Busy Earth Day, More Releases and New Patients Admitted, Volunteer

( Photo: This male Northern Cardinal was released on Thursday. He suffered a wing fracture in late winter. )



( Photo: THIS is why we wear gloves when handling Cardinals, Blue Jays and some other strong-beaked birds. They use that beak so effectively and not only for cracking open sunflower seeds. :) )

Earth Day was one busy day! Education Coordinator Molly McKay was up super early to be at the Port Edwards High School for an Earth Day Festival. What a great job the high school students did putting it together. Molly will write about it early next week. We are hoping to get some photos from the school as we forgot our camera.

I did an interview on Wisconsin Public Radio with host Glenn Moberg on the WPR program "Hwy 51". At the same time Education Director Steve Fisher was at WSAU Channel 7 doing an interview for Earth Day and for the Sunday morning show with our wonderful education partner, Malcolm, our Barred Owl. It was so good to hear about the great things happening in the world and hope even more are to come.



( Photo: Catching a well-conditioned passerine in the flight aviary is not easy task. At the end, everybody is exhausted including the staff. Here Alberta finally snags the Northern Cardinal. )



( The Northern Cardinal could not wait to get out of Katie's grasp. He headed for the woods and off to the rest of his life. He had such a severe wing fracture when admitted we were not sure he would heal, but he did and is now living proof rehab works!)



(Photo: Alberta releases an American Coot that spent most of the winter with us at REGI. It could not believe its good fortune to finally have a lake to call its own.)



( Photo: The American Coot quickly found cover from which it could survey the lake. We found it hiding in some cattails. It is well camouflaged. Can you see it in the middle of the photo?)

Yesterday we admitted another American Coot seemingly to replace the patient we released. That is the way it goes here at REGI. One patient sent out the door and two more admitted. The coot admitted yesterday has lead poisoning and will be with us for awhile as the lead is chelated from its blood.

Volunteer Dave Koch spend two days working and repairing caging at REGI. Our caging is getting older now and the harsh winters take a greater toll every year. Volunteers who help with construction and repair are vital to our work. Dave has worked several days every spring to help us, and we are so grateful to him for his time and to his wife for sharing him. :)



( Photo: Dave Koch, "volunteer extraordinaire" spent two days at REGI doing repairs to caging. Thank you, Dave! )

We hope to get some rain to fill our lakes here in the northland. Our area is all about lakes and many of ours are either very low or nearly empty. It is very hard to comprehend.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Marge Gibson © 2010