Raptor Center In The News

I'm about to head out the door to do a Showcase Minnesota segment on "Yes, it is perfectly normal to see robins in Minnesota in winter."

In the meantime, The Raptor Center is all over the news. There's a piece on snowy owls at the StarTribune, complete with a video of a snowy owl exam--you even get to see its giant ear hole!

Also, TRC has some participation of the upcoming Inauguration:

It is gearing up to be one of the biggest events in American political history and, if you keep your eyes peeled, you'll be able to see a part of the University of Minnesota among the festivities. At the request of the federal government, 11 white bald eagle tail feathers from the University of Minnesota Raptor Center will be used at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday, Jan. 20 in Washington D.C.

The feathers will adorn a treaty stick that the chairs of the 11 Minnesota tribes will carry with them during the inauguration celebrations.

"We are honored to provide the feathers for this historic occasion," said Juli Ponder, executive director of the Raptor Center. "These feathers are from the same eagles that have graced countless classrooms and events throughout Minnesota as a highly visible part of the university's outreach."

Shortly after Obama won the election, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contacted Ponder for her assistance in acquiring the rare feathers. For this special occasion, Raptor Center eagle handlers selected and sent tail feathers molted from the ambassador eagles in the education program.

"While our contribution certainly won't be the center piece of the day, we are still greatly privileged to be a part of this moment in American history," said Ponder.

Established in 1974, the Raptor Center specializes in the medical care, rehabilitation and conservation of eagles, hawks owls and falcons. In additional to treating approximately 800 birds a year, the internationally known program reaches more than 240,000 people each year through public education programs and events.

Raptor Center On MPR about 08/09 Snowy Owl Irruption

You can read or listen to the story here. Do check it out, there are some great shots of the birds!

Raptor Center Birds

Since the weather has been below zero degrees Fahrenheit, many of the education birds at The Raptor Center need to sleep indoors at night. For the most part, the birds can sleep outside when it's cold--bald eagles and red-tailed hawks live in Minnesota in the wild, so they can usually take it. However, some species like female kestrels migrate--it's the weirdest thing, most kestrels leave Minnesota for the winter, but a few stay--and they're all males. I met a researcher from Ohio who studied this and his theory was that the female kestrel is larger, needs more food in a day than a male. The females go further south where there's more variety of prey and a little longer daylight (more time to hunt).

With the temps getting to -15, all the birds are coming in at night and sleeping in their travel crates. Even if some could survive it, why risk it any chance for frost bite? Because there are so many birds and crates, some of the crates are stacked.

All the owls are getting very hooty right now, mating season is upon us. Yesterday, I was hooting to one of the great horned owls who was in a crate stacked on top of the turkey vulture crate. I had just come in and still had my coat and scarf on as I hooted a response. Someone on our crew pointed to the vulture crate beneath the owl crate:

Nero, the education vulture was trying to sneak through a gap in his door to get to my scarf! Or maybe just me in general. I don't work with him and on the few occasions I've gone in to retrieve old food in his mew, he's displayed some aggressive behavior towards me (he once tried to rip off the tassels on a pair of my capris.

Whirlwind Weekend An 568 Release

Well, this was a whirlwind weekend! The signings at Cardinal Corner went very well. Above is a my friend Kristin--she just came back to Minnesota. Years ago, we both worked for the same children's theater company. There are some autographed copies of City Birds/Country Birds left at Cardinal Corner, so if you would like one stop in or give them a call, they'll be happy to ship one out. We will sell them through the Birdchic Boutique if you would like me to personalize a copy as well.

We had some awesome Cinnamon fans show up. And I must say, Cinnamon was having a great time running around in a bird store again. She loves carpeting and she loves spilled seed, to her this was the best book signing she had ever done. The kids above stopped in and brought Cinnamon a bag of some of her favorite treats--an apple, some carrots, and of course--hay! They gave her lots of head scratches too. Thanks, guys!

Sunday morning, my buddy Amber and I got the honor of driving Peregrine Falcon 568 to Duluth for her release. I've never had the opportunity to release a bird for The Raptor Center before, I was really shocked that we got to do it. I was just hoping to get to take some photos and video, but with the timing, Amber and I got the job.

We arrived in clinic on Sunday morning and Terri (left) and Lori (right) gave 568 some last minute tweaking. The feisty falcon thrashed a bit and I wondered if she was thinking "What the heck are they going to poke and prod me with now?" She had no idea that after so many months, she was actually going to leave this place. I wished there was some way we could let her know.

Her boots to keep her bumble foot at bay were finally going to be removed. Lori cut away all the duct tape and took of the padding.


Here feet looked even better than they had on Thursday which was most encouraging. When she would be out in the wild, all the rough surfaces of branches and cliffs she will perch on will help keep the skin in shape.

Falcon 568 had to get a last minute pedicure too. Since she's been in clinic, her talons have been trimmed but they are a little dull. Lori took a nail file and gave them some sharp points--so they would be hunting ready. Boy, 568 really didn't care for that.

Amber and I made the two and half hour drive up to Frank's blind (where she flew in with the injured leg). Her release day was the opposite of her capture day. It was chilly and rainy that day last September. This day was bright and sunny. When we took her out of the box, she was rarin' to go. I think she noticed that this day was different--the boots were off, there was no leash attached and we wondered with a bird's internal navigation system, did she realize where she was? We tried to get photos of her release, but my counting was off (if you can imagine, I was a little excited to release her) and we weren't able to get a photo, but we got the video (I set the camera up behind us):



She flew low and far over the field, and then landed on a tree way over on the other side. We tried to walk over and find her but we did not. I'm sure she landed, roused her feathers and then took off to be as far from us as possible, get her bearings and do a little hunting. Go, 568, go. I don't want to hear from you again for at least a good 15 years when someone finds your band and turns it into the Bird Banding Lab.

Since we were there, we checked on Frank's blind. He wasn't open yet, the blind starts this weekend. We found some evidence of a critter living in there. Check out the chew marks.

Lots of scat was on the blind floor. Amber and I were trying to determine the animal based on what we knew was around there. We had our suspicions and then we found our confirmation:

Porcupine quills! A porcupine has been seeking refuge in the blind. Boy, it's in for a rude awakening this weekend.

Amber and did a little birding. You couldn't spit without hitting a cedar waxwing, they were EVERYwhere. We also found a flock of about 50 kingbirds. Migration is kickin' in. It was strange, since it was a warm beautiful weekend, there people in all the places we hit in the fall and winter when it's typically people free.

These two were the most irritating of all the people. They were driving golf balls into Lake Superior. Seriously, there aren't enough driving ranges, you have to pollute a lake with your crappy golf balls? Amber and I debated about what to do. Was it legal? If we confronted them about throwing crap into the lake, would we get into an altercation? They were much bigger than we are, would they beat us up? So, we decided to just take photos of them and I pretended to be dialing my cell phone. As soon as they saw that, they quit what they were doing and stuffed the golf club and balls into their truck. As he was putting his clubs away, a little boy ran up and cried, "Daddy, I didn't get to do it, can't I do it too, it's my turn?" He gave the young lad a firm, "No, be quiet!" and took out a metal detector and began doing that instead.

Before we headed out, we gave Lori a call at TRC to let her know that all went well. She was pleased and then said, "Hey, would you mind calling a Duluth rehabber, she has an injured falcon that needs to come back to The Raptor Center?"

And so we came up to release a falcon and ended up bringing one back. This bird looked to be a year older than 568 and was also unbanded--where did this falcon come from? Anther tundrius? It flew into a factory window and probably has a fracture on its wing. I have no intentions of following another falcon. I can tell you that this one is still alive and if a bird can survive the first 24 hours, that is always a good sign.

Thanks so much for following 568 with me. I have to admit, I was real thrilled to follow a bird in the blog, so many things can go wrong at any time and it would have been a bummer if she had to be put down, but she survived. If you've enjoyed her story or admired what TRC does, please consider making a donation or becoming a volunteer. And if you don't want to support TRC, consider making a donation to a rehabber in your state.

Peregrine Falcon 568 Release Video

Okay, here is a teaser for Peregrine Falcon 568's release. More later--after I do my State Fair segment on Showcase Minnesota and after I go out and check the bees this morning.

I should clarify that in the beginning of the video, I tell her, "Don't fly into anything this time." I meant that this is her second shot at flying in the wild, don't mess it up by flying into a building and breaking a leg. We don't know how she got her initial injury, but most likely by flying into a building or car.

Great News For Injured Peregrine 568

Well, this blog entry is a fun one to put together. First, I just want to say how sweet it was to get photos of Peregrine 568 in the sun and not under the clinic lights.

For new readers, this bird has some history in the blog. At the end of September in 2007, I was co-leading a trip to Duluth for hawk migration with Stan Tekiela. We stopped at my buddy Frank's hawk banding blind and they were in the process of tending to this bird--she flew into the nets with a broken leg. Since our group was only up in Duluth for the day, we offered to take her back to The Raptor Center in the Twin Cities for treatment. I volunteer there and was able to follow her progress. The vets at TRC said that based on the color of her bruises, the injury was three to five days old--incredible that she was flying around trying to hunt with that injury for a few days! She's had many ups and downs with her treatment, from having to reset the improperly healed fracture to many bouts of bumblefoot. But now the fracture has healed, the bumblefoot has subsided and after being at TRC for about 11 months, she's about ready to go. For a bird that's been in treatment that long, she needs to be test flown to make sure she's physically strong enough to live in the wild. The vets down in clinic graciously allowed me to tag along with the Flight Crew to test her skills (did you know you can volunteer for Flight Crew at TRC?)

They grabbed Peregrine 568 from her recovey cage and took the bandages and padding off her toes. To keep her bumblefoot at bay, she has been given boots made of padding and duct tape to wear. Birds naturally slough off dead skin in the wild on rough perches. TRC tries to mimic that in clinic, but when a bird has a foot or leg injury, and tends to stand on one foot more often, bumblefoot becomes a problem. For flight, she needs those the boots off so the crew can evaluate not only how she flies, but how she lands, and if she stands naturally on her feet.

After the boots were removed, they put jesses and a leash called a creance on her. The flight crew needed to test her wings outdoors on the University of Minnesota Campus and the creance allows her to fly far away, but they still have hold of her so she doesn't get loose before she is ready. The creance is kind of like a fishing line and pole. They let her fly, but after she lands, they can reel in the line as they walk towards her. The jesses are made of lether and wrapped around right above the toes and is the best way to keep hold of her without injuring her.

True to Peregrine 568's feisty nature, she bit the flight crew while the jesses and creance were placed on her. She's wearing a hood which is supposed to keep her calm and prevent her from biting...she apparently didn't read that in the falconry manuals.

One of the vets, Lori Arent told me that she had "imped some new feathers" onto Peregrine 568's wings. This is an ancient falconry technique of replacing damaged/broken feathers with feathers from another bird of the same species that has died--a feather transplant, if you will. Rather than waiting for the bird to grow in new ones when it naturally molts (sheds old feathers and grows in new ones) this allows a bird to leave clinic sooner. The imped feathers will molt out naturally. What's interesting what that Lori did not have to imp any feathers on the tail, a sheath has prevented the falcon from damaging any of those when moving in her cage.

We walked out and Terry on the flight crew let the peregrine fly. If you saw the video earlier, you could see that she did VERY well. If not, here is another video and you can hear the feisty falcon vocalizing before they let her go.



Again, I highly recommend going to the YouTube page and clicking on the "watch in high quality" button for the full effect of her magnificent flight.

When she made it to the end of the line she landed. The flight crew follows along to make sure that she doesn't go into the streets and to close the gap on the creance line.

This is the tricky part. You have to sneak up on the falcon and grab her without hurting her. But once you get close...

...she flaps a lot and Terry has to grab her without damaging her feathers. Terry's been doing this longer than I've been in Minnesota, so she's a master at it.

The peregrine was test flown about five times and when flight crew volunteer Greg went to grab her, she was ready to go further.

And again, in keeping with that feisty nature, she bit his glove...several times.

Check out that blond head--a clue that she is a tundrius subspecies of peregrine falcon. After all that work, she was panting hard. Unlike humans, birds do not have sweat glands and must pant to regulate body temperature (like dogs). The crew had a squirt bottle handy to keep her cool. They sprayed her feet and even sprayed in her mouth to help keep her hydrated. Here's a video:



You can also go to the YouTube page and click on "watch in high quality" to see it in better detail.

As we were walking back, I noticed we were all wearing Keen shoes. Is this the official birder shoe?

After five flights, it was time to go back to the clinic for one final check. Lori was very pleased with 568's progress and is anxious to get her out before the bumblefoot comes back. Because the peregrine is a tundrius and migratory and because she was found 182 miles north of the Twin Cities, she has to go back towards Duluth to be released. Arrangements are being made at this moment.

Lori gave 568 one last foot check. You can see some scarring from the bumblefoot, but it's healed. She added a bit more ointment to keep her foot progress steady until the falcon can be let go.

The little padded duct tapes boots were added for good measure. Note the ice pack on the tail? That was to help cool down Peregrine 568 during her final exam after all that flying in the hot sun. Lori took one more X-Ray just to make sure the fracture was stable after the test flying. All looks good.

So, if all goes well, in a few days, I'll post photos of her flying away. For good. I have to admit, I've never really wanted to follow a clinic bird in the blog because it would be a bummer to follow her and have her die. I was even more reluctant with a foot injury, but this has turned out remarkably well. And though she's been in clinic a long time, she could still have another 10,12, maybe even 18 years ahead of her.

TRC From Someone Else's Perspective

So, I'm catching up on emails and I found this really cool blog entry sent to my by my buddy Amber. Gretchen Stiches keeps a blog and relates a story of having to intervene with some tree trimmers who were misinformed about the legality of hawk nest removal and what to do with the chicks after they are removed from a nest. It's a great insight as to what some of our great clinic vets at The Raptor Center like Lori do for her day to day job.

Oh Nooooo, They Be Stealin' My Kettle!

Due to my insane travel schedule in May and my training as a part time park ranger, I had to take a leave from my volunteer duties at The Raptor Center. Yesterday was my first day back.

Hey, remember Peregrine Falcon 568? The young peregrine falcon that flew into the banding nets with a broken leg? And then had some experimental surgery? Well, she is alive and well. All the little robotic pieces that were on her leg are off, she's standing and has recently been moved to a flight room with three other peregrines. The above photo is old, I was hoping to get a photo of her in the flight room, but the lights were too low. Good news. From here the clinic will monitor how she stands and perches and make sure that she doesn't have any more bumblefoot issues. If that goes well, it's on to flight training...

Some other changes had happened while I was away. The education department has been training in some new birds like the broad-winged hawk (pictured above) and a red-tailed hawk. When the birds get to the final stages of their training, the staff chooses a name for the birds. The birds really don't know their names or respond to it, but it's a way for us to tell birds apart and say, "Hey, I'm working with Bubo today instead of GHO 14."

The broad-winged hawk was given the name Kettle and the new red-tail is now called Alula--both names made me chuckle. The alula is a part of a bird's wing that is the equivalent of our thumb (it's also called "the bastard wing"). It has a few quills and some species can actually manipulate it a bit.

I love our new ed director at TRC, she's very into "teachable moments" and I would rather have an ed bird's name be an opening for conversation, like Alula rather than, say, Ralph. But I did get the giggles thinking about me being captured by aliens and being an ed human for their planet. Interpretive aliens would hold me in front of their students asking, "What species is this? Human? That's right! And her name is Uvula! That's an unusual name isn't it? Well, it's also a part of her body! Does anyone know what a uvula is on a human?"

The broad-winged hawks name also sent me into a fit of giggles: Kettle. The name refers to a "kettle of hawks" the flock of hawks that you see circling in a thermal during migration. That flock is called a kettle because a thousand broad-winged hawks circling in a thermal resembles peas swirling in a boiling kettle. I once heard someone get their words mixed up and pointed to a bunch of hawks and said, "Hey, Sharon, there's a bucket of hawks!"

So, bucket, kettle, I don't know they just make me giggle...perhaps it's because of the walrus bucket thing...and if you are one of the four people who have not seen the photo and captions:

Perhaps the source of my giggles comes from too much I Can Has Cheezburger:

To which I answer to the hawk, "No, you no has a kettle, you are named Kettle."

Wow, this blog entry just took a weird turn. I think I should get back to packing for the Potholes and Prairie Bird Festival in North Dakota.

Aaron Eckhart Is A Super Nice Guy

Once again, I marvel at how birds are the best ice breaker! I had an appearance on Showcase Minnesota today and the producer told me that Aaron Eckhart was going to be on. I had an eastern screech owl with me from The Raptor Center to promote the Open House this Sunday.

When his group came in, the whole posse stopped to look at the owl--this worked well for me because I could focus on bird talk instead of blathering like an idiot about him being a good actor and having a cute chin.

I explained how this owl was a partial imprint and more likely to try and mate with a human (like himself) instead of another screech owl. I asked if he wanted his photo with the owl and he said, "No thank you. Unless the owl wants the photo?" I said that I wanted the photo and he very graciously accepted. He then asked, "Should we make out?" and I'm pretty sure that he meant that as a joke in reference to the owl being imprinted, but when I tell the story drunk in a bar, it's totally going be that he said it to me.

Anyway, really nice guy in person.

Toying With Skitch

Non Birding Bill is always keeping me abreast of the latest technology and just uploaded a screen shot and photo editing application called Skitch. It's mostly so I can point out things in photos. I took that golden eagle photo from the previous post and added some notes:

The first time I posted the photo I didn't even notice the house sparrow on the right. The sparrow was in eating leftover rat scraps. The house sparrows started building a nest in the golden eagle mew last week. No worries about raccoons in there.

The Golden Eagle Laid An Egg

I'm not sure how it happened, but one of my photos has ended up in the I Can Has Cheezeburger builder. People have been emailing me captioned photos and links. I want to thank whoever put it in there for crediting the photo to birdchick.com.

Andi, the education golden eagle at The Raptor Center laid an egg this morning. She's not housed with any male eagles (she's our only golden eagle) so the egg is unfertilized. Every spring, Andi and one or two of the red-tails hormones get so geared for spring that they lay eggs. If we can get to the eggs in time, we save them as props to show people. Alas, Andi smashed her egg not long after I took this photo.

Last night Non Birding Bill and I met some friends for some fabulous food at Amazing Thailand in Uptown and then we walked by Urban Outfitters and found several copies of Disapproving Rabbits on the book shelf. We then found the April issue of Metro Magazine at the grocery store and it has a small article I wrote about birds around the Twin Cities in spring. I enjoyed writing for Metro, they wanted me to be a bit saucier than the bird magazines I normally write for. I even managed to work in the phrase "hot turkey action"--and I get paid for this. Life is weird and fun.

I just got booked to be on Showcase Minnesota next Tuesday and rumor has it that Aaron Eckhart will be live in studio that day too. Yum.

Another Way To Recycle Phone Books

It's cold. Painfully cold. The type of cold that makes you utter a colorful four letter word with every step you take outdoors.

I went to The Raptor Center for my shift today and got an update on Peregrine 568. She's alive, feisty, and still in recovery. She has some bumblefoot issues but still, for a bird with all sorts of metal pins, she's doing as well as can be expected.

We have an education turkey vulture named Nero at The Raptor Center. Almost all of our ed birds are housed outdoors since they would be here in winter and are capable of surviving sub zero temperatures. The few exceptions would be Nero and the new broad-winged hawk we have in training. Nero's housing has been adjusted, complete with plexiglass and a heater, but the staff was making some upgrades to it and he was tethered in the prep room. He's imprinted on humans which means he would look to defend his territory from humans and worse...try to mate with one in spring.

Now, turkey vultures are the type of bird, that need a little enrichment when in captivity. In the wild, they fly around and look for carcasses to rip apart. Because of that instinct to seek out things to rip and tear, they can be a challenge in captivity. Above is a photo of Nero attempting to rip apart the astro turf around his perch. The turf is important, so birds can slough off dead skin on their toes and help prevent bumblefoot.

The staff would rather he rip apart his turf instead of his jesses. He is capable of picking and ripping apart the bracelets around his feet and could potentially get loose. He's sometimes given other objects to purposely rip and shred for enrichment-too keep him engaged with his natural behaviors--and keep him from ripping up his jesses.

Today, he had a phone book. Now that is what I call creative recycling! I wonder how much longer we'll keep getting phone books?

As much fun as it is to watch a turkey vulture take out the yellow pages, when my shift was over, I had to head home. On my way out, the front desk got a phone call that someone had a hawk or a falcon sitting outside the Rec Center of the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota. The bird had hit a window and the weren't sure if it needed to be picked up. Since it was on my home, I offered to drive by and check it out. I found a place to park and just walking one block in the wind, and in all my long underwear, it was still painfully cold and my eyes were watering. I met up with the man who had called in the bird, and he pointed me to a dark corner. He said that the bird appeared to be recovering and was now standing up, as opposed to laying flat on the ground. I looked in the corner and said, "Holy Crap! It's a merlin!"

It was an adult female merlin and when we got within ten feet of her, she took flight and zoomed down the side walk, zigged and zagged through some small trees and darted off in an ally. Well, I guess it's safe to say that she didn't need any time at The Raptor Center. It was so sweet to watch her dark form darting through the campus, right over student's heads--such a cool bird. As I walked back to the car, I found a couple of spots of sparrow and junco leftovers. I think the merlin has been doing well. The wind was very strong and numbed by fingers and stung my face, I wondered if maybe that helped propel her into the building in the first place. I was glad I didn't have to take her in.

And now I leave you with some videos of the turkey vulture ripping his phone book and adjusting his turf:

The Long Road For Peregrine 568

WARNING! Some of the photos in this entry deal with a bird injury and some surgical techniques to heal that injury. If you are eating a meal or are kind of squeamish, you may want to stop reading this entry after the third photo. Just an FYI.

After the Holidays and my travel schedule, it was time to get back to my volunteering at The Raptor Center and an update on our favorite peregrine.

They were busy in the clinic and while I was waiting, I checked out some of the other birds the vets were working on. This was a falconry bird that got injured in the field. This peregrine falcon was out hunting and she got into a thermal and was soaring high. An adult red-tailed hawk tried to soar into the same thermal. The peregrine looked down, saw the red-tail and stooped! The falcon dove down and hit the red-tail, locked onto it and the falconer watched the birds disappear out of the sky. It took him fifteen minutes to track them down and he found both the red-tail and the peregrine on the ground (and a couple of prairie falcons nearby). The red-tail flew off when the falconer walked up, but there were puncture wounds on the peregrine's face--indicating that she had been footed in the head by the red-tail. Fortunately, the falcon did not lose an eye, but her face did swell up. She appears to be healing well and remarkably did not suffer any broken bones.

Check it out, another way to use that handy tool known as the Dremel--trimming beaks. Above, a vet trims the beak of a young Cooper's hawk. As birds are recovering at TRC, they don't always rub their beaks well like they do in the wild and they can get kind of long, so the vets have to trim them--this is called coping a beak. It's better for the bird and a little easier on the vets when they get bitten by a bird.

So, while I was in Atlanta at Bird Watch America, I got a call from Dr. Julia Ponder the Associate Director of TRC. I knew that there was only one reason for the call--something was up with Peregrine 568. She is still alive, but had to have some surgery. It turned out that her leg healed improperly, causing some long term foot problems. It's at this point that the photos might get a little gross for some people.

Even thought the fracture was healed, the vets noticed that the falcon kept getting bumblefoot on both feet (that's some cleaned up bumblefoot in the above photo). They did some checking and it turned out that when the broken leg healed, that it was a little bit shorter than the other leg. Peregrine falcons are designed for extreme precision, this a bird that can dive over 200 miles per hour and needs everything perfect when hunting prey at that speed. The shorter leg was also affecting how she was perching and aggravating the bumblefoot. So, Dr. Ponder said that they had two options: 1. Put the bird down or 2. Try an experimental surgery that has been tried successfully on a parrot: fracture the leg again and as it's healing, periodically separate the bone, forcing length. Perhaps you have heard of limb lengthening surgery? It's like that.

They did the surgery last week and Dr. Ponder said that if something went wrong they would know right away. They did the surgery and it went well. Now came the hard part of lengthening the fracture once a day of 0.7mm. Since this is painful, Peregrine 568 is put under anesthesia (That's Dr. Mitch putting the falcon under while a clinic volunteer holds the falcon in the above photo).

Here's the fixator on the outside of her leg--she's got some bruising (notice the green, birds bruise green). I'm not sure if you would call her a cybird or frankenbird, but she's got some heavy duty metal works attached to her leg.

Here's what it looks like in the X-Rays. Check out the toes--they are wrapped in duct tape, but it kind of looks like eggs.

Here is an X-Ray that was taken not long after all the apparatus were put in last week.

I think this one was taken yesterday, so you can see that there is a tiny bit more space between the fracture.

So, here's Dr. Mitch doing the extension--although the official surgical term is called "distraction." They kept talking about doing the distraction all morning. I wonder what the origin of that is? Let's distract the bone into growing longer?

After the distraction and all of her bumblefoot areas were cleaned she was wrapped up. They put padding on both feet and seal that with duct tape to help with the bumblefoot. Then they have to clean and put padding around the fixator and then wrap it with duct tape--I swear, they used half a role on this bird. So, now we have to see how that fracture heals. If that heals well, she will need further surgery to correct some of the bumblefoot issues.

Miles to go before she flies. Some may ask, why go this far for one bird. Number one, thanks to the blog--lots of people know about Peregrine 568 and have a vested interest in what happens. Number 2, what we learn from this experimental surgery in birds could help someone's beloved pet in the future. Number 3, she's a young bird with several years of survival ahead of her.

So, not the best news, but not totally crap news either.

I Needed Today

I was feelin' a tad stressed yesterday. Some of it travel related, some of it scheduling related, some of it money related, some of it deadline related, some of it work related, some of it book related--blah, blah, blah, blah, BLEH. It was to the point where I was even having trouble sleeping, where you wake up in the middle of the night and have even more irrational worries like, "I need to lose ten pounds." or "Am I going to have time to buy pickles and a baguette before Thursday?"--just ridiculous crap. And then I had today and realized that in the end, life is really cool.

I had my shift at The Raptor Center today.

First up, injured peregrine falcon number 568 is doing really well! She was very feisty when I took this photo right before her examination this morning. Her pins are out and her bone has healed.

Alana, who was her original vet has left The Raptor Center--it's a teaching hospital so there is a steady rotation of vets. The peregrine is now in the care of Dr. Mitch (in green on the left, who has been at The Raptor Center all of 9 days). Today, Dr. Julia Ponder (Executive Director and Vet) also checked on the peregrine with Dr. Mitch to make sure that the healed leg fracture was stable.

The doctors tested both legs to make sure that the fracture healed properly and that the leg wasn't sticking out at an odd angle. After that, Dr. Mitch and Dr. Ponder gave her a sort of falcon pedicure, by sloughing off any tape or medication residue on her toes. The big news is that the healed fracture looks stable and after the Thanksgiving Holiday, our injured falcon will be moved to a flight room with other peregrines--hopefully she will get along with the other peregrines in there and get used to moving around in a larger space! If all goes well, she will move on to flight training. What great news!

As if that wasn't great news enough, I got to give an All About Owls program. Most of the time at The Raptor Center I do a general Raptors of Minnesota program but periodically, groups will request something specific like owls, falconry, eagles, or just about anything. It's fun to break out of the routine. The group was very into it and there was 5th grade boy who knew almost all the owls that I brought out. The only one he missed was the above bird. He called it a ferruginous pygmy owl. Even though the bird is actually an eastern screech owl, I gave him props for even knowing that there is such a species as a pygmy owl.

After the program I got a chance to feed our education barn owl on my gloved hand. There's something relaxing about having a bird feel comfortable enough to eat while perched on your arm, you can't help but feel honored. It's also a fun opportunity to observe the birds at close range. I love getting lost in the stiff feathers on an owls facial disc.

All in all, not a bad day.

Injured Peregrine #568 Update

There's a video of Cinnamon and myself on Showcase Minnesota up over here.

Look who is looking bright eyed and feisty! Yes, it's injured peregrine #568! Today was just a plain busy day, I have to pack for my flight to Texas tomorrow and I had two programs back to back at The Raptor Center (the first was about 70 two year olds and then the second was a small group of senior citizens--talk about shift gears fast!). But in the middle of all that, I managed to pop down into clinic and get an update on the injured female tundrius peregrine falcon we have been following. Things are progressing well!

Here is an X-Ray that Alana took last week. If you recall from last time, they removed the large rod that was inside the leg stabilizing the bone, leaving in the two smaller titanium pins. When Alana took this X-Ray, she noticed that one of the pins had broken in two--note the pin on the bottom. That pin is located just below the healed up break. She's not sure how the bird managed to break the pin, but she decided to remove the remaining stabilizer. A tiny piece of one of the pins remained in the leg, but it will not harm the falcon in the long term (unless she goes through airport security).

The skin on the leg is pink and healthy and her feathers are growing back in (it looks much better than the first day that I saw her leg--bleh). She still has a long journey ahead. She will remain in a clinic cage awhile longer to make sure that she can move around and that the healed bone is stable. If all goes well, they will consider moving her to a flight room, but it's best to take the time to make sure everything is healed up.

All in all, very good news.

Peregrine 568 Update

WARNING! This is a post about an injured peregrine falcon we met earlier this month. This post covers some of her recovery. Some photos might be a tad gross for those who may be eating or have a problem with needles. Just an FYI.

Alana Shrubsole-Cockwill, the vet overseeing the injured peregrine falcon I've been blogging about, called me this morning to let me know that she was going to check on the bird to see how she was doing. When I arrived at The Raptor Center, Alana was working on a red-tailed hawk with an injured wing in the above photo. After she checked the injury, she extended the wing to keep the muscles from permanently contracting.

The red-tail was passage (first year) and huge! That's Steve Sutter hold her up. He volunteers in clinic at TRC. Clinic volunteers come in once a week, feed and clean birds in recovery and hold birds while the vets check them out.

Steve's job is to get the falcon and then when she is under anesthesia, he still holds onto her feet--on the off chance she isn't completely under, she won't grab the vet or flail around and risk further injury.

Some good news is that the bruising has gone down! Some may remember from last time that the bird's leg was bright green from bruising. The flesh looked healthy pink and you can see pin feathers growing in (her leg feathers had to be removed before surgery--kind of like when humans need to be shaved on a body part about to be operated on.

Something I didn't mention last time was that the foot, just below the break was red, and Alana mentioned that it might be some type of vascular compromise--maybe the blood vessels were damaged when the bird flew into the nets or transported or as a result of the injury. If you look at the photo of the leg from last time, you will note just below the green that the foot was red. Today, all the redness was gone, so the blood flow is good. After that, Alana moved the leg around. I asked if the moving the leg around was for the same reason she was extending the red-tail's injured wing, but she said she was checking for stiffness. I got a video of her extending the leg and talking about what she's doing:



I will say this, Alana does a great job of explaining what she's doing, she's a good teacher. Since I'm an education volunteer at TRC and not a clinic volunteer like Steve, I don't know all the lingo and what they are doing and why. She very naturally will explain what she's doing and do it in way so that you don't feel like a complete dunderhead.

She made sure to clean the spots where the pins holding the broken leg in place and then she took a look at the peregrine's toes:

Because the falcon was going to be putting more weight on her good leg as opposed her broken leg, care had to be taken to keep her from getting bumblefoot and her good foot was wrapped in surgical and duct tape. But what is a bored falcon to do when it can't migrate and hunt and has to sit in a dark box all day--why try and rip at the tape off her toes! Note the mangled mess above. Alana removed the tape:

The bottom of the foot looked good, no signs of bumblefoot! You know how I love to smell birds? Alana told me to smell the falcon foot. I have now experienced that bad bird smell--her feet were stanky! Which is weird because birds don't sweat like humans so it's not like she had sweaty toes in gym socks. It's a combination of the foot being wrapped, probably getting some food bits and poop in there. Alana washed it off and rewrapped the toes. Who knew birds can get stinky feet?

If you look at this photo, you can see little tabs of duct tape--the tabs are there on purpose. She's going to pick at it anyway, might as well give tabs to keep her busy to keep her from ripping it all off her toes.

One thing I haven't mentioned that you may have noticed on the red-tail and on the falcon are the envelopes on their tails. By sliding this over the raptor tails, this prevents them from breaking tail feathers during their recovery. They are in small boxes to prevent them from moving too much too soon. But sometimes an antsy raptor is going thrash about in the clinic cages, so this just helps protect those important rudder feathers.

Here's Alana and Steve with peregrine 568 at the end of her exam. She's perkier, her weight is up and she doesn't need to be hand fed. Alana is going to do an X-Ray next Tuesday to see how the bone has healed and to determine what the next stage will be in her recovery process.

Again, if you enjoy following peregrine 568's story, please consider contributing to her recovery at TRC. I've yet to meet a raptor with health coverage and TRC relies on donations to treat the over 800 birds they see in a year.

Falcon Medical Care

First up, a quick public service announcement:

Anyone missing an eclectus parrot in the Twin Cities area? One was found on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota and is now hanging out at The Raptor Center. If you're missing one, call TRC at 612-624-4745. The bird does not need a foster home or a new home, just looking for the owner.

A WORD OF WARNING: THIS POST MIGHT GET GROSS FOR SOME READERS! I was allowed in TRC's clinic this morning to observe a post operative exam of the injured falcon. We're going to see some of her injury, it might be kinda gross for those who have trouble with injections and medical procedures. There's not a copious amount of blood but there is a photo of some nasty looking bruising. If you think this might be too much to read while eating, quit reading after the broad-winged hawk photo.


Here's a new bird we're training in for educational programs at TRC, it's a first year broad-winged hawk. Don't let that cute cock of the head fool you, this bird is not sweet, it's a tad brain damaged. This bird was shot as a youngster in the nest in the Twin Cities area and still has the BBs in its head and somewhere in its back--hence the head tilt. We suspect that it has vision loss in its left eye (and possible hearing loss). When you look at it, the lights are on but there doesn't appear to be anyone home. I'm not sure if the shooting occurred by a bored kid or by someone who didn't take kindly to hawks nesting near their feeding station. However it happened, it was illegal and a shame.

When I came to TRC for my volunteer shift this morning, I did a quick verbal check to see if the peregrine we brought in on Saturday was still alive. I do educational programs and am not involved in the clinic. I know they are always busy in the clinic and didn't want to be underfoot to view the falcon myself. But, Alana, the vet working on the falcon, offered to give me a call when she was going to do a post operative check on the bird so I could take pictures and learn more about the injury.

They put the falcon under anesthesia in order to clean her surgical wounds and inspect her without stressing her out. Here is the X-Ray they took of her Saturday night. She had a compound fracture of her right leg. Know one know for sure how she got it. Did she bounce off of a car windshied? Did she crash land on pavement while hunting a pigeon? Did she hit a window on a building? Who can say?

Alana showed me where the fracture had pierced the skin and she had sutured that up. The bird really couldn't be in a better place for its injury, TRC specializes in avian orthopedic surgery.

So, Alana, cleared the feathers away from the leg (they don't shave 'em, they have to pull them out) and inserted pins to reset the bones. This is the falcon's X-ray after her surgery. There's a rod inside setting the bones straight that is connected to pins that go through the skin and are attached to another rod outside the leg to help stabilize the fracture while it heals.

Here's what it looks like from the outside. See the blue piece? That is the outside rod covered in surgical tape. If you look close, you can see the pins going into the skin that connect to the rod on the inside. Alana cleaned up that whole area to prevent infection. Note how green the flesh is on the leg? I asked if that was some type of medication--that's not what that is. That is bruising--raptors bruise green! I never knew that. So, for her type of injury, that color is normal. Alana said that some people will see that on a bird and mistakenly think it's gangrene but it's just a normal bruise. And I thought human bruises looked gross. Alana also said that when she first saw it, that told her the injury was three to five days old.

Feet are very important to birds--they use them when they are not flying. Even when sleeping, birds stand on one foot. Since this peregrine will be putting all her weight on one foot while her broken leg heals, she is at risk for an infection called bumblefoot. To prevent that, Alana put on some surgical tape to help cushion it the good food. They will keep a close eye on the foot when they check her bandages to prevent infection.

After her wounds were cleaned, the peregrine was given fluids. She had been starving and her weight was low. The above photo is the peregrine slowly coming out of anesthesia. Alana told the clinic volunteers that when she was awake, she was to get forty grams of quail. She wanted the bird to be hand fed to insure that she ate all the food. The volunteers carefully weighed out the quail and cut it up into bite sized pieces. The hope is that while you are holding the bird, someone can just hold forceps with meat to the beak and the bird will eat it. However, being in captivity and held by a human can stress the appetite right out of a bird and sometimes you have to force feed them. The volunteers were hoping that they didn't have to force feed the falcon. Here's a video of how she reacted to food:



Needless to say, she did not need to be force fed. If you're wondering why the dish is held in front of her, then removed, and then brought back to her, that's to help stimulate her to eat. If the meat just sits there, after a bite or two, the bird can lose interest and just play with the dish. But when the dish is removed and suddenly reappears with meat, the bird's food instinct kicks in and it takes a bite. Kind of an ADD thing. Sorry to everyone who can't view video. I tried to get a photo:

She's so fast that it came out blurry, but you get the idea.

This is the inside of the crate she is staying in. The clinic volunteers made a sort of donut shape for her to lean into so she doesn't have to put weight on her feet, but when she was put inside, she decided to stand. I didn't get any photos once she was in, she had more than enough paparazzi for the day and needs to recover.

And I should mention that she is getting all of this first rate medical care without health insurance. I've never met a raptor who has any kind of health policy. TRC survives on donations, and if you are feeling inclined to spend a few dollars, please consider donating a buck or two to TRC in her honor. She's case number 568.

I will make updates on her progress as I hear about them--good or bad. She still has many obstacles to overcome, but if a bird can survive the first twenty-four hours in the TRC clinic, their chances of recovery greatly increase. If she does end up having to be euthanized, at least she's being made as comfortable as possible and being well fed as opposed to starving over several days with a painful injury.

Lost Weekend

This weekend wore me out. I am not a creature meant to spend lots of time in high temperatures and hot sun, but I found myself in it quite a bit. The upside is that I don't notice while I'm having fun and observing birds, but the downside is that when I get home, I am exhausted down to my bones.

Check it out, the monarch chrysalis on our radiator came out this weekend. That was timely because I had my Monarch Ranchin' class on Saturday morning at Staring Lake Outdoor Center. Stan helped out a little...well, actually he started out by distracting the group by releasing a chicken in the outdoor center--wacky boy. But after we had been out searching for monarch eggs and caterpillars, he put them under the Outdoor Center's microscope-it was very sweet to see the details of the eggs up close.

As soon as I was done at the Outdoor Center, I had to zip right over to meet my buddy Amber to do 2 back to back bird programs for The Raptor Center at CONvergence. This is our third year doing it, you may recall some of my photos from last year. I didn't have time to do the parties this year. After we finished our programs and drove back to TRC to put the birds away, I had to zip home and get ready for a friend's birthday party.

This is one of my favorite bird programs that I get to do as a volunteer. For one thing, people at a science fiction and fantasy convention are happy and in a good mood, they are seeing old friends and discussing a favorite topic--and they're in costume (note the lovely lady dressed as a fairy in the above photo). This year, one of the new staff at TRC came along to observe the program and at one point she leaned over in surprise and said, "I just saw a Dalek! I mean, a life sized actual Dalek!"

I was really impressed that she knew what a Dalek was. She already had cool points in my book anyway, she's the one who has been rehabbing the young porcupet.

It's fun to try and guess different costumes, (I think the one in the photo above is an Andorian) I also recognized Dr. Who, Brak, Sailor Mercury, and I saw at least four different Indiana Joneses at four different ages. I even saw someone dressed like Young Frankenstein! The woman who arranges for us to come is named Erin. As we were packing to leave, we thanked her for having us out and the generosity of the group (we always get great donations from this group on top of the program fee). I asked that she keep us in mind for next year. She said TRC would be back and added, "I always ask for you and Amber because you guys get us and what we're about." What an awesome compliment and it totally made my day.

This morning I was back at Staring Lake to lead an "urban bird trip". I would have advertised in the blog, but it was a last minute trip for me--I was subbing for the original trip leader. I took the group to couple of spots on the south side of the metro area, near the airport. There were a couple of unusual birds (for Minnesota) reported there and also, they are just great general birding spots. We heard and glimpsed and Acadian flycatcher at The Old Cedar Avenue Bridge and we heard and glimpsed a Bell's Vireo at Black Dog Preserve. I find that both of those species are more exciting to hear than to see.

The real star of the show ended up being Virginia rails. We passed another birder while listening for the Acadian who told us that the rails were putting on quite a show, so our group hightailed it out to the observation deck. When we arrived, a sora scuttled out of the way and is wasn't long before we heard the Virginia rails grunting. We were able to glimpse an adult chasing a younger bird. I played the Virginia rail call on my birdJam and the adult gave up the chase and came straight for us. He ran under the deck, around us, and zipped in and out of the reeds. It even paused to give its grunt call right back. The bird was moving way too quick for me to digiscope it (I snapped the above photo with my point and shoot), however someone in our group had a nice camera and...

Rob Grant got the above shot of the Virginia rail! Thanks, Rob, for letting me use your image in the blog. I have to say, I've called rails out before but these were hands down the best looks I've ever had at a Virginia rail. The bird soon ignored our group and continued its chase of the younger bird. We stayed for quite some time observing other species of birds and still the rails would scurry about us.

We also had great looks at marsh wrens--this guy popped up and sang for so long that everyone in the group got a good look through my spotting scope and I had a chance to digiscope it. Wow, a wren sitting still--who knew? I really enjoy doing these low key birding trips where we just enjoy the usual birds and get a few surprises in the process.

After the trip, I came home, took a long hot bath and napped a good portion of the afternoon. Tomorrow, I have to do Showcase Minnesota and then it's off to check the bees. Last week, Non Birding Bill and I put in some frames from the healthy Olga hive that were full of eggs and larvae in the hopes that the queenless Kitty hive would raise one of the eggs into a queen. I'll check for queen cells and if there aren't any, I'll have to combine what is left of Kitty with Olga.

Celebrity in the Audience

Amber and I did our Raptor Center Program at CONvergence today. Check it out, Wonder Woman was in the audience...and yes I mean Wonder Woman as in "in her satin tights, fightin' for our rights and the old red, white and blue (insert piano solo)". Aparently, when not using her lasso of truth on deserving criminals and Nazis, she likes to learn all she can about birds of prey.

Really Gross Eagle Post

WARNING! This is a really GROSS post. Quite frankly, I don't know how I'm going to muddle through it. It's interesting and does have a happy ending, but for those of you out there who don't like bugs, especially squishy maggots, I highly recommend avoiding going any further in this post. However, if you're like me and just can't help yourself, keep reading...although, you may not want to be eating anything at the moment.

"Ugh, I've got that not so fresh feeling."

A five week old bald eagle was down in clinic at The Raptor Center today and the vets were kind enough to let me follow with my camera. As vet Jane Goggin was looking over the young bird, it looked in good condition...and then she checked one of its ears.

Instead of finding a clear ear canal, it was chock full of maggots! Are we ready? On the count of three: 1...2...3...EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! This is not a common occurrence in young raptors, but it happens often enough that when they are brought in, the vets check the ears. Vet Juli Ponder said that generally in nature, the maggots go through their whole life cycle and leave, causing relatively little damage. She did add that they can find this in any raptor, especially great horned owls and bald eagles.

Here are the contents of the ear (one ear, mind you). The vets pluck out the maggots with forceps and then drop them in alcohol to kill them, afterwards swabbing out the ear. Can you imagine having maggots in your ear and not being able to get them out. Think about that, feeling (and hearing) all that squirming and squiggling and itchiness in your ear for days. When Juli said that great horned owls get them too, I thought about how owls are supposed to have better hearing, how does multiple maggot sucking blood in their ear canals rock their world?

Jane checked the young eagle's other ear and found more of the same. 1...2...3...EWWWWWWWW!! So, basically this bird's ears have been plugged up with squirming and sucking. Gross, gross, gross. Think about how big your head is compared to an eagle. Now, can you imagine what it must be like to have 9 maggots wriggling in one ear on such a small head. Ew. Ew. Ew.

"We love our job! It's fun to pick maggots out of bird ears. We rock!"

That's Jane on the left and Julie on the right, smiling after a job well done and seriously, they do rock--I really don't think I could do some of the icky treatments they have to do. I love all the vets in clinic, they all have what's best for the bird in the forefront of their minds. In the photo above they are now testing the bird's feet--which were quite soft because it is so young and hasn't done much perching. Who knew bald eagle feet were so baby soft?

The eagle is now ready to go back to the wild. I wondered if afterwards the young eagle was marveling at all the new sounds it was hearing. It's ears were plugged up for awhile and now they are wide open and cleaned out. In the wild the maggots can clean up on their own, but it never hurts to give the birds a little extra help if they visit the clinic. From now on when I look at raptors soaring and envy their flight capability, I will just remind myself that "Hey, I don't have to worry about maggots in my ears." I think that should calm my envy.

Raptor Release Report

You couldn't have asked for better weather for the Spring Raptor Release yesterday. It was gorgeous, although the one downside was that I was down wind from an apple orchard and all the binocular demos kept getting dusted with pollen. It was encouraging to see parents getting monoculars and kid sized binoculars for their children.

TRC released four birds yesterday, 1 Cooper's hawk, 2 red-tails and one hefty eagle. I worked my way through the crowd to try and get different shots of the birds taking off.

Above is a little boy who was sitting on his father's shoulders watching one of the red-tails take off after recovering from a wing injury. It was fun to watch the difference in the birds. The Cooper's hawk took off like a shot in one direction. It didn't try to catch a thermal, it just shot out of there above the tree line. The two red-tails looked for thermals and tried to use those to circle up high in the sky.

After watching which was the birds took off, I decided to find a spot where I thought the eagle might fly low. It was down off to the side of the stage, facing the crowd. There were a few other TRC volunteers there too. As they were making all the speeches about the bird's recovery, Lori, one of TRC's vets came by and told everyone to sit down. This was a big bird and would more than likely need a few seconds to get serious lift.

The eagle was thrown into the air. For second it looked like it might land on one of the speakers. Although, the hoard of people around it, made the eagle change her mind. Then she turned and flew towards the area I was sitting in.

And then I got this shot! I can't believe it, I look like a professional photographer and all I used my little Nikon Coopix 7900. Really, the bird was quite low and I was quite lucky. Boy, I was grateful that Lori had warned all of us to sit on the ground--or that bird would have run into one of us for sure. From there the bird flew right over our heads and into the wild blue yonder. I rolled over backwards as she flew over us and revelled in seeing her talons zoom past a few feet above my head.

And on a weird note, I have a mention in the New York Times. Non Birding Bill noticed in the website stats that we were getting some traffic from there. The link wasn't open to non subscribers until today. The writer was at the Ivory-bill Celebration. I remember Bobby Harrison telling me that he was going out with someone from the New York Times, and the writer apparently came to my beginning birding workshop. It's a nice mention and will make my mother proud. I have to say, it's interesting to read Bobby's comments, which reminds me that I haven't heard from him in weeks. Hmm, has he seen and photographed something and has been taken into the woodpecker mafia custody?

I'm also kind of curious about my status with Cornell...the no talking ban was supposed to be lifted in either April or when Cornell gave me the official go ahead...I haven't heard. Can I start talking about scaling and cavities and if I did or did not see the bird? I don't know. Although, I suppose if given enough scotch, one could get me to sing like a...an ivory-bill?

California Condor Update

Remember the California Condor that was convalescing at The Raptor Center? Well, after spending a few weeks in an outdoor flight pen, rebuilding its strength, it has been released out into the wild. Let's hop it has better luck this time.

In other news, there's a preview out for the-novel-turned-into-a-movie, Hoot. It looks like it's about some young kids light heartedly sabotaging a construction site to protect some burrowing owls. I'm not sure how accurate the movie is going to be since the preview shows a burrowing owl in a tree. Also, the hooting of a the burrowing owl in the preview sounds a lot like a great horned owl. Harrumph, now I'm disapproving.

California Condor at The Raptor Center

Okay, today was supposed to be an entry of the doins that transpired at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest but is pre-empted for some exciting news at The Raptor Center--they are caring for an injured California Condor! This is the first time one has been at TRC and more than likely the first time a California Condor has been in the state of Minnesota.

The bird is a wild hatch 18 month old (still an immature) condor from Arizona. It has a wrist injury from ten days ago that is healing nicely and the chanced of the bird returning to the wild and its family group are very good at the moment. It is believed the injury is from a "forced landing". The bird was in the air and lost a thermal or another possibility is that it was forced from the sky by a golden eagle. It was brought to TRC because it is the premier facility for this type of bone injury in birds and Dr. Pat Redig (one of the founders of TRC) is involved with the Peregrine Fund which is helping to reintroduce California Condors to the wild.

Never in my life did I think I would get within six inches of a California Condor! I even got to smell it--the bird had that good vulture smell. You wouldn't believe the paparazzi there for this bird: KSTP, KARE 11, and the Pioneer Press--as well as dozens of TRC volunteers hoping to get a peek. I took over 130 photos myself. All the volunteers at TRC are on very strict rules regarding our 20 pound patient. Because condors are so impressionable at this age, extra precautions are being taken to keep it from habituating to people. We are not allowed down the corridor where the bird is resting and when it is brought out for check ups and meds, lights are down and the condor's head is covered until it is under anesthesia.

If you would like to see this bird, you can head to The Raptor Center and watch the Condor Cam set up in the lobby. A camera has been placed insides the room housing the bird so its progress can be monitored. NO ONE IS ALLOWED DOWN TO SEE THE CONDOR IN THE CLINIC--not even me. So please feel free to drop by and view the camera but don't expect the bird in clinic. We had fun watching the bird on camera this morning, playing with its toys and preening. It's so cool to know that you are in the same room as one of these dinosaur looking bird celebrities.

As always, this bird came in with no health insurance and its care is costing about $100 per day. Donations are always welcome and needed at The Raptor Center.

Getting to start my Tuesday morning up close and personal with a California Condor totally makes up for my luggage getting lost yesterday! Below are some gratuitous condor photos. If the bird looks weird it's because it was under anesthesia the whole time during the examination.

Young condors have black heads not the reddish pink you see on adult condors. It so looks like a dinosaur in the face.

Condor Paparazzi! We never allow this many people in clinic when we are working on a bird. However, since the condor was asleep the whole time and several vets were on hand, media and volunteers got a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the condor up close. One of the may reasons why I love volunteering with TRC, you never know what bird will be on hand to help.
This is Dr. Juli Ponder. I got to know her when I managed the Minnetonka All Seasons Wild Bird Store and she was a customer. She's now the associate director at TRC. In this photo she is helping to exercise the condor's wing. The bird will not be test flown while in Minnesota so its important to keep the muscles in use to prevent atrophy.

Look at those tootsies!! Even though condors are not a raptor and do not use their feet to kill their food, the talons are pretty impressive. Why does TRC care for condors if they are not raptors? We will work on all types of birds with bone injuries, it's what the center is best known for. Some of the non-raptors that TRC has cared for include parrots, trumpeter swans and flamingoes.

Another wing shot. This birds wing span is eleven feet, the length of the primary feathers are the same length as my arm!

A TRC vet holds the condor's head up as it gradually comes out of the anesthesia. The bird is held upright to keep the air passages open and to be prepared when it comes to and begins to struggle. As soon as the eyes opened, the condor's head was covered and it was swiftly returned to its recovery room.