Building Taz a mew

Taz is a merlin that has now become a part of our education program due to a permanent wing injury. He has been staying at my house waiting for a permanent home. Terri stepped up and is going to house him at her place.
We spent Saturday afternoon at Todd Palmatiers house while his wife Cindy was away playing outdoor girl. Todd had recently made a mew for a sharpie that would the perfect model for a merlins mew.

Terri got right into it with a little help from our visiting intern from England, Grace.

After a few hours, no injuries and a few mistakes, we had a new merlin mew. After it's approved by USF&W and Bird TLC, Taz will be moving to a new home with Terri.

Of course once Taz moves in it will have a perch, water, etc.

Have fun Terri!

For more photos, click here.

Immature bald eagle hit by truck

This young bird came to us from the Anchorage landfill. There's easy picking for these guys when food is being a little hard to get. With all of the heavy equipment operating there, it's not the safest place for them to feed or hunt. This guy got hit by a truck. The accident banged him up pretty good. He got a cracked beak and a broken left humerus. Cindy fixed his beak right away, but he had to wait a day or so before his wing was repaired. He needed an operation.

Most operations are done after hours. That's when there's less traffic and interruptions. It's also when we can borrow some tools and equipment from Pet Stop, a local veterinary clinic where Dr. Todd Palmatier works. Most things we have available at Bird TLC, but some of the more expensive equipment we don't.

Not that long ago we had to take these birds elsewhere to operate on them. But with generous donations of equipment, there's not much we can't perform at TLC. X-ray's are the only thing we can't that I can think of off hand. Just preparing a room for the equipment is expensive. Both Pet Stop and PET ER help out with the x-ray's.

Here 4 stainless steel pins were placed in this guys humerus. They will be removed after the bone heals. Todd is putting on the bird what is called an external fixitor. The pins protrude through the birds bones and sticks out through the skin.

An epoxy putty is then mixed up. It's very flexible for about 3-5 minutes and then it dries really hard. It's placed on the pins to keep them from traveling up, down or all around during the healing process.

When the bones has healed, the putty can be broken off with wire cutters and the pins removed with out having to cut into the bird again.

The wing is now wrapped up to protect it from the bird, the bird from it and to hold the wing in position until it heals. Todd then uses a laser treatment to help the healing process.

As of the last report I got, the bird is standing and eating on it's own. X-rays will be taken in a couple weeks to make sure the bone has healed and the fixitor is removed.

For more photographs of the operation (a little bloody), go to the Bird TLC SmugMug operations gallery.

Thanks for your time with us Rollie

I got a call today from Britt while she was feeding at the flight center. Rollie was breathing heavy and it was kind of raspie. My heart dropped and made plans to get him after work and take him to the clinic. Todd and Cindy are on vacation this week, but they were going to come in for him.

After work we drove out to the flight center not expecting the best. I walked up to Rollie in the cell and as he ran he would stop and try to catch his breath. We caught him and placed him in a kennel to transport to the clinic. He was breathing heavy even when he had rested in the kennel for a bit. Things were not looking good at all.

Rollie had come to Bird TLC on 6/22/2007 and was checked in by Mary Bethe, Ruth and myself. He had been hit by a car and had been scuffed up pretty good. There was some head trauma too. He spent some quality time at the clinic and was later transferred to the flight center.


At the flight center we noticed that he tried to fly and would trip and roll over. We couldn't figure what was going on. He also took high careful steps. Ruth nick named him Rollie and it stuck. Cindy came out to the flight center for a visit and to examine Rollie. She found his left wing would come out of joint sometimes. So sometimes he would trip on it and roll and other times he would fly. Nothing could be done so this made him a non-releasable bird.

He had that beautiful mature bald eagle head. This summer being as gorgeous as it was, the sun would shine on him and he looked picture perfect. He also stayed close to Captain Hook, another bird out at the flight center. They just seemed to be buds.

Birds that are non-releasable are placed on what I call Eagle Bay. It's a website that organizations with the right permits and willing to go through the proper procedures can acquire these birds for educational purposes. Even though they are non-releaseable, they are a valuable education tool. It's been hard to place birds this year, we think because of the economy. It's quite a commitment to caretake for one of these birds. He also had some issues that some might not want to deal with. So we took care of him and he shared his eagleness with us.

Dr. Palmatier wanted to find out what had caused her situation. It wasn't asper as we suspected. She was having heart failure. We found out she was female and not a he and she was a much older bird than what we had thought. She had lived a long life. The last of it she was caretaked by thosed who cared for her.

We'll miss you Rollie. Birds like you remind us of why we at TLC do what we do.

Photo Credit: Britt Coon / Bird TLC

All things golden

U.S.F.&W. in King Salmon sent us via Penn Air a golden eagle on Monday. I picked him up late and bedded him down at TLC for the evening. He didn't look the best, but had no obvious injuries and it didn't seem immediate life threatening. I called Dr. Palmatier, told him what I had found and told him what I was doing. He agreed and said Cindy would examine him first thing in the morning.

Nothing was found to be physically wrong with him. Dr. Riddle drew blood and the test showed a very low white cell count. They did a transfusion from "Hook" the bald eagle. Cindy took him to Pet Stop and took an x-ray. Nothing was found broken and no foreign objects. That tells us it had ingested something it shouldn't have.

In his condition he doesn't want to eat. So we have to help him out so he can get his strength back. Today Cindy and Erika tube fed him. None of this is a guarantee that he'll pull out of this and survive. But we'll leave no stone unturned trying to make sure he does.

GHO Update

The great horned owl I picked up at Pet ER went under the knife last Thursday to have an external fixitor attached to it's wing to help it heal properly. Dr. Palmatier had plenty of spectators as he performed the operation that he now has performed many times. He makes it look so easy, I almost feel I could do them myself. For the birds, I do think I'll let Dr. Todd do them.

I checked in on him yesterday and he was back to being the big bad GHO. He hissed and clacked and puffed his feathers out. I think he's feeling better.

We find out next week if it healed liked we wanted it to. I'll keep you updated.

What don't they do?

In case you don't recognize her, that's Cindy the Director of Avian Care at Bird TLC. She tried to hide behind the mop, but I was too fast for her. I don't think she ran out of avian care things to do, but she had time for a much needed clean up.

In case you don't recognize him, that's Dr. Todd Palmatier. Our lead DVM is painting. He never runs out of DVM stuff to do, but a fresh coat of paint sure looks nice.

All of TLC is looking real nice this year. We got new carpeting (after a flood) fresh paint in the offices and now the rest rooms also and new furniture donated by I can't say who.


Erika properly identified this mixture of goo and goo and then did a thorough cleaning of the frig.
.
I tell you, we have a great staff and some great volunteers. I'm beginning to wonder if they know what I found out Friday night on my drive out to the Flight Center? I bet they did. The word gets around fast. Not that these folks don't work hard all year long.





Yup, you guessed it. Santa's Workshop is open!

Three years ago today

I was at the Bird TLC clinic and Cindy had a snowy owl that just came in from Soldotna with a broken wing. He needed to have x-rays done and she asked if I would give her a hand. Of course I said yes but little did I know that it would become a life long (so far) commitment.

The break was pretty clean and Dr. Palmatier said he was a perfect candidate for having a stainless steel pin placed in his wing for it to heal. I was well known for not being around for things that involved clinic type of things, but I was heavy into working on our website and the blog. So I asked, to the surprise of many, if I could tag along and take pictures of the operation. To my surprise they said yes.

I remember it like it was yesterday (with the help of old blog post and pictures) but the operation went fairly well with good expectations of the outcome. He was in the clinic for a few more weeks and the his wing wrap was removed and all looked good at the time. After he was monitored for a while longer he was transfered to the flight center so he could get more exercise for a possible release.

From there things took a turn. He was flying but he wasn't flying well. After observing him for a while, we determined he was flying sort of sideways. So he was brought back to the clinic for another thorough exam.

During this exam it was discovered that his wing hadn't healed properly. Somewheres along the way the bone slipped on the pin so his wing set a little off degree. This is something you can't operate on. Their wings can't be re-broken and reset. We took him back to the flight center to be observed some more. We decided that he was non-releasable. He can fly, but because of his new handicap he can't hunt well. He would probably starve.

From there He went to Cindy's (Director of Avian Care) house for her to evaluate him for possible being an education bird. He was working out well, so permits were applied for and approved. From there he was put up to be applied for by a Bird TLC volunteer to caretake, train and present.

The guy who back in 2004 that would tell his wife to go do her bird thing at TLC applied for the snowy owl. With the application I had to submit plans for the mew I would build for him to live in. The mew designs had to be approved by U.S.F.&W., the Bird TLC Education Committee and Cindy. I was approved and so was the mew. I had to build it before snow flew. I worked day and night and finished it 3 days before it snowed.

Cindy became my mentor with training with Ghost and I couldn't of had a better one. Then he came to live in his new mew on Nov 4, 2006. The training continued, some was a little challenging. On March 30th we

got checked off and had our first presentation with Cub Scout Pack 11.

Since then Ghost and I have done 108 presentations around the state. From Prudhoe Bay to Homer, for schools, private organizations and many other events. He has a new trainee. Beki started working with him last week and she's coming along fine. He is a seasoned professional at representing snowy owls and Bird TLC. It's been a blast and I feel very lucky to be working / living with him.

Happy Anniversary Ghost and many thanks to our friends who have supported us.

THE DEADLIEST CATCH

52 is the record for the number of eagles that have come through Bird TLC in a years time. Yesterday I picked up #52 at the airport. It was sent by USF&W from Dutch Harbor.

He was found on a crab boat. Don't ask the name, I don't know. (I took the title from the TV show The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel). The crew saw him on the boat, which isn't unusual in Kodiak. The next day it was still there, so they called the State Troopers figuring something was wrong with it. When they went to catch it it ran, but not well. They kenneled it up and sent it to Bird TLC.

During his examination, Cindy found a large abscess on its right foot and it's crop was full and a little hard. She drained the abscess and figured she let nature take its coarse with the crop. It did. She said it threw up last night and it stunk to high heaven.

It'll get another exam tomorrow when Dr. Todd Palmatier does his rounds. Cindy said he'll probably get his foot abscess drained again. He looks like an older eagle. We'll see how things go, but right now they aren't going too bad.

Break time is over!

It was nice to have a couple easy days to try and get caught up with things. But as we all know, good things don't always last. On Thursday I picked up 3 eagles from the airport and yesterday one was delivered to us from a commuter airline at Merrill Field. One of the ones that arrived on Thursday didn't survive the trip and it's co-victim barely did.

It seems that these two eagles decided to eat something that they really shouldn't have. What ever it was, was toxic to them and by the time they were discovered, it had really taken it's toll on them. The survivor was so dehydrated that Dr Palmatier couldn't find a vain that would take an iv. We also couldn't turn the bird over for being affraid it would vomit again and drown. So we all got to learn about Intraosseous (IO) Fluid administration. If you have a weak stomach, stop reading now.

Intraosseous (IO) infusion is a recommended route for securing intravascular access in small animals and birds. It is particularly useful when peripheral vessels are very small or collapsed (e.g., with circulatory collapse [shock], and/or cardiac arrest). Because the vessels in the bone are supported by a rigid matrix the IO route remains useful even when all other vessels are collapsed.

Translation, the needle is placed into the bone. In this guys case it's placed in a bone at the right elbow. Just talking about it makes me feel the pain. Any how, this guy needed fluids now and this was our last resort and it worked.


This guy is no way in the clear yet. The catheter was left in the elbow so we could administer more fluids over the weekend. He doesn't support himself yet, but is scooting around some. Cindy got him to eat a few pieces of salmon yesterday, but I wasn't so lucky today. We're using heated iv bags like hot water bottles to keep him warm to get his body temp back up and stable. We were surprised when we found him still alive Friday morning. We're trying everything posible, but the odds aren't in his favor, but he battles on. Keep your feathers crossed for him.

UPDATE

Our toxic eagle didn't make it. Ruth and I picked up another eagle from Kodiak tonight at the airport. When we got back to the clinic we found that he had passed on.

The last day of the year didn't go quietly

BE 7-40 came to TLC about a month and a half ago with injuries from being caught in a leg trap. Little did he know that he would be participating in a blood transfusion on the last day of the year. BE 07-44 came to us from Kenai over the weekend where we believe she lost out in a eagle fight. She has contusions on her left wing and a broken left femur.

While BE 07-44's leg was being operated on by Dr. Todd Palmatier and Cindy at Pet Stop, we got a Red Tailed Hawk in from Homer. "It's not flying and looks thin" they said. Well they always look thin to me. By the time we got back from the airport, Todd and Cindy was back from Pet Stop.

Todd did a thorough exam and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. It did have a very full crop. My question is why is it still in Alaska? Why hadn't it already migrated to the warm country? The answers to that we may never know. For now it has a warm mew at TLC.

The Red Tailed Hawk was the 502 wild bird (not an eagle) admitted to Bird TLC this year. BE 07-44 was the 44th. eagle. That's the official count as of 3:00 PM AST for 2007

Click on pix's to enlarge.

Happy New Years everyone!

An interesting eagle

BE 07 - 30 came to us this afternoon from Cordova. Cindy's son Brian is home on leave from the Air Force. He and Dr. Todd Palmatier picked up #30 at the airport this afternoon. He wasn't flying and was very skinny.

A well meaning citizen was feeding this young eagle baby sausages. #30 loved them. Only problem was it couldn't digest them. It probably ate too many at one time. You can't see it too well in the first photo, but there is a bulge about the size of a tennis ball between his lower neck and his keel.

Upon a more thorough examination, there was found to be a huge abscess on it left wing near its elbow. This possible could be the no fly problem. Cindy and Dr Todd decided it was time to remove it. I'll post the removal on PhotoBucket tomorrow. This was almost the size of a ping pong ball. Look at the picture with the ink pen. The abscess was one piece but was cut during removal. A drain will be left in the wound for a few days.

After that it was decided to feed the bird liquids for a few days to see if the mass of baby sausages would start to digest. If not we'll have to back up and regroup.

This bird brought a lot of attention from within the clinic. Cindy called me in during my real work hours to take pictures. Volunteers came in on their regular off time just to see a sausage neck eagel. It'll be Mr. Popular for a while. It was suggested by a friend of mine to name it Jimmy Dean.

Somedays you catch the train

Last week we had an eagle brought in by a railroad roadmaster. The eagle now known as "Train Wreck" was ran over by one of Alaska Railroad's trains. It was a very fortunate eagle, it's only injury besides being roughed up was he lost a toe. It didn't eat for a day or two, but who could blame it.

We don't know exactly why it didn't out fly the train. We guess that it was eating track kill and ate too much and couldn't take off.

Yesterday, Dr Palmatier helped to pretty that digit up. He pulled some excess skin over the stump and sewed it up.

When this eagle is released, those talons will still be impressive, minus one.

Where have you been?

Dr James Scott founded Bird TLC in 1988 and it was located in his veterinarian clinic, Arctic Animal Hospital for a long time. He has long retired from his practice and semi retired from Bird TLC. As with most of us, he's been having medical issues as he gets older. Some that don't allow him to stand for long periods of time.

We were lucky to have him the other night to operate on our pox eagle. Dr Todd Palmatier who does most of our operations has not had much experience with pox. He got to see first hand from the master of the avian world on how pox is handled.

Pox is an ugly disease and seldom deadly, however the next day we did loose our patient. Hopefully it wasn't in vein and the opportunity for Dr Palmatier to watch Dr Scott in action helps other pox birds in the future.

Photo Credit: Cindy Palmatier / Bird TLC