Barred Owl, Canada Goose, Trumpeter Swan, Bald Eagle, Great Horned Owl, and Eastern Screech Owl... Oh My!

It has been a busy few days here around REGI! We have admitted quite a few new patients, six of which I'd like to share with you now.

Photo above: This Barred owl was admitted after being hit by a car near the Langlade, WI area. His first few days here were a little rough; he had blood in his nares (nostrils) which is indicative of internal damage. Internal bleeding is very common in birds that have been hit by cars and can be fatal; luckily for this gorgeous owl, his injuries are healing. We are very pleased to say that he is recovering very well and will soon be ready for release!

If you look closely at the feathers between his eyes you can see what looks like snow stuck to them. That is actually frozen water vapor that has collected from each breath he releases. That proves how perfectly suited these owls are for winter weather. They are so well insulated that their body heat is trapped below their feathers and snow doesn't even melt on them. Amazing!

Photo above: This Canada Goose was admitted this morning from the Stratford, WI area, suffering from an old gunshot injury. Being that Canada Goose hunting season ended in mid December and assuming her injury came from an attempted legal harvest, she has been braving this northern winter for a couple months, unable to fly. In areas of the Midwest that retain open water during all seasons, some Canada geese might attempt to stay the winter, but most geese have long flown South.

Her injury resulted in the loss of part of her wing which means that she will not be able to return to the wild; however, all hope is not lost. She has a big job in her future; every spring, it is inevitable that we will need to raise Canada Goose goslings. Assuming that she is able to regain her strength and a healthy weight, she will make a wonderful foster mom for many orphaned goslings.

Canada Geese are a harvestable species meaning that it is legal to shoot them during designated seasons. Injuries like the ones sustained by this Canada Goose really come down to hunter responsibility. If a poor shot is taken, it is up to the hunter to do everything they can to find the injured bird and prevent suffering. We are very thankful for the person who found this goose and brought her to safety; the world needs more people like that.

Photo above: This Trumpeter Swan cygnet (youngster) was found in the Gilman area which is in North Western Wisconsin. The area in which he was found has no open water and the reasons why he was there are unclear. He is suffering from vision problems from an unspecified injury, and also as a chip in his beak which may indicate head trauma. It is not certain that his vision will ever improve, but we will continue to monitor him. Blood tests showed no lead poisoning which is good news; one less thing he has to overcome.

Photo Above: An upsetting story... This Bald Eagle was found in the Wittenberg, WI area suffering from gunshot wounds. Some very good people found him and brought him to safety, but unfortunately, the damage from the shot was so severe it resulted in the loss of part of the wing. It is likely that he has an occupation as an education bird in his future.

Judging by the coloration on the eagle's head, he is likely around 3 or 4 years old. Bald Eagles don't get their signature "bald" head until they are about 5 years old and this fellow is still showing dark streaks.

Like we have mentioned before, harming ANY raptor is illegal! I plan to do this work for the rest of my life, and I don't think I will ever understand why someone would want to murder our National bird. We are very grateful for the kind people who rescued him.

Photo above: This Great Horned Owl from Arpin, WI was found tangled in a barbed wire fence. He has some damage to his right wing, but it looks like he will be releasable! He looks quite upset in the photo, and that is good! It means he is feeling well enough to be defensive. Great Horned Owls always have a very strong personality so that is another good sign for this guy.

Barbed wire is an especially dangerous obstacle for animals, including birds. The barbs are very effective at hooking into tissue and once an animal is caught, it often needs help from a human to get free. This owl was extremely lucky in that his injuries were minor and someone found in in a short period of time. Unfortunately, most animals found tangled in barbed wire have already died.

Barbed wire can be made "safer" by keeping the wire taut and by tying strips of light colored cloth at multiple points between each fence post. The tautness helps keep animals from twisting in between two wires and the cloth strips make the wire more visible and avoidable for low-flying birds. The same is true for other types of wire fences. They're an unexpected danger that we can and should help to reduce; after all, we are the ones putting them up.

Photo above: This Eastern Screech Owl was found in Antigo, WI, with a very interesting story. A lovely woman walked into her living room to find this adorable little Screech Owl perched atop one of her vases! Imagine her surprise! Being that the owl was covered in soot and had some roughed-up feathers, we deduced that she must have "broken in" through the fireplace chimney. This odd situation isn't as rare as you might think.

Many species of owls, including Eastern Screech Owls, are cavity-nesters, meaning that they nest in holes in trees. As luck would have it, chimneys resemble these tree cavities closely enough for owls to be confused. Raccoons have also found themselves inside people's homes after making the same mistake. If you would like to avoid having owls or raccoons ambling down your chimney, a simple chimney cap should usually do the trick.

Another odd thing about the screech-owl-in-living-room situation is that Eastern Screech Owls are generally found South of Wausau, WI; Antigo, WI is an hour, by car, north of there. Why she was this far North is a mystery.

She is being observed for several days to make sure that there isn't an underlying problem, but she is in good weight and should be released quite soon!

On top of all the patients, we were lucky enough to be visited by a few students today from the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point. Two of them are here from Japan for a short time doing a training program through the University. We had a great time showing them around and they taught us about the raptors native to Japan; it was a real treat! Katie Rymer, an intern from this past summer, drove them all up to Antigo and it was great to have her "home" at REGI again!

Photo above: The students learned to handle birds during their time with us. We hope they enjoyed their time at REGI as much as we enjoyed having them! (Photo Credit: Molly McKay)

As always, thank you all for your donations and support!

We couldn't do this without you!

Have a great weekend!

Karissa Mohr

REGI Wildlife Educator

Adult Bald Eagle Admitted, Loon Making Progress, Many Calls on Injured Waterfowl

( Photo: Katie and Alberta tube feed the most recent Bald Eagle patient admitted from the Merrill area. )

We admitted an adult Bald Eagle with neurological signs. He is very low in weight coming in with a weight of just below 5 lbs. A typical male Bald Eagle weighs 8-9 lbs. Because he was so weak, we took a day to stabilize him before drawing blood for testing. He has an elevated blood Lead level. It is however not as high as I would expect to cause the extreme symptoms he exhibits. We began chelating treatments for lead but continue to look for other toxins that may also be present.



( Photo: Drawing blood from the adult Bald Eagle admitted suffering from neurological symptoms. He likely has ingested or was exposed to a toxin. Tests are underway to determine what toxin.)


A blog reader wrote to ask why many of our birds are starving when admitted when there is plenty of food in the environment. In the cases of a toxin, the bird is unable to eat. You can think of your own bodies reaction to eating something poisoned. If they are unable to eat due to toxin or unable to capture their own food due to a leg, wing fracture or other injury, the cycle of starvation begins. Some time can go by before the bird is captured and brought into REGI. The fact is by the time a wild bird can be captured, it has to be very weak. Starvation complicates the care needed, but is often part of the diagnosis.



( Photo: The Common Loon stretches her neck out underwater to grab a minnow!)

Our Common Loon is making progress. We are cautiously optimistic for her recovery. Aspergillosis is a fungal infection that can be a serious problem in loons and other avian species when they are physiologically stressed. She is treated twice a day with anti fungal oral medication to prevent aspergillosis.
Meanwhile she is swimming several times a day now and while still being tube fed emaciation diet she is also eating minnows ravenously on her own. Keep her in your thoughts as she has a long way to go.

Waterfowl hunting is underway in Wisconsin. We are receiving many calls about wounded Canada Geese and various species of ducks. Sadly, many of these game birds are injured and left to die a slow and painful death. If you find a goose or duck that needs help, please carefully put it in a cardboard box with a towel in the bottom and bring it to the REGI facility. We wish we could respond to every call, but our staff is small and the need great. We will take care of the birds once they arrive. Often the are able to recover.




( Photo: Alberta had a birthday on Tuesday! With the interns no longer with us, our group is significantly smaller, but still enthusiastic! We were happy Dave Koch, volunteer extraordinaire, was able to join us for the celebration. Dave has been working on the new eagle building. I will devote an entire blog to that effort and the great folks that helped Dave as well when we put the eagle in her new building.)

We have a busy day ahead. Hope your day is perfect!

Marge Gibson © 2010

Happy Fathers Day, Foster Fathers Working Hard at REGI

Happy Fathers Day! We hope you have all had a wonderful day and were able to spend time with the special person in your life who wears the title of "father", "dad", "pops", or whatever special term you have for your father. Fathers are very important to our lives, but did you know they play a huge role in the avian world as well?



( Photo: Malcolm,REGI's Barred Owl, works hard both as an education bird during most of the year and for a few months a year as a foster father to orphaned Barred Owlets. In this photo Malcolm is seen with the Barred Owl owlets recently. See photo below to see the scene the day he was introduced to the owlets.)



( Photo:In this photo the Barred Owl owlets are very young. It is the day they were introduced to Malcolm.)

People are often surprised when they hear many of our foster parents are MALES. Male raptors and several other avian species are great parents. They nurture, preen, and care for the young every bit as well as the female does.



( Photo: Our foster father Bald Eagle with a orphaned Bald Eagle eaglet in 2009. We usually get Bald Eagle chicks in late June or early July. He will likely be busy again this year.)




(Photo: Foster Dad "Frenchie" takes his job seriously. He has 4 foster Canada Goose goslings this year. If you think he is not a great dad, just TRY getting past him to touch one of those goslings!)



( Photo: Foster parent Sandhill Crane ( sorry we are not sure of gender) takes great care of this young sandhill recovering from a broken leg.)

These are but a few of the amazing foster parent birds that help us through the summer months by raising orphaned babies. We can raise these chicks/youngsters, but never as well as they can be by their own species.

We hope your day was perfect!

Marge Gibson © 2010

Baby Passerines Pour In, House Finches, American Robins, Ducklings and Gosling, Sandhill Crane With Leg Injury and Lead Poisoning.

( Photo: This is the first sight I see in the morning and the last thing at night, and a few times in the middle of the night! These mouths belong to the nestling House Finches pictured below. Nestling passerines have to be fed every 20 minutes their first week of life.)

Whew! We have been BUSY at REGI. We admitted 18 baby birds of various species and varieties including Eastern Phoebes, American Robins and House Finches, Mallard ducklings and Canada Gosling, and a Bluebird just in the past few days. We also admitted an adult Sandhill Crane ,American Kestrel,and a Red-tailed Hawk.

The phone is ringing often these days with calls about injured birds, baby birds in trouble and sometimes just bird related questions. We like the questions especially if it means we can keep baby birds with their parents to be raised naturally and without human intervention.



( Photo: House Finch nestlings are adorable with bright red mouths and soft melodic voices even when they are tiny. The little ones can easily be mistaken for the House Sparrow which is an invasive species and not well liked in most birding circles.)



(Photo: Four hatchling American Robins snuggle in this tissue. )



( Photo: An American Robin nestling just hatched. You can see the tendency to curl into the shape of the egg is still natural for this tiny one. It is hard to believe this tiny mite will be turn into the State Bird of Wisconsin in a few months. )



( Photo: These four little Mallard Ducks became orphans when their mom was hit by a car near Wausau.)



( Photo: The frightened ducklings ( above) were soon asleep under the heat lamp after their stressful morning.)

Most of the birds we care for come from members the of the public that either see an accident or other injury occur and call REGI for help. A young woman was on her way to work when she saw a female Mallard Duck hit by a car. She was horrified to see several tiny ducklings scatter into the underbrush. The ducklings had been following their mother across the busy road. This stellar young woman did what any daughter would, she called her dad for help! Her parents soon arrived on the scene, scooped up the ducklings and brought them to REGI.



( Photo: Alberta holds a Canada Goose gosling. It was found wandering alone near a lake in Shawano County. )



( Photo: More House Finch babies arrived today from Lincoln County. These are younger than the group admitted this weekend. )

Friday night we responded to a call near Hatley, WI. A Sandhill Crane, unable to walk well was caught up by a landowner and needed help transporting her. We found Kathy and Jay Drobnik waiting with the crane as we arrived. Not only did the crane have a leg/hip injury but was thin and exhibited other neurological signs. We tested her and found she had lead poisoning. We don't find lead poisoning in Sandhill Cranes often. When we asked, the Drobniks mentioned the lake was very low. I will explain why that is a problem and why it can lead to lead poisoning in a future blog.



( Photo: This adult female Sandhill Crane was likely hit by a car and sustained a hip injury. We were surprised to find she also has lead poisoning.)

Forgive the haste of this writing. Baby birds are calling and need to be fed. More photos and updates soon.

As always, our thanks to the great folks that have played a part in saving these fragile creatures. Have a great tomorrow everyone.

Marge Gibson © 2010

Pheasants Revisited, New Admits, Canada Goose Heroes

(Photo: Ring-necked Pheasant admitted last night is feeling better.)

It certainly has been a "pheasant" kind of day here at REGI. We have not admitted a pheasant in 4-5 years and within 10 hours we had two individuals. They were different varieties and from completely different locations.

The unfortunate Ring-necked Pheasant in the photos on last night's blog is some variant of a Ring-necked Pheasant. From the research I was able to do, he is likely a Chinese/Manchurian cross. He is still very weak and is missing his tail. He is beginning to eat a little on his own and can stand for short periods on his battered legs. For those of you who did not see the blog last night, I will insert a photo of his legs as they were when he was admitted. They were held together with a hard plastic clip.



A faithful blog reader contacted a humane officer and sent the photo to them. This is the statement we received from them.

"When training bird hunting dogs the dog owners will either put a harness or leg ties on the pheasants (or pigeons) so they can use these birds to train their dogs. Of course, in WI it is mistreatment for the birds to be injured or killed during this process. Most respected bird dog trainers do not use the leg clamps."

Humans have an uncanny way of thinking up methods to abuse animals. I understand the missing tail and wing clipping also is done purposely to assure the birds are not able to fly well. In that way they are can be "shot" more easily. The humane officer I talked with said it is a version of a "canned hunt". I cannot in good conscience call these idiots "hunters". A legitimate hunter would cringe at the thought of shooting an animal hobbled in such a manner. Lets not give any respect to these folks and just call them " shooters".

It takes all kinds to make this world. We see the best and the worst of human behavior in our work and sometimes in the same day...like today.



( Photo: This male Golden Pheasant is a vision in his brilliant plumage.)

On a happier note, Steve Fisher, our Environmental Education Coordinator and all around good guy, transported a beautiful Golden Pheasant from the Marathon Country Humane Society to REGI this morning. This bird had an interesting history and I suspect was the cause of the reports in the Rothschild area of a "peacock". The Golden Pheasant certainly is a flashy guy and with that long tail could be mistaken for the exotic peacock.

His story is funny and we need some humor today. A Rothschild Police Officer captured the bird after a resident was unable to get into her driveway. The pheasant would not move to allow her to pass. My take on it was, the bird was pretty tired of our Wisconsin winter, and he finally decided the only way he would make his point would be to stand in front of the car and demand he get a better place to live than in the fields.

He is spectacular in color and plumage and will find a home in a zoo when he recovers. It is not natural for him to be running amok in WI, especially in the winter. There is not much camouflage in those brilliant feathers.


( Photo: "Hey, can someone get me to REGI?" The confident Golden Pheasant found his own way to get help.)

A little background on pheasants...
Pheasants have been bred in captivity for a very long time. In some areas of our country, particularly where there are large populations, it is assumed pheasants are native to the U.S. . The truth is, pheasants were imported from Asia and first entered the U.S. in 1733. In 1881 a flock of 100 pheasants was released in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. The rest is history, as the released birds bred well and were very popular with people in the area. It was also noted the birds were not only beautiful but were excellent for sport hunting. Captive breeding was begun in earnest at that time. The Ring-necked Pheasant was found to be the most sturdy and have the best survival rate of all the introduced breeds in the U.S. That is how pheasants came to be a game bird in the U.S. They are native to China and were released in the U.S. as game birds. My late parents actually raised pheasants for release in the late 1940's in Wisconsin as part of a program by the WI Conservation Department at the time.



(Photo: A Canada Goose from Marshfield enjoys putting his feet in a bowl of water after being admitted to REGI.)

We had another wonderful story today. Jim Banks of Marshfield has been emailing me about an injured Canada Goose in a field near his home. The bird had a broken wing and was unable to fly. The neighbors and friends in the area were concerned about the goose and had been leaving grain for it. A coyote was sighted in the area and concern was growing about the goose being able to survive in the open field. The group of friends worked together this morning to capture the goose and Jim transported him to REGI.

The goose has two broken wings. One a bit worse than the other, but both are in good position. He has a good prognosis to heal completely. When he is feeling better, he will be put out into the sheltered pond area with other Canada Geese. Here he can winter safely and finish healing. When spring comes, if he can, he will migrate with the wild geese. If he is unable to be fly, he will become a foster parent for the orphaned Canada Geese we receive at REGI in the spring. Geese are great parents, and their young do not have to be their biologic young for them to rear and protect them. Many people are surprised that males can raise young alone and do a fantastic job! Let's hear it for the single dads of the world!

The New Year is upon us! Have a great day everyone and stay safe on the roads if you are driving.

Marge Gibson © 2009