Goodbye Gus

Bird TLC education bird 99-291, the Great Horned Owl named Gus passed away today. His age was guessed at 24. He came to Bird TLC in 1992 from Elmendorf AFB where he was suspected to have been hit by a car. His right wing had permanent damage but Gus still had a lot of fight left in him. He became an education bird, the first GHOW for Bird TLC in 1993. Gus had many presenters and caretakers over the years. He also saw thousands of people at his presentations over the years, teaching them about owls. His most recent caretaker was Gina Holloman. I know we all feel privileged to have had him in our lives. Fly high Gus! Our hearts might be sad today, but you made us happy for many.

Ghost & Gus at Friends of Creamer's Field

Last weekend, Ghost, Gus and I were invited to Fairbanks to help out Friends of Creamer's field by doing presentations. Since it's one of our favorite places to go, we had to be there. ADF&G did an awesome job talking about the owls of Interior Alaska and putting on an awesome program on Short-Eared Owls.

Gus being the senior owl came out first. Being a Great Horned Owl, his species is well known.

We did another presentation later in the afternoon. Ghost the Snowy Owl always attracts the kids and photographers.

Friends of Creamer's Field had lots of artifacts showing what is at their place. I know if I lived in Fairbanks, that's where I'd be a volunteer at.

Here's hoping we raised them a few dollars and got some folks interested in volunteering. Thanks to Friends of Creamer's Field for inviting us, ADF&G, and Jim & Nancy Dewitt for putting the 3 of us up for the weekend. Oh, also thanks to Nancy for taking the photo's. We had a great time!

GHOW release on Winter Solstice

A good time at Potter Marsh

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game was the host of a fun event at Potter Marsh yesterday. It was for the 4th & 5th grade kids of Anchorage School District to learn more about salmon and life cycle.

An estimated 800 kids came out for the day and they also go to see some of our education birds.

(Picture borrowed from Patrica Grenier)

A gorgeous day helped make it a perfect event.

Gina Maria presented Arc our great horned owl and Lisa with Petra a bald eagle. Cindy and Hal a bald eagle and me with Ghost a snowy owl also got to present.

For the past 9 months I've worked with Lisa and Petra. We both got to share this event today.

All in ll a fun time today.

Orientation

A Presenters Orientation class was held on Saturday for those interested in presenting and caretaking of one of Bird TLC's Education Birds.

Afterwards they were able to try it out to get a taste of things.

I think I saw a few smiles.

For more photos, click here.

Palmer Senior Home presentation

Erin, Ghost, Randy and Artemus did a presentation the day before Thanksgiving at the Palmer Senior Home to a very large audience.

The weather cleared up enough for the presenters and their birds to make it out to Palmer and back safely. The birds seemed excited about being out the day before a famous bird holiday.

Stories and questions filled the air.

 

A good time was had by all.

It's winter at the flight Center

The birds that are at the flight center now will be there until spring. We don't release eagles in winter. We prefer that there's a easy food source for them when they first get released and they have to get use to defending for themselves again.

Some might not be releasable, only time will tell if their rehabilitation works. If not, we attempt to find them a permanent home. Right now, each eagle is fed 2 1/2 lbs. of salmon at each feeding. They get fed every other day.

There's no running water during the winter at the flight center. We haul it in 5 gallon jugs. The eagles use 5 gallons a day. It's not that they drink that much. They drop food in it, take bathes or whatever else you can think of. We place heaters in their water bowls so it doesn't freeze. Also, because of the low temperatures and lack of running water, the cells aren't cleaned as in washing until spring. Scrap food, feathers, etc. are picked up When it snows, the nets need to be shaken cleaned and pathways shoveled and perches cleaned off.

 

The great horned owl is a little easier. He uses very little water and a large rat a day. Being a volunteer at the flight center isn't for everyone, but it sure has its rewards.

Owl About a Latte a big success

With the help of a lot of friends, Owl About a Latte was a fun success.

We had a Great horned Owl, Boreal Owl, Short Eared Owl and a Snowy Owl for all to visit with.

 

In between presentations, Chelsea of Terra Bella's Bakery & Cafe' Educated us all on bird friendly organic coffee. We all got to try some out too, that's my favorite part.

Thanks to all who came and thanks to all that helped put it all together.

It's getting close to Holloween, we got lots of owls

This guy came in tonight from Nikiski. Dr Doty at PET ER helped get it settled down for the night. Broken left humerus.

This is what the guy on top looks like when he gets well. This guy is working on his flight strength.

Here's Snappy, a short eared owl from Bethel. He's getting his hunting skills back.

This great horned owl came in from Soldotna. It's recovering from a broken wing.

A correction, update and thanks!

The correction is that the sandhill crane came from Homer, not Soldotna. He's liking the outdoors a lot more than the indoor mews.

From Soldotna we did get an immature great horned owl with a broken wing. Check out those eyes.

The thanks goes to PET ER from Petra. They gave me some donated road kill squirrels and she loved them.

2 Great horned owls released

The host with the mostest, Gus a great horned owl who is caretaked by Bird TLC volunteer Gina, hosted 2 great horned owl releases at their home yesterday. The weather cooperated some, the temperature was around 15°.

Both owls were a little hesitant to leave at first, but once they got the idea, they were gone.

It's estimated that it cost around $1000 in food and medical supplies alone to rehabilitate these two owls. Thanks to the generous donors yesterday who helped cover those expenses.

The first photo is courtesy of Britt Coon / Bird TLC

The second photo is courtesy of Eberhard Brunner

Low inventory at the Flight Center

We're down to one bald eagle at the flight center. Captain Hook is waiting for placement. Cindy says it's tough with him. He has a partial wing amputation and the feathers don't grow well on the right side of his face. He's not pretty. Hook has seen eagles come and go. Some were released, some were placed at other organizations, and he lost his friend Rollie.

Britt and I disagree. He has birdality and an interesting history. He's also a survivor. Any organization that accepts this bird will be getting an awesome representative of bald eagles. I wish he cold stay with Bird TLC, but our permits only allow 4 bald eagles and our Education Program is full. He's Hook!

We have 2 great horned owls that will be releasable. They're gaining their flight strength back and getting plenty of flight time. One came to Bird TLC with a broken wing and the other was pretty bruised up from being tangled in fishing line. Both are coming along well and we'll keep you updated

Gina checks off on Gus

Long time volunteer Gina, checked off on Gus the great Horned Owl last Wednesday. They're now a complete team now that Gus has moved to her home and she has checked off. Now she can do education programs with Gus.

Gina has a great sense of humor and ands a little different twist to a program. She likes dealing with kids. I look forward to seeing both Gina and Gus doing more programs.

It's been a bizzy week

Our Rough-Legged Hawk got released in Girdwood. He took off like a bullet as expected. He was a joy to have visit, but he'll be more happy in the wild.



I checked off on Gus the Great Horned Owl on Wednesday. He been an education bird with Bird TLC since 1991. Our first outing is this weekend at Bye Bye Birdie on Saturday.

Todd Palmatier checked off on Maverick the Peregrine Falcon on Thursday. Todd is our lead DVM and Maverick just became an education bird this year.





We released BE 08-78 on Saturday. He put on a heck of a show for his release. He had been with us since November 2008. He's off to a good restart in the wild.