I Got Serverd!
One of our crew duties at the Raptor Center is that as soon we get in on Tuesday morning we go out to all of the education bird mews and make sure everyone is upright and healthy. We note where they are perched, and if there is any leftover food. We also have to pick it up. It's worse in summer when it's still juicy, but with our single digit temps, it's pretty easy to do right now. Often times, the birds will skin whatever prey we give them, especially rat and we collect that to keep their area clean.
Here we have Othello who has a rather large rat skin on his mailbox perch. When we go in to get food, we always wear leather gloves--not the black ones we use for handling birds for programs, but a big blue welder's glove and a tan glove. The welder's glove acts as a shield in case any of the birds are more ready for the food than you expect. The tan one is not as thick, allows some protection but is much easier to feel what you have in your hand. I stepped into Othello's mew and he gave his usual squeaky grunts. I approached the perch and squatted to get the skin and he came right at me! I put out my welder's glove hand and he grabbed it and bounced off. I stepped back and he ran...no flew, ran (it's kind of like watching a feathered weeble when the run--not very majestic) right at me and made a half-hearted attempt for my shoes.
I decided to leave in the rat skin. He'd be going out later on program and it would be just easier to do it then.
It's tough to say why some days an eagle will sit idly by while you collect their leftovers and other days they are incredibly territorial. It could have been that the sudden cold snap make the bird feel like every scrap of food counts. Something instinctual telling the bird to not let anyone take a scrap because times for survival in this cold and short daylight hours are hard and you need everything. It could have been that I was wearing ear muffs giving my head a different shape from what the birds are used to. There are a couple of great-horned owls that will not let me get them if I have ear muffs on. It's all part of what makes your days volunteering there a little more exciting.
The house sparrows were aggressively going for the rat leftovers again (in a different bald eagle cage, not Othello's). This particular eagle in this mew is on a tether and the house sparrows have taken to dragging the rat bits out of the reach of her tether. Smart, smart birds.
Here we have Othello who has a rather large rat skin on his mailbox perch. When we go in to get food, we always wear leather gloves--not the black ones we use for handling birds for programs, but a big blue welder's glove and a tan glove. The welder's glove acts as a shield in case any of the birds are more ready for the food than you expect. The tan one is not as thick, allows some protection but is much easier to feel what you have in your hand. I stepped into Othello's mew and he gave his usual squeaky grunts. I approached the perch and squatted to get the skin and he came right at me! I put out my welder's glove hand and he grabbed it and bounced off. I stepped back and he ran...no flew, ran (it's kind of like watching a feathered weeble when the run--not very majestic) right at me and made a half-hearted attempt for my shoes.
I decided to leave in the rat skin. He'd be going out later on program and it would be just easier to do it then.
It's tough to say why some days an eagle will sit idly by while you collect their leftovers and other days they are incredibly territorial. It could have been that the sudden cold snap make the bird feel like every scrap of food counts. Something instinctual telling the bird to not let anyone take a scrap because times for survival in this cold and short daylight hours are hard and you need everything. It could have been that I was wearing ear muffs giving my head a different shape from what the birds are used to. There are a couple of great-horned owls that will not let me get them if I have ear muffs on. It's all part of what makes your days volunteering there a little more exciting.
The house sparrows were aggressively going for the rat leftovers again (in a different bald eagle cage, not Othello's). This particular eagle in this mew is on a tether and the house sparrows have taken to dragging the rat bits out of the reach of her tether. Smart, smart birds.
posted by birdchick at 9:51 AM
7 Comments:
I think you're right on about the cold snap bringing on Othello's territorial display. When I was up on the Chilkoot River in Alaska, thousands of eagles were sitting quietly all over the place. Then one of them would get hungry, lumber down to the edge of the river to hoist back one of the dying salmon in the shallow water, and instantly every eagle in the place would decide it was hungry too and move in to steal the prize from the first hungry eagle.
A fish might pass from eagle to eagle 3-4 times before someone got to eat it. Eventually the biggest eagle got the catch. I've often wondered how many times the first eagle would have to repeat this until he or she actually got to eat something.
When I use to work at the National Aviary – the keepers use to use a garbage can lid for protection from the large Red-crowned Cranes. One day, one of the keepers fell backwards flat on his back! Those cranes went up into the air and quickly he grabbed that lid to block the fall of the crane (almost like something right out of a movie).
I've always thought is was so special to make eye contact with wildlife, but that eagle's eyes are chilling!
Oh, I wish we had a bald eagle! We had a juvenile once, but we had to transfer it to another facility because we don't have the space (what is it, 100 feet?).
Maybe at the new facility, whenever they get off their butts and start building flight cages. But I digress.
Before I started my current gig as director, I did the pick up/feed out thing, but I never ever got buzzed by any of our birds! Is it an eagle thing?
BTW: Just ordered 2 Cinnamon shirts...she HAS to approve of that, right?
(Who am I kidding?)
They are gifts for myself and a fellow animal lover. What a great idea, to exploit Cinnamon's irrepressable disapproval for the world to enjoy!
It's not a bald eagle thing, we've got a great-horned owl that is getting more territorial with age. I've had her bounce off of my back a couple of times so I make a point to never turn my back.
During March, a couple of our female red-tails will lay infertile eggs and they can be a little territorial at that time too.
Thanks for ordering shirts!
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