a while. I remember the good ol' days when I only worked 8 hours a day. What a woos.......

This is a bit different type of posting I normally do, but I just want to remind people of the hard work we do helping wildlife, unpaid, all volunteer and we respond 24/7, no days off, something a lot of people take for granted.

Debbie

Well let's try this again..........................

This will be the third time I've done this post, so let's hope this one will work and won't disappear when I hit "publish".

There has been a lot going on...............

Maybe I'll do a couple of small posts as to not make this too daunting.




First an update on the Ferruginous hawk nestlings. They are exercising their wings and moving around just like 'big hawks'. I'll post a few pictures of the changes as they have grown.


The oldest is a male and the other a female. Their nest and part of the tree it was on collapsed during a severe wind/rain storm. One adult was found dead several yards from the nest and the other has not been seen. This is very suspicious.







The babies will soon be out in our flight, practicing the flying and learning to kill.
I''m proud of the work we've done. They want NOTHING to do with us and have all their wildness to them.



Moving on, we released our little Screech owl that came to us from Moab. Cute little guy. He did well and kill tested well, so we released him in an area near here. We never did come up with what had happened to him. He seemed a little 'off' for a day or two, but nothing major and no real signs of a concussion. Sometimes we just don't know the story since they aren't talking and usually there are no humans around in these remote areas our patients generally come from, so no witnesses either. I guess this one will remain a mystery.






We are also caring for a litter of three Least Chipmunks. Cute little guys. Feedings every couple of hours. They are just opening their eyes now and their ears are opening as well. I just love the little mammals. SMOOCH! Of course, they are named Simon, Theodore and Alvin. (What did you expect)?! And YOU try to get clear pictures of little Chipmunks.....yeh right!




And finally, Jupiter, our Red-Tail hawk was released. He was found in Sevier county on the
ground and again, no real reason for being down.


We gave him supportive care and once he was a little stronger, started kill testing him and when that went well, sent him on his way in Spanish Fork Canyon. A friend released him. That is Chase holding Jupiter in the picture.





Well, that's all I've got time for right now. I'll try to do another short post here in a few days.

Debbie

What's up in San Juan county?

Here we go again....two more birds in from San Juan county, Monticello again. These two are orphaned due to the death of a parent and then the nest went down with part of a tree during a wind storm. We don't know why the parent hawk is dead. Hopefully we can determine the cause. These are Ferruginous hawk chicks. I've attached pictures. They are a level 2 on Utah's Sensitive Species list.

The chicks are in pretty good shape and about 20 days old. What cuties! There will be a lot of time involved with these little guys and the food, well, that's going to be a big expense for the next several weeks. I'll be posting photo's as they grow so keep checking in.

Fury, our Golden eagle that survived secondary lead poisoning, is now out in our large flight. She is having some minor issues with balance, due to the lead poisoning. Hopefully this will resolve in time. We had to move Hershel, our Turkey Vulture, out of the flight so Fury could go in. He lost some critical feathers on the wing where his surgery took place. These are already growing back, but more time is needed before he can fly, so out of the flight he went. Fury needs to work on getting stronger so the large area is critical for her right now. Don't worry, Hershel isn't confined in a horribly small enclosure; he went from the flight, which is like the luxury suit at a hotel, to the economy room.

We also took in a young Western Scrub Jay that left the nest just a bit early. He's about ready to be released. All of our Starling babies are now released. They are literally spread over several counties. Spreading the DNA around!

Jupiter, our young Red-Tail hawk from San Pete county, is doing a great deal better. Still, not 100% sure why he went down, but I still suspect electrocution. He is eating well on his own and today, mice were added to his diet, again and this time he ate them. Go Jupiter! He's becoming stronger and more aggressive. Remember his feathers were in bad shape so some of them have broken off. Hopefully that is over.

We also have a mystery nestling in our care. He's growing like a weed. Having come in at 6 grams, he is now over 20 grams. Eyes are still closed and only a little down. I'm truely amazed that he survived and is thriving.

It will be wonderful to see what he is but that is still several days (10-15) away. He was found on a sidewalk in Price.

Last, but not least, we have 2 little Robin orphans. Not related, they came from different areas. They're both about the same age so they enjoy each other very much. Cute, cute, cute!

Thanks for checking in........

Debbie

Ugh! Where to begin......

Well I finally have my laptop back. Looks like some of my files are gone forever. Lovely!

It's been a melancholy few days. I stepped out my front door yesterday morning to find a cat had been hit and killed right in front of my house that I had been feeding. There is a cat hoarder two doors down and many of her angels come here looking for food. He was my next neuter project.

The night before, I received a call about another Golden eagle from Monticello. This one had been hit by a vehicle. We met our Moab DWR office, TJ Robertson in Green River, Utah to pick up the bird. I made arrangements for our vet to x-ray the eagle the next morning, so off we went. We also took Fury, the lead poisoning eagle with us for another x-ray.

At this point, she has just finished up two rounds of chelation therapy for the lead remaining in her body. We have had many problems along the way, including her crop stopping as well as the rest of her gastrointestinal tract. We just kept plugging along and we have seen progress, ever so gradually. Yesterdays x-ray showed no more lead! Yay!

There still may be residual lead in her brain or other tissues, so we are not out of the woods yet, but the pieces in her body are now gone. This is HUGE! She has also started eating on her own. Another major hurdle.

The newer eagle, a male was in horrific shape. There was so much trauma that I couldn't do a complete exam. He needed to be put under so as to not feel the pain that a complete exam would have caused him. Once under, the complete picture of the damage was apparent. This magnificent creature had broken bones and a great deal of tissue missing surrounding the broken bones, which would make repair impossible. Nerves, tendons and muscle; all gone.

With a great deal of saddness, we ended his suffering. These times are very emotional, taking even more from us, but no where near was he has lost. It's still difficult thinking about it.

I've included his intake pictures and a couple of shots of the broken bones and pieces from that break. Not only had he been hit, but it was very apparent that he was dragged for some distance. The good samaritan that found Fury out in the alphalfa field in Monticello also found this guy. Thank goodness for Keith and his wife Dee.

We also have released all but one of our orphaned Starling babies. Connie released two today.

Another new patient, a male Red-Tail hawk, is sure puzzling. He came in, found in a field on the ground. His feathers are in bad shape but he has no injuries. His feet have some markings on them that lead me to believe he may have been electrocuted. We're giving him supportive care and force feeding him. He was well fleshed when he came in, indicating he had not been down for long. Mystery.

This work has many rewards and then there are those days when it's very sad and difficult.

They kind of equal themselves out over time.

Debbie