Appreciation Potluck & goodbye birdies

We had our Volunteer Appreciation Potluck and Bird Release Party on Saturday at the Bird TLC property. The weather was a little chilly, but other than that it was nice. We had a good turn out and a good time.

We released the young Great Horned Owl that came to us with a broken leg a few months back. He took a few seconds to come out of that kennel, but when he did it was like a bullet. With the attitude he showed us while he was with TLC, he'll do just fine in the wild.

Next we released the Bad Boyz's. These guys came to us with no flight time. They were so young they had trouble standing up. Cindy had me take them to the flight center 2 weeks ago and boy howdy did they catch on.

They were released one at a time. We use a release box to release eagles. It's much safer for the bird and more people get to participate. The first one flew to the bluff and caught a thermal and just glided for a bit. Then he turned around and did a fly by and head across the street out of sight.

We released the next one about 15 minutes later. He came out of the box low and headed to the bluff and caught the same thermal. He glided back and forth for a bit and then flew along side of Potter Marsh out of sight.

Here's hoping the brothers hook up with one another again. They both still have some learning to do, but it wasn't going to be with us at TLC. They needed to do it on their own.

It's great that we got to do this with our volunteers. Like most non-profits, we wouldn't be around if it wasn't for them. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again " Are volunteers are the best!"

Photo Credit: pictures 2 & 3 by Dick Williams / Bird TLC

Photo Credit: pictures 1, 3 & 5 by Dave Dorsey / Bird TLC

More pictures here.