This is a mature adult M Kite released by Laurens Wildlife in Dublin, Ga. He didn't come to us since he was an "in and out". This picture is courtesy of Vonda Morton at Laurens Wildlife. Notice the drastic change in  plumage from the juvenile to the adult. The eyes are a red color in the adults.

If you are interested in working with a wildlife rehabilitator or learning to be a wildlife rehabilitator contact a licensed rehabber and talk to them. There is a list on the Ga. DNR website. If they are not listed on that website but insist that they are a licensed rehabber ask to see their permits. All Rehabbers will have a permit or permits with Ga. Dept. of Natural Resources or US Fish and Wildlife Services letterheads and/or stamps on the permit.  Protect yourself from people who are going holding around seminars and stating their seminar/class is a prerequisite to obtaining a rehab permit. These people are charging money for these classes and are not licensed rehabilitators. Call Ga. Special Permits office if you have any questions and before you plunk down your money. This information is a free service to you from a licensed( federal and state) wildlife rehabilitator.  
Remember Caesar yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look........

This the best picture we have a juvenile M Kite.This was one of our first successes back in 2006. Last time we saw him he was headed toward Panama City with 4 wild Kites. Unfortunately the boy we have now has  a way to go to come close to looking this good.

Volunteers

We are planning a volunteer training session if spring ever comes and the rains ever subside. Have had a number inquiries following the Buckshot TV news coverage.

We get all volunteers together so we can get on the same page. The training session does not qualify you to rehab raptors on your own. We discuss fed and state regs and the need for compliance. Then we cover policy and procedures, like personal safety, food safety etc. Lot's of discussion and developing a trust with each other to work around the raptors. 

This session is going to be limited to 10 and we already have 4 or 5 waiting.  If you are thinking about and want to commit please think about it. We are making a time commitment to you and would appreciate reciprocity. There is guy in south Ga. that charges "volunteers"  $40.00 to learn how to transport raptors. We are not part of that. Can't see nickel and diming folks who are going to be using their gas and their time to help put our wildlife back in the wild.

More to come as the weather clears or we have to start building Ark.



Donations

Neal you gave us a great idea! Glad you thought of it.

We cover a huge area of the state with a couple million people involved. If we can get a couple hundred people to donate $20.00 each at the first of the month every month we should be able to handle  the patients/ raptors. We could also save enough to do public programs again. It costs about $150.00 to do an education presentation. During the economic downturn we lost our sponsors. So we had to curtail the projects. I hate telling kids No because their is no money.

We are currently headed toward a food shortage because of the persistent cold temp. We have had to double up on food so the raptors can prevent cold injuries.  We are not out of food and don't want to run out. Past history calendar says we are now officially in baby season. We currently have one baby GHO and the other 13 are adults.

Think about and see if you can automatically do $20 a month or even $10. A couple hundred folks donating this way would be really helpful.

Neal, don't care what anybody else says about you , I think you have a good idea!

Before I give your attention back to you think about the items in this blog and see what you can do.

hope you have clear skies, warm thermals, and plenty of food for your youngun's. 


Hi Tatum !

This smiling bright eyed Great Horned Owl came in from Spalding Animal Control. A mature male, he was found hanging in a barbed wire fence. Fortunately for him he was caught on the bottom strand and was able to stand. When they are caught on the higher strands they struggle and fight until they tear all the feathers and flesh away. This runt male, is very small as GHOs go, has been healing well and is headed for a flight pen.

Owls have very soft feathers that are easily snagged by the barbs on barbed wire. It is impossible to untangle the "mat" on this wire. The wire must be cut and the owl removed. When the owl is freed then the wire can be carefully removed. This guy was very fortunate and only lost a wad of secondary feathers. Most of the time we see large amounts of tissue loss and exposed bone that results in euthanasia.

Most owls are hunting hard now as the females are sitting on eggs. Some may already the members of the 2014 "baby" class hatched out.

Buckshot's wing

Compare this picture to the previous post and you can see improvement. The tissue is nice and pink and the wound is closing with good granulation. He is using his wings and has flown from the ground to a 6 ft perch. After detailed discussion with input from Dr. Gardner and Katherine Dudek at Chat. Nature Center, we are not comfortable releasing him until this wound is closed. This is very high tension area and is critical to flight. Dr. Gardner made a very good analogy in the discussion. She said "this is like cutting your finger across the knuckle. Everytime you bend it the wound opens up."

The second picture is another view of the same.

  

This is where we are. Thanks to those who have sent in monetary support. It is very much appreciated.

Thanks too to Becky Watts and pikecountytimes.com and Rachel McDaniel at the Journal Reporter for their excellent coverage of this case.

Here are 2 pictures of the leading edge of the left wing. You can see a chunk is missing. The chunk is about an inch across and narrowly missed some important bones. The rookie eagle handler Dr. Gardner is holding him. Her hat is on his head to protect her face.

This morning he was jumping from perch to perch using his wings for balance. This activity continued for a few minutes, like he was checking to see if things still worked. This is a major step forward in his recovery. While I am excited to see this I know we have a ways to go.

I am very much aware that this flight pen is not adequate for his flight conditioning. He is in this smaller to contain his activity and prevent further damage. As his wound closes up and he begins to show more interest in flying he will be magically transported during the night to a very large flight. He won't believe his eyes! 

This mature bald eagle arrived on Dec 26. He was found on Christmas eve on the county line between Jenkins and Emmanuel counties. He was triaged at Laurens Wildlife and transferred here for rehabilitation. Initial reports indicated a gun shot wound to the wing but x-rays show no metal fragments in the wound. He has big chunk of tissue missing on his left wing and cannot fly. Our goal is to get this healed up and get him back out in the wild within the next 2weeks. His mate was in the area searching for him when he was picked up by the biologist.

Eagles mate for life and are very loyal to each other. In the wild they will begin building nest or refurbishing nest in January.

Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson for taking time out of their holiday season to drive thia guy all the way from Dublin to Zebulon.

Here at the end of the year please remember us for your tax exempt donations. You can donate on line or mail your checks to PO Box 103 Zebulon, Ga. 30295. All checks must be dated no later than Dec. 21 for tax credit in 2013.

Thanks for your attention.

Have received a number of requests for owl pellets from schools and other programs. We are currently out of pellets. We were only able to get a few this year because of the rain. Most were dissolved by the time they were found. Probably won't have any more until next year. We give them away on a first come basis, please keep that in mind when you are planning programs.
All our native owls species, except the barn owl, have been talking up the evenings. If you are sitting quietly outside, right after twilight, you may be able to hear screech owls trilling and making their whinny calls. It's very soft and you need to be away from noise pollution ( hwy, radio, tv, etc) but they are talking and folks are hearing them.

This is an eastern screech owl in the gray phase. They come in 2 colors, gray and red. For size contrast this is sitting on a finger. 2 of them do not equal a pound in weight.
Below is a red screech hiding in the corner. Both of these are males. Females will be slightly larger.

Barred owls are very vocal and sound like they are carrying on conversations. One calls " who who who cooks for you" and the other answers " who who cooks for you all". Listen to the first Barred call and count the interval until the next call, 1thousand 1, 1 thousand 2, 1 thousand 3...... When they the first one calls count the interval and try your best Barred Owl call. With a little practice you will find them coming to investigate the "newcomer"
 At times the juveniles begin a call that sounds like  a howler monkey.  If you try to join in they will get quiet and vanish.

Great Horned Owls make a loud who sound. They are often referred to as whoot owls. They will not answer you. If you are very still and listen you can hear an interesting range of  very resonating whoots from them. Right now they are doing most of their talking after 10 pm. 

This time of year the owls are talking and if you take time you can get an earful. Their discussion is about getting together for nesting. Yep owls in the winter time.
If you should happen to hear a blood curdling scream rest assure the devil ain't after you but some hapless wanderer just stumbled onto a Barn Owl.!! It is unbelieveable hear such a hideous sound come from such a humble looking owl.
Take time to enjoy the sounds- spend time with each other ........... God bless and we'll see you next time.

Found the last picture of the graduating class 2013. It was stuck in the wrong folder, image that. Stuff like that happens when I am on the computer with no adult supervision. Any way these 4  barred owls (strix varia) are the only Barred owls to go through complete rehab in the new flight pen. They were released around Sept. 1, 2013.

"Ya'll look this way" There is always one in every bunch. These was taken on one of the few sunny days we had in the summer of 2013. Young can see the brown bars on the wings, which gives them the name Barred Owl, but you also see the gray fuzz of a juvenile. So this fall when you hear "who cooks for you" answered by "who cooks for you all" it could be one of these youngsters.
Speaking of fall and days getting shorter, have seen evidence of the migration already. Every year on hwy 18 east, near Elliot's store (McKinley Road) there are 3 American Kestrels that spend the winter. The Kestrel is the smallest Falcon in North America and is frequently mistaken for a dove because of their size. Kestrels sitting on a power line flick their tails rapidly from front to back to help maintain their balance. The first Kestrel has already arrived.  There are always 3 on this mile stretch of road every winter. Don't know where they come from but I do know that when the 3rd one arrives winter is close behind. This has been going on for about 10 years and every year it's 3.
Also with fall the owls have started getting very vocal early this year. Owls are not getting ready for Halloween, they could care less about bogey men, instead they are getting ready to mate. Since owls don't build nest they are scouting for cavities and, in the case of the Great Horned Owls, unoccupied Redtail Hawk nest ( that couple is going to be upset when they return and see the mess in their nest). So when the cold blustery days of January arrive female owls will be sitting on eggs. Their goal is to have the babies out before the return migration in spring.
Special thanks to the Clayton and Carol Paul fund for their grant to help us build the new flight pen. After 15 years of searching this was the first grant we found that was available for this type of project. Community Foundation of Central Georgia handled the paperwork. Thanks Julia, Alexis, and the rest of the folks at CFC in Macon.
Thanks to Susan Cropper and E. Rowson of New York City for their donations as we prepare for the fall migration.
Thanks to the Vinson family, the Gres  family and the Owens family for their support. All three families live in Ga. 
Thanks to Rachel McDaniel and Becky Watts for their expert journalistic coverage.
We don't have all the numbers yet because the year isn't over we don't know how many releases we have until the end of December when we compile the reports for the feds and the state.

Thanks for your attention, you can have it back know.
Appreciate your interest in our American Heritage, people are coming from around the world to see our raptors.
God bless.............thank you.