Do you know the way to Haines, Alaska?

 These two eagles are going to Haines on Wednesday for the Alaska Bald Eagle Festival in Haines. There they'll be released as part of the "Flight for Freedom".

 Both of these birds came to Bird TLC from Adak, Alaska. They received burns while at the local dump. All of the primary and secondary flight feathers were heavily damaged and they were unable to fly. We had to wait on Mother Nature to have the birds molt, to see if they would be able to fly.

The last two photos should tell you how that turned out.

 

Here's hoping for a wonderful life for these two young birds in the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.

As the Snowy flies

Back in November, a couple brought in this snowy owl that wasn't doing well. It was very lethargic and obviously hadn't eaten in quite a while.

On Friday Britt and I took him to the flight center to see how it's coming along. It's eating well and all other signs are good. There is some concern about its eye sight, but we'll let it tell us how that's doing.

Right now, it's the only snow that's flying around here. It took off right out of the kennel.

 

A little more time is needed to know for sure how it's doing and if it'll be able to be released. Right now it needs to get its bearings, get it's flight strength back and remember how to hunt.

We'll keep you updated.

It's snowy at TLC

Yesterday in Anchorage, a couple that was out hiking found a snowy owl that wasn't showing much of a defense as they neared it. They caught it and brought it into Bird TLC. During its intake exam, the snowy was found to be extremely thin and emaciated.

This snowy hadn't eaten in some time and it would take a little bit of time to get it back on a regular diet. First we have to ease into it by tube feeding it twice a day with a very nutritional liquid.

Here you have Sharon restraining the owl and holding onto its legs firmly while Cindy inserts the tube and injects its lunch. Once it starts getting a little stronger, it'll be introduced to some mice.

 

Because of its colorization and size, this is believed to be one of this years birds and probably a male. We'll keep you updated on it progress.

Eagle Recovering After Love Crash

Setbacks for surviving eagle in death spiral

The surviving eagle from the death spiral in Valdez is being monitored for severe head trauma.

Andrea Gusty / KTVA Channell 11 News


ANCHORAGE, Alaska—The surviving eagle from the death spiral in Valdez is being monitored for severe head trauma.

In what experts believe to be a mating ritual gone wrong in Valdez, the female locked talons with a male mid-air, then both spiraled to the ground crashing head first.

The male died on impact.

The female eagle has been recovering at Bird Treatment and Learning Center but after making progress all week, yesterday she suffered a set back.

Staffers say the eagle got stuck after falling on her back while in her cage.

Given her injuries, experts say the incident is likely an affect of head trauma.

She's made it a long ways already from where she was when she started, but just like with any head trauma, even in humans, it can take a little more time even after you are up walking around. You may still have dizzy spells and I think that may be what we are experiencing with her,” said Cindy Palmatier Director of Avian Care.

Staff at Bird TLC will continue to monitor the eagle for head trauma and ligament damage in her wing.

If she can be released back into the wild, experts want to bring the eagle home to Valdez, otherwise the eagle will spend the rest of her life in a zoo or educational center.

Cyrano is getting a little well known

Cindy and I spent most of the morning on the phone with different newspapers, news stations, The Discovery Channel. BE 09-31, now affectionately known as Cyrano, is getting pretty well known. With his new beak designed and put into action by Cindy and Dr. Kirk Johnson, he's become quite the celebrity.

Unfortunately because of his injury, he'll never be released back to the wild. If he wasn't brought to Bird TLC, he would have faced a certain death. So he must start thinking about being an education bird. He'll be able to represent his proud species and hopefully educate people about the dangers they cause to wildlife when they recklessly leave trash in the wild.

Don't let the shoulder bumpers scare you. Those are only to protect his wings while in a small mew. They'll be removed soon. He was placed in a larger outside mew this afternoon.

If you would like to donate to help out, please click the donate button below.

Of Eagles and Waxwings

BE 10-003 came in late Saturday night from Kodiak. It was found with a fox leg trap attached to its left leg. I picked it up at Era Alaska with some fantastic help from their employee's. I took it to PET ER because it's hard to handle an eagle like this on your own and I didn't want to stir anyone out of their home knowing it would be a late nighter.

Dr. Doty had stayed late to help out. She and her staff are big supporters of Bird TLC. We took x-rays and confirmed it was broke. It's a clean break. The plan was to stabilize it for the night and make plans tomorrow on when to operate. I took it to Bird TLC and bedded it down.

Dr. Riddle, one of Bird TLC volunteer D.V.M.'s, came in early Monday morning to check 003 out and maybe operate. At that time the foot was cold and there is no reaction to the pinch. He stabilized it and returned it to his mew. We'll check on it in a couple days. Hopefully we have something better to report.

It's the Bohemian Waxwing season. They're out flocking around, running into things and sometimes eating too many fermented berries. We have several visiting with us for a little while.

How about a transfussion for lunch?

I was supposed to take my friend Britt to lunch at the Greek Corner. With all of the holiday stuff, she was sick for a bit and just things getting in the way, we hadn't done much together. Right before lunch time I got a call from Valarie at the TLC office about an eagle coming in from Kodiak. Cindy has been swamped trying to catch Red, getting EOY reports done and trying to get all things squared away so she could leave town for a week. Sure, I can go get it and bring it back to TLC and drop it off and head out to lunch. Fortunately I picked Britt up before the eagle.

We get to the clinic and Cindy starts the exam right away. The bird looks physically fine but is very pale and its mewts are discolored. Toxic reaction is suspected and is tube feed to neutralize whatever it might have taken in. Blood is taken and it's found to be extremely anemic. A transfusion is lined up.

Did I mention Britt is taking the photo's? It don't look like we're going to make it to the Greek Corner today. Thanks for a friend who understands and actually gets to join in.

Blood is taken from an immature in rehab. It wasn't a happy participant. Britt is then recruited to help out because we've run out of hands. The transfusion is given to our new patient. He's given a clean mew, water and lunch. He's being monitored and blood will be taken and tested again in a few days to see if what was going on is still going on.

Time is up. I need to get back to my real job and Britt has an appointment to go to. That was lunch I guess. Hopefully when we get to reschedule, we get to go to the Greek Corner.

For more pictures of our lunch, check out Britts website.

More BE 09-31

We have a couple different things in the works right now for #31. We have a dentist coming in on Sunday to take a mold of our beak. We know he can never be released again, but we can be more handsome with some help.

In the mean time Cindy has been trying a prototype of her own using some poly mar clay from a local craft shop. She started at home shaping away at her kitchen table for several hours. The next day was time for the initial fit. The exterior we're not concerned about just yet. First it has to fit the existing beak without trimming what's left. It needs to add support to the upper beak for strength. It needs to have holes for the nares and breathing. We don't want a permanent attachment, but using some type of adhesive.

Some final trimming was still needed before it snapped into place with some Polygrip to help it stay in place.

So far the experiment is working.

Thanks to those who have donated to help out with the expense of helping BE 09-31 out. Your donations are helping with the expense of maintaining a healthy bird and hopefully helping this guy look a little more natural and help reinforce it's beak. Since he needs some special help, your donations keep us from having to take away from other areas where the money is also needed.

If you would like to donate to help out, please click the donate button below.

UPDATE on BE 09-31 Bald Eagle

This guy came in weighing 8.5 lbs . That's a little on the small side for him. He was probably taking care of himself as best as he could, but not enough to maintain a healthy weight.

Since he's not releasable, he's going to be at Bird TLC for a while. How long is yet to be determined. Long term rehabilitation can get costly.

This bird is a beautiful fully flighted bald eagle that in time will be even more beautiful. Once he's stable, has his weight up and is proven to be 100% healthy, (minus the injury) then the type of repairs on the beak will be considered.

Cindy Palmatier, Director of Avian Care at Bird TLC is asking the public to help out with the cost of this birds rehabilitation. With the nation being in a recession, donations to Bird TLC are off about 20% this year. The added cost of this birds care can take its toll in other areas of the clinic where the money is desperately needed. Every dollar donated through the donation button bellow will go to this birds care. We know being the holiday season makes it tough, but this guy is a fighter and can use the help.

Duck n donuts

I got a call from Valerie at the Bird TLC office right about lunch time. She said a lady had called and said she had a duck. I asked what was wrong with it. She said the lady said it won't leave. I said that it had missed migration and it's too cold for it to even try. She said well, it won't leave her restaurant. It was in it. She said it followed a customer in and it has made itself comfortable.

I asked what restaurant. She told me it was Jerry's Donuts and Burgers. I knew right where it was. I get donuts for my customers there from time to time. I walked in and sure enough, the male mallard was sitting under an artificial tree watching everyone walk by.

I caught him after a slight duck chase through the restaurant and into the restroom. With the help of a patron, I got him into the carrier. A dozen plus donuts, the duck and I head to TLC.

We were meet by Terry & Bev, two of the nicest volunteers to ever help a duck. They checked him out and couldn't find anything wrong, so they bedded him down in a warm mew with lots of duck chow. He'll spend a few day and if all is well we'll try to get him headed in the right direction.

Busy Wednesday

For starters, we have a Great Gray Owl that came to us from Tok. It was hit by a car and brought in by a good citizen. We were determining if it was flighted or still needed some more r&r. The flight test didn't work out at TLC, so later on, Britt and I took the GGO out to the flight center. We brought her back. She needs some more r&r.

I couldn't go to the Alaska State Fair today. My real job was getting in the way. Cindy is checked off on Ghost (she was my mentor). So they got to go to the fair. In this picture they are getting familiarized with one another again. She does his exams and beak trimming, but doesn't get to work with him much. She reported back that things went real well.

We also got a immature bald in almost a month ago. He had some super lice. They had him so down that he wasn't expected to live. His name is Easy Rider, because a guy wrapped him up in his coat and brought him to TLC on his motorcycle. The lice lost! We took him to the flight center also. He flew right to perch and then chowed down on some salmon we had put out for him.

Last thing tonight, Britt exercised the sand hill crane or was that the other way around? It's getting big. We're discussing it's release options now.

Minus the jewelry

Last month, BE 09-15 came to us wearing some fishing tackle in his tongue and wing from the Kenai NWR. He wasn't a happy fisherman and was also getting pretty skinny. He got lots of fresh salmon to get his weight back up along with some antibiotics.

Sunday I took him out to the flight center. Here he'll get his flight strength back. He'll get fed plenty of salmon, but he'll have to compete with 3 other eagles for it. He'll also get to socialize some too. Once he has proven himself, he'll be released. That will probably happen before this winter. Here's hoping he's learned his lesson.

He'll be stay with 3 other eagles that are waiting for release this summer / fall also. All are in the process of proving themselves, getting stronger and waiting for the right time.

While I was at the flight center, I also fed and watered the residents. The whole time I had the feeling I was being watched. We have a mature bald that comes to visit, generally around feeding time. He'll land on the metal roof with a bang and let out a call. We don't know if he's a previous resident or not, but he sure eyes the salmon set out for the resident eagles.

We had a Common Loon sent to us from the bush that was hit by a car. No breaks, but some good bruising. I think it won't be long before it's released.

The clinic has been busy this summer.

Lots of different birds lately

This plover is as small as a cotton ball. Since he likes insects we want to make sure he gets back where he belongs. This isn't a species that we get many of at TLC. No one could remember if and when we had last had one in the clinic. He's been a little bit of a challenge to keep eating, but so far is doing well.

This young sand hill crane came to us from the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward. It had been attacked by something and sewn back together by their DVM. Since it's a land bird, they sent it up to us. It's coming along fine so far. It's drawing a lot of attention from the volunteers.

Baby bird season has kept us busy for sure this year, but not just baby birds. Adult birds are effected by things this time of year also.

This tundra swan was sent to us by ConocoPhillips from Kuparuk oil field. It's nest was attacked by a fox and she got pretty beat up defending it. Unfortunately when help arrived, the nest was empty. She was sent to us with careful coordination between them and their contract flight from Prudhoe Bay and Anchorage. Also, thanks to Daryl Miller for helping to pick this one up.

We're up to #19 eagle of the year. Bird TLC has been a busy place so far this summer.

BE 09-05, a Dutch boy

BE 09-05 came in from Dutch Harbor a week ago. We have been getting so many toxin eagles in the last year, we kind of guessed that he was one. He had the symptoms, stinky green mewts, no energy, won't eat and very easy to handle. If we get them in time, they start feeling better after about 3 days at TLC. This guy wasn't getting any better.

Cindy decided to do a full work up this weekend. Test results, avian trichomonas. Trichomonas gallinae, the parasite causes avian trichomoniasis. When present, it is usually found in the upper digestive tract of many species of doves and gallinaceous birds. Some strains may also produce liver and lung lesions. The parasite is transferred to young from the mother during feeding. Transmission between birds may also occur from contaminated feed and water. Infection by this trichomonad can be fatal. The presence of this organism in doves is a common source of infection of falcons and hawks feeding on them. We don't know how this guy got this.


Treatment has started and until he decides to eat on his own, he gets a little help. DeAnn's been a volunteer a long time and was there to buy food for Bird TLC's Education Raven she caretakes. She got drafted to help out and that's not unusual. As you can see, it takes three people to tube feed an eagle safely.

We'll keep you updated on how he's doing.