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Real Stuff and Class of 2014 in one place.

4/24/2014

After much patience and effort I finally convinced these guys that the camera, the shiny thing that is looking at you, was not going to "steal their souls" got some photos.

Here they are. The top picture is a large female. The middle appears to be a female and a male. The third one is a little runt male with an eagle attitude. Have been trying to catch them together on a perch but they scatter when the evil shiny thing points it's "eye" at them.

There is quite an age spread on these 4 owls. Notice some have more feathers and less fuzz while others have more fuzz and less feathers.

They consume 4-5 25-35gram each daily. That's about 20 mice per day, about 3 (150 mice)bags in 7 days and we are looking at a couple months before any release is possible.

Will detail more as soon as possible. As of now they are very tolerant of each other and are eating well.

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Fly like an eagle, Freedom taste good!!!

4/3/2014

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After considerable effort and consultation with experts at Laurens Wildlife I am now able to show you the most excellent pictures AJ and Tom took and emailed me. I am glad AJ got these pictures because I was in the flight pen walking around in an encouraging way to stimulate Buckshot to go out the door. The boy was good, he got it quick and was already in flight across the road when I got out.

Notice the power of going from standing still in the previous picture to the leap in this picture and the power flight in the next. This all occurred in a matter seconds!!

This was my last view. AJ saw him as he turned to his right, kicked out of the tree, and with about two good flaps of his wings he was above the trees and headed east. He was a speck over Lamar co. when I last saw him.

This sequence of pictures are all copyrighted but they also illustrate the unpredictable response of a raptor. In the second picture he is looking straight at a huge tree with lot's of big limbs and a good field of view, at least I thought so. In a split second he turned left and went into pine trees. He 's free now and making his own decisions.......

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April Fools Surprise

4/2/2014

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For those of you who were prepared for my April Foolery yesterday and didn't get it please hold on to your preparations for next year. I do love April 1 as it is so much fun. BUT! some events occurred that produced a long awaited out come. A certain eagle's wing has finally healed, at least 90%. He was flying stunts in the flight pen like complete circular laps without touching anything. Since the weather is going to be decent for a few days we opened the door. Here he sits in Pike County a few minutes before he headed east and became a speck on the horizon. His wings were flawless, as they lifted him up, and stayed even in flight. No sign of residual damage.

He was last seen over Lamar County with east coast desires.

The decision to release him here was very complex since so many variables had to be considered. Those of us who saw him when he arrived remember how much blood was on the walls of the transport box from him jumping around and banging his wings on them. This wound finally has tissue covering the bones with most of the dermal layer intact. If we put him in the best transport box available there is still a very good chance he will report the behavior and open up the wound during the 2-3 hour drive. So the decision was made to release him here and let him "do the driving".

This has been one of the most unbelievable cases I have dealt with in 20 plus years of rehabbing raptors. Thanks to all the folks who consulted on the treatment plan. Dr. Gardner and Kathryn Dudek sent pictures of the wound to various Vets and other facilities for any idea that would hurry up the healing process without risking any permanent damage. In the end there was no miracle treatment so patience became the Rx. Now Buckshot is wild and free again, where we all need to be.

Thanks to the Jacksons for transporting him here. Thanks to Tom and AJ for their help( and bringing back fresh fish from Panama City to feed our guest). Thanks to AJ for being available on short notice to do this release. If I forgot anyone in print you are not forgotten in the big picture, he's out! We did it.

God Bless.

PS- I have some very good pictures that I am trying to load. Will try to post in the next couple of days.

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Real Stuff and Class of 2014 in one place.

Fly like an eagle, Freedom taste good!!!

April Fools Surprise

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