ANOTHER Bald Eagle Hit by Car, Field Trip for Hortonville Zoology Class, Patient Updates

(Photo: This photo was taken as I removed an adult female Bald Eagle from the transport carrier. She was hit by a car near Ladysmith, WI. and has a fractured left wing, facial bruises and scrapes and internal injuries.)

A friend emailed today and noted that when I don't have a new blog up in the morning she assumes it is a very busy day. That is an excellent point. I try to get it done, but there are times when the need for sleep takes precedence.

I drove to Medford, WI, to meet a DNR employee with an adult Bald Eagle. She was hit by a car near Ladysmith, WI. The eagle had been sitting on a deer which had been hit by a car, when she too became a victim of a speeding auto. Sometimes animals in the roadway cannot be avoided, but as a reminder, please drive carefully and try to avoid these situations. We have admitted two Bald Eagles in as many days, both hit by cars. This adult female has brood patch. That is a sure sign she has young in the nest. Without mom around the male will have to care for the young. He can do that, but not as successfully as with both parents present.



(Photo: Feeling pretty miserable after being hit by a car which broke her wing, this female Bald Eagle is now resting at the REGI clinic.)



( Photo: The Hortonville High School Zoology Class took a field trip to REGI this morning.)

The sky was gray this morning and threatening rain as the bus from Hortonville High School pulled up for a field trip. Like a miracle the clouds moved away and the zoology class was able to spend the entire hour dry and enjoying the many education birds and learning about the multi-faceted world of wildlife rehabilitation. It was good to be able to meet such terrific young people and their teacher.



( Photo: Alberta with our delightful Saw-whet Owl, Little Bit, during the Hortonville school tour. Little Bit is twelve years old. That is elderly for a Saw-whet Owl. He gets more time off programs these days but enjoys "people watching" from his habitat perch as much as he ever did.)



( Photo: The American Woodcock chick is growing rapidly. In this photo he is gobbling earthworms, which is his favorite activity. He eats about twice his own weight in earthworms each day at his age.)



( Photo: The nestling Mourning Dove admitted several days ago is growing and beginning to eat on her own. )



( Photo: Today was Education Director Steve Fisher's birthday! I love this "action shot" of him blowing out the MANY MANY candles on the cake, as Don, Katie and Alberta watch. I am comfortable in commenting on the copious number of candles because I am the same age.:)

The REGI family loves to celebrate special days or even regular days. Celebration days means we get to share food and especially cake. Today was Steve Fisher's birthday. We had pizza for lunch and a four layer, super chocolate cake. Happy birthday Steve and thank you for working on your birthday!

As a reminder we are selling tickets to our Springfest Fundraiser. If you love polka music or ethnic, Czech, German or Polish music, the widely renowned Dorf Kapelle Band is a must see. We do have tickets available. The performances are Saturday May 8th at 1:30-3:30 and 7:00-9:30 Pm in Antigo. Tickets are $12. for the afternoon performance and $15. for the evening performance. A German theme buffet meal can be purchased separately.

For more information or tickets call John Jacobs at 715-627-0120. This is the biggest fundraiser of the year. We hope you can all make it.

Have a great weekend.

Marge Gibson © 2010

Friends of REGI Brat Fry Fundraiser

( Photo: Brat Fry Organizer Kathy Fenno and Volunteer Natalie Quinn man the brat fry booth on Friday while John Fenno expertly grills the brats.)

Friends of REGI President Kathy Fenno and her husband John were front and center at the Antigo Copps Store on Friday. We are so grateful to them for this fundraiser.

The Brat Fry continues all weekend so if you missed the Friday event come on over on Saturday at the Antigo Copps from 11A.M. to 2:00P.M.

Thanks to Kathy and John and volunteers Natalie Quinn and Kim Woyak. We sure appreciate your help raising money and making brats so we can help our patients back at the REGI facility.

You guys are the best!

Marge Gibson and our entire REGI crew

VOTE! Help REGI win a $25,000 Office Technology Makeover!

REGI was recently nominated for an Office Technology Make over put on by EO Johnson and WSAW Channel 7 news.

Go to this link to vote! Voting is from April 23 to May 5th. http://www.eojohnson.com/meet_finalists_and_vote

How to Vote:
You must create a one day user name with EO Johnson to vote. This allows only 1 vote per email address. Once you create this log in to your email and cast your vote.

Why Vote?
This is an amazing opportunity for REGI! As you know everything we do is for the birds. This often puts other business necessities like office equipment at the bottom of the list. This makeover would allow REGI to receive a professional copy machine, printer, electronic filing system, and much more. A top of the line office printer would allow REGI to turn our annual newsletter into a quarterly newsletter! Plus cutting cost of having all of our printing done in house. The electronic filing system would allow all the medical information we collect on our birds to be organized data. Imagine with a click of a button being able to see what the top 3 injuries of all Bald Eagles emitted to REGI in the last 10 years is. We have all this important medical information on paper, in boxes but to to have that data in a computer system will make it more meaningful and easier to access. These are just a few example of how this makeover would help REGI. Please take the time to vote!



If you would like to see Channel 7's media coverage of REGI and the make over contest click on this link http://ww2.wsaw.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?clipId1=3675104&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Raptor+Education+Group+One+Of+Three+Finalists+In+Technology+Makeover+Contest&d1=159567&redirUrl=www.wsaw.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv&rnd=57829123

Spaghetti Lunch was a Success!

On February 15, 2009 the Friends of REGI hosted a wonderful spaghetti lunch at the Knights of Columbus in Antigo. It was a wonderful change of pace for the REGI staff that has been working hard all winter long under stressful patient conditions. The Valentine’s Day festive decorations and 150 community supporters filled the hall with encouragement and hope.

The entire REGI team was available to interact with the public, answer questions, share stories, and of course show off our famous feathered friends. The Turkey Vulture, Barn Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Saw-whet owl, Goshawk, and Great Horned Owl where just a few of our feathered educators that were available that day. We had a table full of skulls, feathers, and bones that people were welcome to pick up and explore. We also had the identifier along to play all the birds unique calls. Many of REGI’s wonderful volunteers were on hand to help give out information, sign up new volunteers and clean up the many natural signs (aka scat) our feathered friends left behind. Thank you clean up crew!

One highlight of the event was taking your photo with a raptor. People of all ages were lining up to get their very own snap shot. It was wonderful to see the eyes of a child become wide with excitement and curiosity. A picture really was worth a thousand words that day.

Special thank you to Kathy Fenno and Kim Woyak for all your hard work that went into this successful day.