Great-horned Owl Early Morning Arrival, Northern Red-tailed Hawk, Ducks Released

( Photo: Baby mergansers when they were admitted in June. Now grown, they have been released. See release photos and story below.)



(Photo: This Great-horned Owl admitted early a.m. after he was found on the side of a road. He has quite a headache,and a broken wing but is improving rapidly.)

My doorbell was ringing very early the other morning. I sprang from bed to find a citizen at the door. He found a Great-horned Owl on the side of the road and didn't know what else to do so he put it in his trunk and raced to REGI. Since I live on the property I am often jarred awake by ringing phones or doorbells for an emergency that occurs WAY out of normal hours. That was the situation with this Great-horned Owl.

The owl was unconscious when found and remained so for most of the day but has made a remarkable recovery thus far. Often owls with head injuries such as this owl has have vision problems even after recovery. This owl however has good pupil reaction in both eyes. He is also regaining his stamina quickly.

A few hours later a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk was admitted from the Mosinee, WI area.



( Photo: Red-tailed Hawk admitted from Mosinee, Wi with a wing injury of undetermined cause.)

As you can tell from his photo, this red-tailed hawk is intelligent and displays amazing curiosity about "us". The photo was taken minutes after he arrived at REGI. You notice there is no fear in this lovely face. His feather coloration, size and behavior tell us he is most likely from the far north. Where he was hatched there are more animals than people. While he knows all about four legged and winged predators he has no idea what people are all about. Not being aware of, or afraid of people can be a real problem for many northern species including Rough-legged Hawks and Snowy Owls. In their curiosity about us they are often injured or get too close to those that might cause them harm.

Our former ducklings are all grown now and were released. It was great to see them go off on their own after all these months of care. They have spent the past 6 weeks in a pond/lagoon area away from humans with their foster parents.
We were the last people they wanted to be with and that is exactly the way we wanted it to be before they are released. Rearing wild animals that have a hunting season on them makes contact with humans a dangerous thing. After their initial baby stage we limit contact quickly so they do not have a disadvantage once released. Enjoy the photos of the Mergansers, Wood Ducks and Mallards as they were released. They took off flying so fast, getting any photos was a challenge, but here are some so you can share our joy of seeing them finally in the wild.



( Photo: Our former ducklings, now grown ducks about to be released. A quick photo with the camera venturing a peek into their box shows Mergansers, Wood Ducks and Mallards just seconds before the box was opened.)



( Photo: Look at those strong wing beats as our ducks take their place in the wild world. They have been with us for several months being reared by foster parents in a pond area.)


( Photo: Some of the ducks as they settled to the water after release. )


( Photo: This great photo was taken by REGI's Katie Farvour. She got the water coming off the head and "duck tail" of one of our young mergansers. Check out that cool beak shape. Perfect for catching fish and other invertebrates.)

Have a great tomorrow everyone,
Marge Gibson © 2009

Interns Birthday, Photo updates of Sandhill Cranes, Merganser and Wood Duck Ducklings, Kingfisher chick and more.

( Photos: A series of Intern Natasha, feeding the days old Belted Kingfisher chick. What a stitch this little one is!)



Our days run together this time of the year. It seems we are stuffing little mouths all of the time. The only thing that changes is the type of bird we are stuffing and the food we are using. Each species is so specialized and therefore the diet that it is fed. The Belted Kingfisher chick that Natasha is holding and feeding in the photos to the right is just days old now but it already eating minnows and other meats. What a stitch he is! When he is hungry he yells so loud it is impossible to miss his intent. I took the first photo just to show the baby eating. You can see a minnow going into the crop and then he unexpectantly grabbed Natasha finger and would not let go. They are suprisingly strong with their sucking reflex. The adult Belted Kingfisher would eat minnows and other small fish and then partially digest it in their own crop before coming back to the nest. The babes then take the food from the adults crop. It is a bit like crop milk but pretty fishy! Our hands smell pretty wonderful this time of year!:((






( Photo: Aprill braves the cold water and mucky lake bottom to harvest some duckweed to keep our ducklings healthy. YEA APRILL!)


Speaking of interns Aprill is a bit of a ham and volunteered to get us duckweed from Moose Lake for our baby ducklings. Duckweed is so important to the growth and development of baby ducks, but it does not begin to grow until the water temperature warms some. With the cold springtime we were getting nervous about finding enough duckweed to keep our ducklings healthy. Aprill pretty much just jumped on in and braved the mucky bottom to get to the duckweed and gather some. Yea Aprill!
She is great...all of interns are!! We have been really blessed this year with some fine young people.



( Photo: Merganser and Wood Duck ducklings eat live insects and minnows from the time they hatch through the first month of life!)

The photos shows two Merganser ducklings and a Wood Duck duckling. They are housed together at this point only because of their common age and size. Other ducklings patients of their species are older and larger and would not accept the smaller, younger babies. The merganser and wood ducks eat the same food so they are fine together at this point. When they get older they will be introduced to their own species before they are all released to the wild.



(Photo: Check out our youngest Sandhill Crane colt grazing in the field of wildflowers.)

The Sandhill Crane colts are growing and changing daily. The oldest is very tall these days and while he is not flying yet he is flapping his wings in anticipation. The youngster in the photo in the flowers is FINALLY getting growing. She had some serious health issues and had retarded growth for the first few weeks. She will catch up, but so far remains behind.

The oldest chick came in May 17th so is just about a month old now and the youngest is came in on May 26th. You can see their "baby pictures" on those dates in the blog.



( Photo: This Sandhill Crane colt was about six inches tall when he came in on May 17th. He is only a month old and stands nearly 3 feet tall now and is growing his wing feathers fast. They grow so fast you can almost watch them.)

Two of our interns had birthday early this week. Lance and Natasha both turned 21!
We had a great party with all of the REGI team and a beautiful cake to celebrate their milestone birthday! We are all having a great summer together. The students are terrific and work hard to make sure the birds have the best possible care. I am so grateful to them for their dedication.



( Photo: Natasha and Lance both turned twenty-one! We celebrated with a party with sloppy joes and a yummy chocolate cake with raspberry filling.)

Until tomorrow, have a great weekend!
Marge Gibson 2009

American Woodcock Chick Growing, Many New Patients-Mergansers

( Photo: American Woodcock with a pan of his natural habitat complete with earthworms.)

I hardly know where to begin this morning. We have been having some Internet connection problems. Every time I sat to write the blog last week it seems I was unable to log on. Living in a remote area has wonderful benefits such as being close to the many often fragile species we care for, but the negatives are things such as Internet connection is spotty at times.

Our woodcock chick is growing well. He came in on May 23rd, and was just a few days old. He was grabbed by a cat near Tomahawk. Woodcocks fly by the time they are 14 days old. He is well on his way to that milestone.

On Friday our intern Lance was changing his bedding and was shocked to find how well he could already use those wings. It is fun to watch the birds teach the students the secrets to their natural history. They may well forget things that I say, but when a tiny woodcock takes to the air when it still looks for all the world like a fuzzy chick, that will remain a part of their memory. When the interns arrive we talk about the importance of observation. I tell them they will learn far more from the birds than they will from me. They may not believe me at the time but within a few weeks they understand entirely.

( Photo: The beak of the American Woodcock is flexible to "grab" earthworms as they probe the soil.)

In the photo of the woodcock you will notice he is on a pan of soil and leaves. That is what his natural habitat looks like. While he is still in a brooder we provide a natural area for him. He already feels most comfortable on the pan of soil and leaves. That is as it should be. Rehabiliation is so much more than just feeding little ones and having them grow well. It is also important to allow them to learn life skills and introducing them to their own habitats early on.

Woodcocks have the most interesting flexible beak that probes below the soil and grabs earthworms.



( Photo: Imperfect photo taken from above shows woodcock chick slurping earthworms as only woodcocks can.)

Woodcocks eat their weight in earthworms daily. Therefore if there is someone out there that loves digging worms or has access, we could sure use them for our patients.

The Passerine building is a busy place with incubators running and mouths to feed.
The great news is most youngsters are now older than a week so their feedings are no longer on the every 20 minutes schedule. I find myself wishing that those the bring the babes to us particularly for reasons less than necessary could spend a day with us. One recent story went like this...the nest was on their porch and Aunt Mabel was coming to visit. She is afraid of birds so they took the nest filled with tiny babes and brought it here. UGH! SCREAM! It is of course illegal to destroy a nest of federally protected birds and that means taking a nest down purposely. At least they had a conscience to not kill the chicks, but looking after Aunt Mabel's feelings translates into long labor intensive days for us at REGI. I say let Aunt Mabel use the back door! But I am all about common sense.



(Photo: Our incubators are filled with baby passerines.)


Our days are filled not only with feeding and caring for our avian patients, but with end of school field trips to REGI and classroom presentations. I will write a separate blog on some of the field trips so the children involved can see themselves on the blog. On Friday we had two classroom presentations in Stevens Point and then a rush back to REGI for a field trip here. Our education birds and our educators Nicole and Steve are all working overtime these days. They are all terrific. We are lucky to have such enthusistic and hard working teachers on the REGI team.



(Photo: Merganser ducklings are high strung and come many at a time.)

Merganser ducklings come from large families. When something happens to mom the tykes are up a creek so to speak and face certain death without intervention. I was doing a program myself this weekend so my dear husband and staff including the interns got busy saving a family of Merganser ducklings that were in trouble near Council Grounds State Park. The youngsters were huddled on the ground likely under their nest. There were in critical condition when found with one already dead at the site. Mergansers are hard to raise as they eat only insects their first month of life.


(Photo: Merganser duckling eating killed meal worm even at a day old. His siblings preen inder a heat lamp after bathing)

Taking photos of Merganser ducklings in not an easy process. They are very high strung. A quick shot with a camera will be the best photos I can share with sensitive species such as these day old ducklings. All 12 are doing well. Much appreciation to my crew for doing such a great job in my absence, to my husband for making a long drive twice to transport them, and to my grandson for doing the emergency set up for the hypothermic babes.

I am off to feed babes, wrap a wing and walk crane colts.

Have a great day everyone.

Marge Gibson © 2009