Thursday, June 24, 2010

Get ready, get set, GO...............

Wow, we are really busy here. Babies everywhere.

We took in a bunch of new patients for DaLyn Erickson, another rehabilitator in northern Utah. She will be getting in some of the oiled birds from our Chevron disaster in Salt Lake. To help her make room for all of these new patients, we offered to take several of hers.
We added another 2 more Great Horned owls, now totaling 5 babies. The two new ones have injuries; one is healing from sutures and the other looks more serious, with a couple of broken bones.












We also took in 3 nestling Screech owls. What cuties! I'll post pic's of them next time.


We took in 2 more Barn owls, that's a total of 4, all of which came from DaLyn's facility. They are learning to kill at this time.



We took in 17 baby Robins, all in various stages of needing supplemental feedings. We finally
have been able to release 3 of those and expect another 2 or 3 to be ready in a couple more days.
I've included a picture of Connie feeding the babies outside with her 'burka' so they can't escape.












We also took in 7 Magpie babies, which was great since we had only 1 and she needed to hang out with her own kind. They are all outside and learning to eat on their own, some were a little older than others and 5 of them have been released-2 of them just released today. I've included one photo of our Magpie baby when she first came in and of some of the others playing outside in their mew.







We also took in another Golden Eagle. She has some injuries to one of her wings that don't look good for release, but there is still plenty of time to determine this.

We are still waiting on the surgery for Horizon and Ivie will most likely be going to the Zuni Tribe down in New Mexico as she is non-releasable. We have sent several eagles to them as they are one of only 2 tribes in the United States that take non-releasable eagles. They have a HUGE facility where they can live out the rest of their lives with other eagles, which I believe in this case is what is best for her. She is younger and she'll adapt well I believe.






We have had several other Robin babies brought in and some Sparrow babies as well. Just today, we got in 2 Robins and a new Starling chick, completely naked and cold. I've included a cute picture of starling fledglings learning to fly in one of the outdoor enclosures.










We also had brought to us, a Northern Flicker male that was covered in coal dust. He was found in a cabin near an area where there is an active coal mine. We started the normal protocol of washing and drying and sub-que fluids, but he died shortly after arriving. A stressful situation to begin with and then adding all of the handling from washing was just too much. You can see how dirty the rinse water is in the one photo and that was AFTER two baths. Terrible. Who knows how much of that stuff he had ingested trying to get it off of his feathers.













We also had a new mew built by Dedicated Hunters here in the area.

This is where all the Great Horned owls are living right now. Connie and Don made it look like a tree inside with a nest, where they could started "branching" when it came time, which they all are doing now, but occasionally like to return to the "nest" for security.














Feeding, feeding, feeding; that's all I'm doing right now, OH, and cleaning up poop! Well, I think that's all the newbies. I'll add a few photo's and then I'm off to feed again!

Debbie


Feathered brothers and sisters, you came to us broken and as you bled…….we saw you desperate, dehydrated, desiccated, diseased, distressed, emaciated, famished, frayed, frightened, helpless, hungry, ragged, ravenous, shaken, shocked, shot, sickly, stressed, stunned, tattered, thirsty, traumatized, torn, weary and wounded. Defiantly, you stood us off with your last breath as we tried to tend to you. We saw you come in as cute, naked, fuzzy, cuddly youth, as mischievous, defiant adolescents, as fierce, regal rulers of the sky and as cunning, maimed elders whose time on earth was almost done. You endeared yourselves to us, bit us, charmed us, footed us, delighted us, hissed at us, talked to us, mantled at us, and graced us with your presence.

Some of you mended and were able to go on your way, never looking back. Some of you were injured in ways that prevented you from going, so you stayed with us to teach us…….And we came to love you. Others were too far gone, and you went home - where you fly free from pain with the Great One. All of you have touched us, and we are changed because of you.

used with permission by Arlene Powers


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