Snowy Owl time

This young snowy owl came in Saturday night from North Slope, Alaska with a right wing wrist injury. As you can see in the x-ray, it has a compound fracture at the metacarpal near the joint where it joins the ulna.

 Chances are it clipped its wing on something while flying along.

 It has heavy bruising and is very sensitive.

 Dr. Karen knocked it out to do a more thorough exam. At this time we were able to treat for feather louse and trim its talons.

 The small black dots are feather lice or louse. Because of the infestation, it might not have been taking good care of itself prior to its accident. It's weight was good at 3.7 lbs.

In this photo a still very sleepy owl. Because of its age, size and colorization, we're unable to tell sex. Blood was drawn to help us on that. It's also too soon to determine a course of action. Dr. Karen is consulting with many of her colleagues. This is a tough one.

We're still here

I know we haven't posted in a while, but we're still here. It's been a busy summer. Above Dr. Karen Higgs is working on the damaged wrist of one of the bald eagles that came in a few months ago. We've taken in 50 Bald Eagles so far this year.

Live Bird Thanksgiving Celebration

Birds, birds and more birds. There were owls, hawks, corvids and a goshawk.

And there were kids, kids and more kids. They were learning about all of the birds being presented. Here Karen is demonstrating bird calls and why they do them.

Willow, the Black Billed Magpie was intrigued by all the sounds and commotion that was going on.

Flame, the Short-Eared Owl, got lots of visitors of all sizes.

Kodie, the Northwest Crow kept everyone aware of his presence with his calls.  

Scarlett was showing of her namesake. Red-tailed Hawk.

Joan and the songbirds  were surrounded by kids.

Ruth is back presenting again.

By the way, it was -17°f when I left.

Thanks for having us Eagle River Nature Center.

Education Presenter Orientation

The Bird TLC Education Committee put on another Orientation Program tonight with an awesome turn out. Over 20 people interested in being one of our education presenters were on hand. We also had guests from Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. They are working on developing a program of their own.

Everything was discussed from how to present, what not to wear....

gear for the bird, gear for the presenter and then

everyone that wanted was able to test drive one of our education birds.