Ravens

Both of these guys came in at the same time but from different parts of town. The one on the right wasn't thriving. We couldn't find anything wrong. It's eating just fine now. It's not gaining weight but it's stronger and not loosing weight.

The one on the left was shot in the right leg. The pellet was removed by Dr. Doty at PET ER before it came to Bird TLC. It's still limping but getting along well. It can afford to gain a few kg's also.

Training with the bald eagle named Petra

It's official, I'm training with Petra and Lisa is my mentor. You might remember that Lisa was my mentor with Gus the great horned owl. This is training that will take some time, you can't rush the process.

Lisa has been working with Petra for a couple years now. She's been one of my favorite presenters. Besides Petra she also presents Galin the great horned owl and Willow the magpie. She is the chairperson for the Education Committee and works in the Bird TLC Clinic on Sundays. She's a busy gal.

Petra has been with Bird TLC about 16 years now. She had an injured shoulder that left her non-releasable and avian pox. She is very vocal. Since One Wing and Ol' Witch passed away, she has become the boss of the mew yard. Even though she doesn't have a mate, every mating season she sets up a nesting area. She averages about 14 lbs during that time and drops down to about 12 the rest of the year.

This is pretty exciting for me. I started at Bird TLC in 2002 not wanting to work with any of the birds, just doing repairs and fundraising. Well, I still do that and also manage the flight center. I live with a snowy owl and a falcon, I also work with a great horned owl and now I'm training with Petra. There's a couple other task in there somewhere. Petra is an awesome ambassador for Bird TLC and I'm proud to be working with her.

For more photos of Petra, click here.

Bald Eagle BE 09-31 aka Avalanche released

Sometimes we're so busy, some of our eagles stories don't get told. Not that their story is boring or not important, just that we have a lot going on.

Avalanche came to us back in January. He and 4 other eagles got caught up in an avalanche. He was the only survivor, but was pretty well beaten up.

A few weeks later while he was at the clinic, I had picked up another eagle coming in from Kodiak that was not doing well. It was found to be very anemic and needed a blood transfusion right away. Avalanche became the donor and an eagle hero. Little did we know that later on this eagle, aka Lunch Date, would be the replacement release eagle for the Powwow.

After about a month Avalanche was transferred to the flight center.. He couldn't fly yet because his flight and tail feathers were all busted up, but if he stayed at the clinic too long he would probably unintentionally injure himself there. The plan was to let mother nature take her coarse. Hopefully the next molt replaces all of the damaged feathers or enough for him to be flighted.

Come about May he went into a molt and the blank spots started to fill in. One day while at the flight center he surprised us and flew to perch, so we knew he was going to do well. We decided to release him in Fairbanks at the Powwow, so Britt and I caught him and she took him to the clinic to spend the night. When they went to take his id band off, they found an abscess on his right foot that had to be removed. Needless to say, the Powwow release was moved to another eagle, Lunch Date.

On Thursday he was cleared to be released, so we decided he went next. He was released on Saturday at Kulis ANG Base for part of a retirement ceremony for Chris. His wife Andie had purchased the release at our auction and decided that would be an awesome way to celebrate it.As you can see in the photo, he can fly just fine.

A beautiful release and an awesome ceremony! Congratulations Chris and Avalanche!

For more photos of the release, click here.

Photo credit: Britt Coon / Bird TLC

2010 Midnight Sun Intertribal Powwow

It has been busy

This young eagle came to Bird TLC on Friday from Soldotna. It's nest had fallen from its tree and its parents were unable to care for it. It got a good weekend of salmon and hooligan. On Monday, long time volunteer Tim placed it in a foster nest near the airport.

These two also came from Soldotna under the same situation. They were very close to a river bank and could be threatened by predators. It was decided to send them to TLC. They might be too old to place in a foster nest. Lets see what happens.

This young raven found his way into a sump pump at one of the pipelines pump stations. It was sent to TLC via a stop at a 24 hour veterinary clinic in Fairbanks. The next day it got its first bath. It will need a few more. It's not eating on its own yet, but is being tube fed

Thanks to Alyeska Pipeline and the construction people for taking the time to sent this guy to us and following up on its progress. And thanks to ERA Alaska who flew all of these birds to us at no charge.

Ghost the snowy owl does double duty

Ghost and I did two presentations on Wednesday at two totally different venues. The first one was at Camp Fire USA which was held on Alaska Pacific University Campus (APU).
It was a large crowd of great kids with lots of questions. Ghost loves questions, especially when they are about him.
Our next stop was the Mabel T. Caverly Senior Center in downtown Anchorage. Ghost has been there before and loves going back. He gets lots of attention and the ladies there love him.
We had a full day and we were accompanied by our own paparazzi. Our friend and fellow volunteer at Bird TLC, Britt Coon came along and took these photos and helped out.

For more photos of the presentations, visit Britt's website here and here.