Tale Feathers

He was old by porcupine standards. He would have been six this spring. Found by Dave, the manager of the 777 Ranch, Snowball was brought to us as a very young (as in a couple days old) animal. Dave discovered him waddling across the prairie without a mother any where in sight.

Without mother's milk, and an albino to boot, Snowball wouldn't have lasted more than a couple days. Becky Svalstad was the first staff person to take him home to care for him, and she was with him yesterday afternoon.

Snowball has educated countless people during his 5+ years in our presence. Kids who have met him now know that porcupines don't throw their quills at enemies. They have admired his incredible nose and tiny ears. They have oohhed and awwwwed over his very cool paws and toenails. Many have wrinkled up their noses at the musky odor he gave off as his crate was carried into area classrooms.

Supporters have been kind enough to bring him aspen and evergreen cuts to gnaw on. Some folks have grown organic spinach to be included in his daily food ration. A rug for his comfort on slippery school tables was donated by a school volunteer at Wilson Elementary in Rapid City.

He has entertained by singing his porcupine songs to many of us, and eating apple slices from the hands of visitors. We are richer for the days he shared with us as staff. Getting to interact with animals is the rewarding part of our job.

Watching them hurt is the tough part. In late September, Snowball went off his feed. He was experiencing a twisted gut, for which he had surgery. Depsite the best of care offered by Dakota Hills Vet Clinic and our staff, it has been a long 4 months for him. And he just didn't consistently have his usual sunny outlook on life. We worried constantly about his well being, sharing each small victory and each concern with one another.

Staff called me yesterday morning, suggesting that the time had come to take him to the vet for the final time. I trust their judgement very much. Yet, I went out to see him myself, having been Thursday since I had visited with him personally. I immediately agreed with their assessment of his condition.

Normally I would not choose to write so publicly about the passing of one of the animals in our care. Snowball was different, however. He brought deeper understanding to so many, and such joy to staff and supporters.

I thought you would want to know.

Since late September, Icarus has been receiving his mouse meals in tiny portions, many times a day. First the staff tossed a piece of mouse into his mew and immediately departed. Once we knew he was eating regularly with the continual human interruptions, the trainers started staying outside the mew longer and longer, waiting for him to eat while they were present.

In mid-October he was transitioned to a mew very close to the main building. That involved a body grab, which we knew would set back his training. While holding him, we discovered external parasites, which are not uncommon in wild birds. Treatment is two doses of ivermec, injected two weeks apart. This meant more set-backs, but we had to get him to be "bug-free".

During this time of upset, we gave him anklets and jesses, the leather straps needed to be able to safely keep him on the glove. He handled those without issue. The scale for daily weight was a very scary device, so it sat for a very long time under his bow perch, until stepping or hopping to it for food pieces was ordinary.

Currently we are asking him to step to the glove for food pieces. He got to John's glove once rather by accident, much to his startlement and John's delight. We haven't had a repeat yet, but every feeding he is offered the opportunity to succeed. I am sure that very soon he will be stepping over calmly and eating mightily, as befits a nocturnal predator.

The coucals are a member of the cuckoo family. North American cuckoos include the American Roadrunner, Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Mangrove Cuckoo, Smooth-billed Ani, and Groove-billed Ani. There are many species of coucals in Africa.

The Senegal Coucal is common on its home continent. A striking combination of rusty brown, black, and white feathers with a bright red eye, I expect our 5 month old male is going to be delightful to look at. Coucals all share some unique sexual adaptations. The males of each species tend to be smaller, and they provide most of the parental care of eggs and young.

Our new fellow will receive a combination of ground meat mixture (Bird of Prey diet, which ironically we never feed to our raptors), insects, and veggies if he is interested in them.

Once he has arrived I will share more about him, his personality and how we hope to train him.

The nest used by her parents is located on a reservoir on the Wakarusa River in eastern Kansas, fairly close to the city of Lawrence. She hatched sometime this spring, along with two brothers.

On May 12, this bird was banded by researchers with the US Fish & Wildlife Service. The 148th eaglet to be banded in a long running research program, she was caught in the nest, and lowered down to the researchers on the ground. She was weighed, measured and fitted with two bracelets with numbers: one silver, the other colored. This combination of bands provides a unique identifier in case she ever came into contact with people again. She was returned to the nest to to live out her life.

In early August the now much larger eagle was found on the ground on a ranch outside of Martin SD, fairly close to LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge. The rancher called Tom Beck, veteran SD Game, Fish & Parks Conservation Officer. Tom picked up the eagle, which was no small feat! In turn, Tom brought the eagle to Tom Koerner, Manager at the Refuge. Tom called us, and the eagle was delivered to Rapid City.

An x-ray provided by Dr. Peggy Behrens of the vet tech program at National American University showed no bone breaks or joint dislocations. The prescription for healing was quiet, good food, and the opportunity to self exercise in the large rehab flight pen.

First graders and head start preschoolers from Martin came to the Refuge to see the magnificent bird regain her freedom.

Our thanks to everyone involved in this effort! Please enjoy the film footage by KEVN-TV out of Rapid City.

http://www.kevn.com/Bald-eagle-takes-flight-after-rehab

The en mass arrivals beg the question, "Why now?"

Knowing a little of the natural history of the birds is insightful. Like all other predators, raptors time the hatching of their young to coincide with the highest quantities of food species. So, many species have similar nesting dates. Also, most birds of prey have a hatching system that is asynchronous, meaning "sequentially over an extended period of time". The female lays her eggs on consecutive days, but begins to incubate as soon as the first egg has been laid. This gives the first chicks hatched a head start on acquiring food from the parent birds.

Almost all these juvenile birds fell out or were blown out of their nests. We don't know if they were the smaller, i.e. younger birds of the clutch, or if they were just coincidentally a little too close to the edge when a big wind gust came along.

The positive thing that happened to each of them is that a human being cared enough to scoop them up and give us a call.

The juvenile species currently in care are a kestrel, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl, and a harrier. The harrier came from a ranch outside of Isabel, and its nest mates were run over by a hay mower. This species always nests on the ground, which is not a common habit among birds of prey species.

For good measure, we also are rehabbing a subadult red-tailed hawk, and adult great horned owl, and a golden eagle.

As the youngsters are ready to fly and live out their lives, they will be released either as close as possible to the area they came from, or in remote suitable habitat. WEI is fortunate to have several willing landowners that permit us to release raptors on their property.

How well do you remember your Greek mythology? Do you recall Icarus, who had the opportunity to escape the island of Crete with his father? They used wings fashioned of feathers and wax. Being warned to not fly too close to the sun, Icarus was having a fabulous flight over the ocean, only to grow bold with his new found power. He drowned in the sea after the wax on his wings melted from the heat of the sun.

If only our wild neighbors could be warned of modern day obstacles that hinder their flight! Power lines, fences, building lights at night, and even environmentally friendly wind turbines are hazards that birds now encounter on a daily basis. Many times the collisions kill the bird; a few are found and brought in to our rehab facility.

"Icarus" the Great Horned Owl encountered such an obstacle about a year and a half ago. We will never know what he hit that caused half his right wing to self amputate. We only know that when rancher Shane from the Smithwick area brought the bird to us in mid-December, he was partially wingless.

The wound had healed well. In fact, Shane didn't even know the bird was missing part of a wing. He only knew that the owl couldn't fly. When the bird sits on a perch, it is almost impossible to see that a portion of the wing is absent. So I easily understood the benefactor's puzzlement & shock when I asked over the phone, "How did you manage to amputate the owl's wing?" Shane had not done the deed; something the bird collided with had caused the loss of limb.

Now WEI staff was faced with a dilemma. A bird without a wing isn't really much of a bird. However, this individual had managed to feed itself quite well for some period of time despite its injury. Should we request permission to keep it as an educational bird, or euthanize it?

A lengthly consultation with the US Fish & Wildlife Service staff in Denver helped me decide to fill out the application to keep the great horned owl alive. Permission has just been granted to WEI to add Icarus to our flock for educational purposes.

Icarus will begin a lengthly training that initially involves becoming accustomed to human contact, which culminates in eating meals on a gloved hand. Subsequent steps include wearing anklets and jesses, and exposure to walking about while on the glove. Exposure to new things is added slowly. Through all of these steps, the amount of stress the bird demonstrates it is experiencing is carefully observed. Everything is done at a pace that minimizes stress.

Icarus had a role of being the best flighted mouse trap in his world. He was living out his natural destiny when he flew too close to the human world. Now he is being asked to take on the role of educating youngsters about native owls and their marvelous adaptations. Hopefully the opportunity will be accepted by Icarus. I will keep you posted.

Wildlife Experiences has one of the pairs' offspring as an education bird. Sherwood was hatched in 2005, and is one of the most unobtrusive owls we work with. Sherwood prefers to hang out next to his post in his mew, or the wall of his outdoor jump box, doing his best to fade into the coloration of his environment. His most aggressive actions are to clack his beak together when you reach softly to pick him up on the glove. In public he is calm, and grows more steady with each program he helps present to school children.

With Sherwood's docile nature and the ordinary calmness of the breeding pair, today I allowed myself to be lulled into a sense of false security around them.

Tawny's are native to Europe, plus central and eastern Asia. They are an owl of the forest, with a short tail, broad wings, and the tremendous staying power of a generalist species. They eat an immense diversity of other living creatures, and this allows them to have both a far-flung range, and a large, healthy population.

In physical size, Tawny's compare to the Barn Owls and Barred Owls of North America. With deep brown eyes, a perfectly round facial disc, and no ear tufts, they appear gentle, calm and astute.

I post-holed through the drifts as yet another blizzard turned our daily work in to chores. I was carrying the meal to the residents of the "outback", and was grateful for hunting boots and a warm hat crocheted by a dear friend. "The owls", I thought, "are fluffy and snug within their feathers, spread so there is a great deal of airspace for extra insulation." Thinking correctly, as I opened the lock to the Tawny Owl mew the male bird appeared about twice normal size.

Speaking softly to him, I started to provide the mice and chicks that are the birds' diet, and realized I wasn't seeing the female. I stepped to the east end of the nest box, which hangs at least 3 feet over my head. I hoped to catch a glimpse of wingtip or top of head, to reassure myself that she was alive and doing well in the storm. When that effort produced no bird sighting, I stepped to the west end, and took my first good look at the box design from this angle. Admiring the logic of those caregivers that came before me, I made a very bad decision.

I turned my shoulder to the male bird, and thus could not see him. Less than a full breath later, I got fully smacked in the side of the head with owl feet. He swooped over my head, and dove into the nest box.

Letting out a little yelp, I apologized to the male, and made my excuses for a quick departure. His full fury had been directed at my eyes, and it was my own fault. His duty was to protect his mate and the new offspring growing within their eggs, and I was a predator of the worst ilk.

I am reminded that despite mews, locks and human built nesting boxes, we care for wild birds, and never should we forget to give them the full respect they deserve for their wildness. That wildness is an attribute which will forever produce within me the deepest gratitude and awe. Gratitude that I will always have something to learn from the wild ones, and awe at their tremendous instinct to have their species survive.

On a blizzard day, we try to work the shortest day we can. If several people can get to work, we can do the basic care of our 52 charges within about two and a half hours. Basic care includes essential cleaning, weighing of birds, food preparation, and feeding. Parrots might get an extra toy after their cages get cleaned, but our interaction with the birds and animals is minimal.

The abbreviated days are hard on us and on the animals. Training is skipped over. The birds crave the interaction with their trainers; the mental stimulation keeps them healthy, alert and vibrant. Days without training make for less happy animals.

In turn, staff crave the interaction with their birds. On blizzard days, several negative things happen to the Wildlife Experiences staff. First, progress towards a training goal is set back. Worse yet, my staff can get cranky. Much of what motivates the Wildlife Experiences staff members to give their all is the chance to work every day with very fascinating, intelligent creatures. We need our "bird fix" the way users need drugs. I personally think our addictions are a little healthier, however!

The day after a blizzard includes way too much shoveling of paths to get to the "outback birds" and the rehab flight pen. This blizzard the shoveling took two employees about 3 hours each.

The melting is on in full force, and just in time. The National Weather Service is warning the Black Hills and western South Dakota to brace for a rain and snow storm that will likely hit Friday night.

We aren't putting away the shovels just yet. I keep reminding everyone that shoveling snow beats digging hand line during fire season, but somehow the words fall short of consolation when you are staring at snowdrifts two feet deep in front of a bird's mew.

Thank goodness spring is coming!