IMBD International Migratory Bird Day at the Alaska Zoo

Every year Bird TLC Education Volunteers do presentations at the Alaska Zoo for IMBD. The weather was gorgeous, but do take notice of the snow on the ground. Ghost the snowy owl was the only one not complaining about the snow.

Mary Bethe presented Denali the golden eagle and several other birds and presenters were there throughout the day.

We had a good crowd. They did have to bundle up a little though. Ghost didn't understand why.

 

Thanks to the Alaska Zoo for having us and thanks to Sharon Larson for the photographs.

Progress on Raptor Row

With a BIG help from Home Depot local employees and a donation of materials from Home Depot and ConocoPhillips, Raptor Row is being remodeled. Raptor Row was built almost 20 years ago. This past fall Raptor Row was disassembled to complete an evacuation due to a pending oil spill response for the Shell Oil drilling rig Kulluk. Fortunately the oil spill never happened, but we did find 20 years of wear, tear and wood rot.

With the donations, money raised at the 2012 Bird TLC Auction and labor by Home Depot employee's and Bird TLC volunteers, Raptor Row is getting a much needed face lift. They are also being made larger to meet newer USF&W requirements, lined with an easier to clean shower board and lined with a water repellent membrane to help prevent future water damage.

They are also on easy to roll casters to make cleaning under and around them much easier and they can be relocated within the building as needed.

With a few paint touch ups, the first two will be ready for use in no time at all.

Thanks Team Home Depot and all involved!

To see more photographs, click here.

Bird TLC 25th Anniversary / Live & Silent Auction

And again the auction was a hit. Good food, nice items for bid and a great crowd.

16 of our education birds were on display and being presented by volunteers.

All types of items were available in a silent bid and a live bid. Here Officer Evans and Jimmie Lee offer a ride along.

A cash call out for the Flight Center brought in much needed cash for much needed repairs.

And people went home with some lovely items and the proceeds going "For the Birds".

For more photos, click here. 

Boreal Owl release

Dr Karen Higgs released a boreal owl at Kincaid Park today. It was originally brought to Bird TLC after being hit by a car in Anchorage last year.

The weather was sunny perfect, but chilly because of some wind.

The boreal owl didn't mind the chill though.

It flew to the closest tree and checked things out for a while. Then it moved to a spruce tree for more coverage.

It was a good day!

To see more photos of the release, click here.

Great Alaska Sportsman Show 2013

Every year Bird TLC is at the Great Alaska Sportsman Show and hundreds of people get to view our education birds.

Here Lisa and Willow a Black-billed Magpie present to the crowd.

Thanks to everyone that came by and saw us.

Great Horned Owl getting some TLC

We got a very emaciated great honed owl (ghow) in from Soldotna this week. It had a previously broken right leg that has healed in the wrong position. This makes the foot unusable for hunting. Its left foot is very swollen and cracked making it unusable for hunting also. This ghow was also infested with feather lice. Not unusual for a bird having trouble taking care of itself.

The lice was the easy part to take care of. Now we have to get the bird in a little more stable condition. Lori and Chris are giving the bird fluids and then tube feeding a special mixture of good stuff.

Fluids were given sub q in both leg pits to help the bird get rehydrated.

Then Chris tube fed carnivore mix to give it nutrients and hopefully in time we can switch it over to red meat. We score the sharpness of its keel on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best. This guy was definitely a 1 or less.

And then of course there's always paperwork to help keep track of a bird's care.

Keep your feathers crossed for this ghow. If you would like to donate to Bird TLC to help care for this owl, click on the donate button below.

Donate online using PayPal!

For more photos, click here.

 

Ladies Night at Sportsman Warehouse 2013

Obviously, one of my favorite things to do, is to present a Bird TLC Education Bird. But if it's not my turn, my next favorite thing to do, is to watch other presenters in action. We have some awesome presenters that present some really cool birds. Even though I've been volunteering for almost 10 years, I learn some thing new at every presentation.

It was ladies night, but there was a pretty mixed crowd. The tables were crowded the whole time I was there with people asking every question you can think of.

The nice thing about all the questions was, our ladies had all the answers.

Even our own Dr. Karen Higgs couldn't stump Sharon while she presented Toto, the saw-whet owl.

Thanks Sportsman Warehouse for a fun night. For more photos, click here.