Trees are Changing Color, Insect Eating Birds On Their Way, Baby Birds Still Coming In

(Photo: This Eastern Bluebird sibling group are all males. They are from the Amherst, WI area. They have begun to fly and will soon be going into the large flight area to prepare for insect hunting training and release. )



( Photo: Night time baby bird line-up. Left to right. Eastern Bluebird X4, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Eastern Bluebird with head feathers missing,Cliff Swallow, Cedar Waxwing x2,Mourning Dove, Eastern Phoebe.

Evening is when I have the baby birds to myself. The staff and interns are off duty so I feed the little ones until midnight or so when we turn in for the night.
The line up photo above is what I saw the other night looking from above after feeding time. Before feeding time the little mouths would all be open/gaping skyward for food. I just couldn't resist sharing the cute little group in a single basket.
I am sorry the photo color quality is not great. The heat lamp above the babes produced odd lighting.

It is hard to believe that the leaves began changing here in Northern WI in the end of July. Now in mid August we are seeing a fair amount of color in the trees that is usually reserved for September. The wild birds have sensed the changing of the seasons too and are beginning to be on their way to their winter homes in the south. Our resident pair of Barn Swallows left on July 24th. That is an early migration time in anybodies book. We have had baby swallows come in that finders feel were left by their parents when the migration urge grew too strong. It has been an unusual summer for sure. Cold and dry many insect eating birds are not finding enough to eat or feed their families. Many in our public tours tell us they have seen less swallows and nighthawks this year.



( Photo: Young American Robin with West Nile Virus. Few birds this small survive the virus.)

We are seeing more West Nile Virus this week. Several species that are the hardest hit are the American Robin, Red-tailed Hawk, Great-horned Owl to name a few. The larger species have a chance of recovery whereas the smallest do not. It is sad to see otherwise healthy youngsters in such a difficult situation.

We had a few odd cases this week as well. We received a Red-tailed Hawk from Merrill, WI. He is an adult and was found floating in a horse watering tank. We could hardly believe our eyes when we examined him. The tumor was surgically removed and pathology was done on the tumor itself. Sadly it turned out to be a Sarcoma. That is a malignant soft tissue tumor. While it has been removed and the bird is now eating and in stable condition, this type of cancer will likely return. We are keeping him comfortable and trying to give him some quality of life during his remaining time.



( Photo: Red-tailed Hawk from Merrill, WI was admitted with a huge tumor on his wing. It proved to be a Sarcoma, which is a malignant soft tissue tumor. )

A Mourning Dove was admitted from Wausau yesterday. An older adult bird she has a tumor on her neck as well as other medical problems such as trichomonas. A section of the tumor was removed. While it is still in pathology for examination it could also be cancer. We are not used to seeing cancer naturally occurring in wildlife. It is very odd to see two in two days.



( Photo: REGI staff gathered for lunch as usual on Friday. Much talk has occured and friendships solidified around this table this summer. We are beginning to miss the interns already. Left to Rt. Aprill, Lance, Alberta, Steve, Nicole,and Elizabeth )

Our interns are getting ready to go back to college. Aprill and Natasha will be leaving on Wednesday. Lance is staying on until the end of August. The summer has gone fast but it has been a good summer for everyone. The list of things to do before the summers end has started. The reality of friends leaving is setting in.

More soon everyone,

Marge Gibson 2009

Weekend of New Admits, Nighthawks. Great Blue Heron and Growing Youngsters

(Photos: The Common Nighthawk is an elegant bird in the air. Its huge mouth catches insects as it flies through the night.)

The weather continues to be very cold. Patients coming in reflect the cold temperatures and the problems created for wildlife that depend on insects for instance for survival.
The Common Nighthawk is a member of the Night jar family. There have not been studied well and therefore many questions remain about their life history. They eat only insects and accomplish this while flying with their huge mouth open. Dependent on insects this species will have a hard time surviving when cold weather limits the insects available to them. We have had several admitted suffering "migration exhaustion". Migration exhaustion is the term used either during migration or immediately following. Nighthawks winter in South America according to most references. At the end of that long trip to North Central Wisconsin they are expecting a bounty of mosquitoes and other flying insects to greet them. That has not happened this year. Birds that eat flying insects such at Purple Martins, Barn and Tree Swallows and Nighthawks unfortunatley are beginning to suffer from starvation.

In wildlife rehabiliation we are the first to see problems that occur with wildlife.
Nighthawks can be a challenge to feed in captivity. The female Nighthawk in the photos was first fed baby food meat when she was in critical condition and is now being force-fed pieces of beef heart with supplements as well as insects.


(Photo: Just admitted Great Blue Heron Chick is cold, tired and hungry.

(Photo #2 below: This photo of the Great Blue Heron chick was taken 12 hours later. It shows a more alert chick, wolfing down a piece of beef heart. The white material on the beef heart is Calcium supplement to assure his bones develop well.)

(Photo #3 below: This photo was taken Sunday night about 11P.M.. You can see the heron chick has already grown in the 24 hours since he arrived. With a full belly and a warm box he was ready for a good nights sleep.)





On Saturday evening we admitted a very young Great Blue Heron chick. Weighing in at just a pound this little one fell from the Cathedral Pines Rookery. This area is old growth pine and hemlock from historic Wisconsin. It goes without saying that the trees are very tall and thus the fall to the ground long and very hard. Our thanks to our friend Leslie Stewart for finding him and transporting him to REGI. The chick has recovered well as evidenced in the photos. He is now eating well, making up for lost time during the falling incident. He eats minnows, beef heart and mice. The adult herons "predigest" the food for the little ones and then regurgitate it back at the nest. It tired to get my interns to at least chew the food items first, but they balked at the suggestion. :) We do try to provide food that is as normal as possible for our patients, but for this one we will stick to pounding the mouse parts and beef heart until it is tenderized. He is eating a huge amount of food, which is normal for the species. We have messages out to other rehabilitation centers in the state in an attempt to find at least one more heron chick to raise this one with. Putting him back into a rookery nest is not possible since it could result in other chicks bolting and falling to their death. We do not want to rear him as a single baby as he could well be imprinted to humans as a result. It is great to network with other facilities and we do often. Doing what is best for our patients in always our prime concern.



( Photo: The adult female Mallard was hit by a car in Stevens Point as she led her youngsters across a busy road. She served as foster mom to our growing Mallard ducklings until they were feathered and nearly ready for release to the wild.)

Our Mallard ducklings have grown to nearly full size now. We have admitted several more young mallards since the photo was taken. The female Mallard in the photo was patient that was hit by a car several weeks before and had a leg fracture. She had been hit by a car while leading her youngsters to safety. She served as a foster mom for our ducklings while in care at REGI. Foster parents are worth their weight in gold to us and the little ones they help. It also give the adult some a normal activity while recovering and before they are released.



(Photos: Adult female Mallard foster parent from the photo with duckling above was released by our delightful Interns and staff last week. She swam away so quickly we almost were not able to capture the moment with photos. Minutes later she took to the air and we suspect is home by now.)



We had another weekend filled with programs. We do not yet have photos to share of the event, but will soon. We are admitting many patients per day now and unfortunately can share only a few of them on this blog.

But stay tuned, there will be much more to come.

Have a great day everyone.
Marge Gibson 2009

Kingfishers Return from Migration, Bald Eagle Recovers

I have gotten behind on our blog and I apologize to our readers. The flu hit us hard here at REGI. We are finally recovering and can get back to the computer. Thanks for your patience. A lot has gone on and I will be catching you up.

We have great news from John and Jennifer Benishek. Last summer we released four young kingfishers, raised at REGI, on their river front property, The young birds stayed on close to the property and as they honed their fishing skills. John supplemented them with minnows from a large pan. In October the last of the young kingfishers left the area and migrated to their wintering grounds. It is both exciting and tense at the same time when “our” babies no matter what species migrate. We know it is exactly what they need to do, BUT we also know that there are lots of things that can happen to them during this migration adventure. We are pensive until we see signs of their return in the spring. Some birds are more obvious than others when they come back home. This week three of the four kingfishers made themselves VERY obvious as they returned to the river release site and were waiting for some supplement feeding on favorite limb perches. We welcome them home and hope they have a good season.

Kingfishers are nearly impossible to raise from babies. The fact is not many have been raised in captivity. These young birds came to us when a citizen bulldozed a sandbank where their nest was located. The youngsters that lived through the bulldozing event ended up on the ground. With their nest destroyed and the chicks too young to care for themselves we had no option but to bring them into care at REGI. Kingfishers are high strung birds and have specialized needs. Every single mouthful has to be force fed to the little darlings. Having said that, they fight every mouthful and more times than not spit it out. Basically it becomes a war of wills to get enough nutrition into the tykes and then teach them to fish before they can be released. We were so very lucky to have a group of interns last summer that were as strong willed as the kingfishers. They raised every one of the snarling little darlings to release.






The photos show their progress to release.
Thank you to 2008 interns Jamie Kelmish, Kendra Sawyer, and Kiel Stevens. You guys rock!

The bald eagle impaled on a stick on April 6th is FLYING! We are elated with her progress. She is still in a medium sized flight cage because she is still receiving treatment for lead poisoning but we are drawing blood work today and if her lead level is down she will go into the large eagle flight to prepare for release. I alerted the folks that found her and they could not be happier. Her mate is still at the nest site and still incubating. We just need to get her home as soon as possible.

Have a great day everyone,

© 2009 Marge Gibson

Think Spring! Trumpeter Swan 86C has a mate!

It is a beautiful day in Northern Wisconsin. Gosh it seems like eons since I was able to say that at least in reference to the sky being clear and blue and the weather being over freezing.

Most of our staff spend last week at a national conference for wildlife rehabilitators in the Chicago area. Lunchtime discussion was interesting with lots of news ideas brought back from the conference. Continuing education is so important to all fields including wildlife rehabilitation and education. I always say when you feel you know it all is the day you should retire from this job. As in all areas of medicine, new treatments and medications are developed and we need to stay current so we can provide the best in care for our patients.

We had some wonderful news last night! Trumpeter Swan 86C was seen and photographed on the St Croix River by Barry Wallace.

86C was hatched in 2004 near Rice Lake, WI. A female, she is breeding age. She has a new mate in tow this year. It will be great to watch her and what comes of the union. Her mate is an uncollared swan. He is likely from Wisconsin but she could have met him on migration in Illinois, Missouri or Arkansas. She came in with a broken wing in the fall of 2007 and was released on the St Croix last spring.

It is a happily busy time at REGI this week. We have several releases coming up as we take advantage of the warm weather. More on that soon.

Best to all,

Marge Gibson