Happy Foster Father's Day to REGI's Barred Owl

Happy Foster Father's Day!

These two barred owls have a special foster dad this summer. The owlet in the front is utilizing his nictitating membranes. These help keep the eye clean & moist.

It's not too often that a raptor can say that they have a full-time job, but here at REGI... nothing is out of the ordinary! These two baby barred owls (pictured above) were featured in an earlier blog eating some mice in the clinic. Since then, they have been placed with a foster dad.  

When he's not busy doing education programs for the public, this barred owl works a summer job as a foster dad (pictured below, in the middle). He cares for a handful of owlets every year, teaching them how to act like a raptor. With his help, baby barred owls that make their way into REGI don't become imprinted on humans. Imprinting occurs when humans have too much contact with younger birds. The babies view you as one of their own... their parent... their friend... their chef... their.... dare I say it... mate. Because of this, imprinted birds are non-releasable. They rely heavily on humans, and wouldn't be able to fend for themselves.

Today, we celebrate our education barred owl's many accomplishments! Happy Foster Father's Day!

 Two years ago at this same time, our education barred owl was hard at work!

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 Patient Update
 

REGI's newest baby... a very hungry bald eagle

New patients are filling up the clinic everyday, and not all of them are lucky enough to get foster parents. One of this week's new patients is a young bald eagle. Although it's hard to believe, this bird hatched from an egg just this spring! Crazy! After only 10 weeks of being in the nest, young eagles are ready to make their first flights. Unfortunately, this one didn't have such a graceful first flight. Although the future looks bright for this young eagle, there is still a long road to a full recovery!

Raptors aren't the only birds that come through REGI's doors. The majority of our babies this time of year are songbirds and ducks.

These baby robins are enjoying their day outside!

A family of Eastern phoebes taking naps after feeding. 

Can you guess who's still hungry?

This baby turkey is only a day old. 
You can still see his egg tooth on the front of his beak. This tooth is used to help poke their way out of the egg.

Ruffed grouse chick nap-time!

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 The crew eats a delicious meal!

We are always hard at work and lunch time is no exception! This past Thursday, a delicious meal was prepared for the staff, interns, and volunteers from Linda, a long-time REGI friend! We made quick work of the chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and COOKIES!

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  Happy Father's Day! We were hard at work all day feeding babies from sun-up to sun-down!

- Katie Rymer, Assistant avian rehabilitator

                          ___
                       .-"-~-"-.
                      /.-"-.-"-.\   "Who
                      ||((o|o))||     cooks
                      )\__/V\__/(     for
                     / ~ -...- ~ \     you?"
                    |\` ~. ~ .~ `/|
                 () | `~ - ^ - ~` |   - Barred Owl
             () //  | ;  '  :  .  |
            ()\\/_() \ . : '  ; '/
           ___/ /_____'.   ; ' .'____
                 _   ^ `uu---uu`    /\
          _____________^ _________^_\/
                       \ \
                       //\\()
                     ()/  ()
                      ()

Eastern Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, Amercian Robins and Eastern Phoebe all Released Today!

( Photo: Look quick! That bright blue blur to the right of the open hand is an Eastern Bluebird taking flight for the first time as a wild bird.)



( Photo: Alberta holds one of the male Eastern Bluebirds raised at REGI just before he was released to the "soft release" site. They have the brilliant blue coloration of the adults with the exception of the spotted belly of typical of juveniles. )

It was another exciting release day here at REGI. All of the birds released today were raised at REGI. They all came in as hatchlings. If you follow the blog you have likely seen photos of these youngsters when they were much younger. Their stories were as different as they species when admitted. But today they were all celebrating the same stage of their life, becoming truly wild birds.

Getting photos of the smaller passerine birds is not an easy task. The birds released today have not had human contact other than staff throwing in worms, other food items and water for weeks now. They avoid any contact with humans. They seemed particularly unhappy with attempts to get them to stay still enough for photos. That is a good thing however and exactly what we want for the birds going back to the wild.



( Photo: Another of the Eastern Bluebirds prepares to leave captivity.)



( Photo: Two Cedar Waxwings and an Eastern Phoebe perch on a hanging perch while still in the aviary. )


( Photo: Two of the youngest set of American Robins raised this year at REGI. Getting two of any of the birds in a single camera frame is pretty impressive.)

The youngsters were released in a manner called a "soft hack". That means they are in a protected area if they chose of they can venture out. They can return for as long as they wish. Food and water are provided until the last of the group is no longer returning for food.

In this way we give the young birds a chance to learn about the great outdoors slowly if that is what they need. They can and most do hang around for a week or more especially coming back in the evening to take advantage of a predator proof roosting site and some free grub.

Once they leave the area and connect up with others of their species for migration we know we will not see them again until spring. It makes spring even more exciting as we wait to see who comes back to visit and when. We wish we knew exactly where they went and what adventures they had during the winter. We have been through good times and harrowing times with them even in their short life. It is a bit like packing your kids off to college, we are all ready to see them be on their own.

Many thanks to Katie, Alberta and Nicole for getting such great photos.

Have a great tomorrow.
Best,
Marge Gibson © 2009

Bald Eagle Falls From Nest, Cold Temperatures Cause Problems in Swallows, Nighthawks, Phoebes

( Photos: This eleven week old Bald Eagle eaglet fell from its nest on its first flight in Stevens Point and injured itself.)

It was another cold day in North Central Wisconsin. We had snow a few days ago and I might remind you today is July 1. We are pretty tried of the cold temperatures. The native birds that have diets made up entirely of insects such as swallows, nighthawks and phoebes are coming in to rehab now because they are starving. Our region that has jokes developed entirely on the huge mosquito problem in the summer has an absence of any insects due to cold. UNHEARD OF!



( Photo: Birds that eat insects are having a very hard time surviving in the recent and continued cold weather. In the photo a Barn Swallow, Eastern Phoebe and the tiny Bank Swallow share a box in rehab.)

We are going through a huge number of insects to keep our patients fed during this time. Birds can eat their weight or more in insects a day! Each eats several hundred per day and that is for the tiny birds like swallows. I don't even want to think about the bill for insects this month.:(

We got a call early this morning about a young Bald Eagle that apparently had fallen or injured herself on her maiden flight from the nest on the Stevens Point Golf Course. Steve Fisher and I went to investigate and captured the beautiful youngster without incident. Many thanks to the fine folks at the Stevens Point Golf Course for observing the problem and getting help for the little one even as golfers continued to play. Special thanks to Sally for sitting near the little one until help arrived.

People are always amazed at how big young bald eagles are at such a young age. Their egg is a little larger than a duck egg and within 12 weeks are pretty much full size and often weigh more than their parents at that time.

Back at the REGI clinic the eaglet was weighed, a physical was done as was blood work. She is anemic, but does not have lead poisoning which honestly is surprising. Lead poisoning is so common in these amazing birds and others we have come to expect it. That is a sad commentary on our toxic environment.

The eaglet has not yet eaten on her own but has been tube fed and is resting comfortably. More tests will be done tomorrow.
( Photo: The eaglet as she was captured.)

She is not with a foster parent yet but if she checks out tomorrow she will be put into the fostering chamber with our other eaglet and the foster dad. The less time she spends away from an adult the better at this age. It will be easier for her to transition back to her parents when she can go home. We hope her stay here in not extended, but we will know more tomorrow.





( Photo: Thanks to Sally and the staff at the Stevens Point Golf Course for getting help for the eaglet. )






I complained in the last blog about the weeds getting taller and not having time to cut them. That very night a volunteer showed up in the form of Mike Brietenfelt. Mike has a day job, but wants to help us out too. We are grateful.
We don't have many volunteers but those we do
have are terrific. Many thanks to Mike for his help. We hope he comes back lots and lots.

( Photo: Mike " taking out" our weeds! )




Our patient numbers continue to grow. People have called to see how the Belted Kingfisher kid is doing and we are delighted that she is well and growing.
The Osprey is still having problems. She can only digest liquid food and tests indicate she has liver damage. I hope it is temporary. My great staff is tube feeding her many times a day to keep her in calories.

I am signing off for tonight, but will be back tomorrow. I HOPE tomorrow is a bit warmer.

Best to all,
Marge Gibson 2009



( Photo: Belted Kingfisher chick in photo taken today. She is getting those blue feathers and is eating tons of minnows. Note in the second photo she has a minnow in her mouth. Sorry for the poor photo but she is fast at swallowing and that is the only shot I could get.)

Busy Saturday with New Patients, Barred Owl,Osprey, Phoebe and 4-H Club Community Project and Eagle Scout Project.

The day started off with a bang. It was raining. We love the rain but it can be a hazard to some of the fragile birds. We race from one enclosure to the next to make sure everyone is doing well and does not need extra care or supplemental heat.

( Photo: This adult Barred Owl was hit by a car during the night. She is very weak with internal injuries but has a good chance of survival and release.)

Then there is the normal feeding of babies, checking on critical care patients and returning phone calls that came in during the night that have not already been answered.

The "Strasburg Eveready” and “Lucky Rivers” 4-H Clubs and the Master Gardeners from the Antigo Garden Club were here early as well. They did such a great job on the gardens and worked even with some pretty heavy rain showers. I will do a separate blog entry on the 4-H Clubs and the Garden Club as I want to do it justice. Let me just say the gardens are stunning!

Everyone worked hard and with such enthusiasm even with the rain. Despite the warm temperatures the kids got cold when they were soaked to the skin. The rain was suppose to come tomorrow.::( So everyone dressed as if it was going to be a hot day.
The 4-H Club leaders and the kids were all just great. The work was hard as they weeded, carried huge rocks and hauling pails of mulch to finish up the gardens to perfection. Many thanks to each and every one that was here today.

Joe Lex and Boy Scout Troop, #644 arrived about noon to construct Joe's Eagle Scout Project. They arrived just as the other group left. The rain was still coming down as they got the heavy equipment into the field and began to plan the construction of the Turkey Vulture Nest Box. We have had this project on our "wish list" for eons and were just delighted when Joe and his dad came to inquire about it for Joe's Eagle Scout Project. It is a large project and took lots of help from many people to bring it together and get it up in the field. I will also so a separate blog on this fantastic project. Suffice it to say that it was worth the wait to have such a great final product. Thanks so much to everyone that participated and to Joe for having the inspiration and developing the project.



( Photo: This adult Osprey came in late afternoon from the Wausau area. She is starving and we are still investigating the reason.)

Late afternoon we received several birds. One was an adult Osprey from a nesting site in Wausau. Unfortunately there are young in the nest still. I am not sure what the loss of the parent will mean for the nest. The other concerning thing is this Osprey is starving and should not be as there are plenty of fish around to sustain her and the family. There is an underlying problem that we are investigating at this time. Things we are testing for will be lead poisoning, other toxin and parasites.

Off for tonight. Tomorrow comes early and I still have final feedings to do before I can sleep.

Marge Gibson 2009