A few days late..hawks and parrots and raccoons and partridge and fresh veg

Ok.it's Friday night and i'm trying to get a few things down.  My brain and body are both pretty wiped so I can't really say where this will go...

 

I picked G up at the airport late last night..so glad he's home.

 

I had my regular Raptor Center shift today, but since we have 101 patients and more arriving every day it was pretty crazy, on top of a very busy week for me.  I was there for five hours, luckily with my crew minus one member, and I have to say we work very well together. Subbing on a different crew on Sunday made me appreciate my crew even more.

I'm starting to grab Cooper's hawks now that I've been there for over a year.  I can't say it's going well, since it always feels like a bit of a disaster waiting to happen, but I haven't lost one yet, so I can't say it's going poorly.  They are such high strung birds they require a lot of care and skill.  They are small enough that you can hurt them if you are too rough, strong and agile enough to get away from you and fast enough to fly headlong into a window and die instantly.  (it has happened--not to me thankfully).  They MUST be caught in the dark, so learning to manage my tiny flasher with gloves on and then the ensuing madness because they won't stay still when you flash said light at them will take some time for me to get used to.

 

In general the human voice seems to be a stressor for raptors, but I've imagined or interpreted that some of the owls and buteos I've handled have responded favourably to a calm voice.

 

"Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide. With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications. Both species are sometimes unwanted guests at bird feeders, looking for an easy meal (but not one of sunflower seeds)."

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/coopers_hawk/id
http://www.arkive.org/coopers-hawk/accipiter-cooperii/image-G103364.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrjyYYZR6a0 Wow!! video of training a Cooper's hawk--this bird is so calm! (this is not what rehab birds are like)


I had the pleasure of grabbing 'skunky' from cage 29--a great horned owl who was skunked and still smells after weeks of being there...I have to wonder if I smelled like skunk the rest of the day...Not that I'm worried about impressing anyone. I had an hour to walk around downtown St. Paul while waiting for G to get off work.  I met a lovely old man who had an amazon parrot on his shoulder.  He showed up in Walgreens, then I saw him again later and finally asked the bird's name.  He is Boomer, and he's lived downtown for 20 years!! Very handsome bird, and of course he reminded me of Gino from Vanaqua. I forgot how much I love psitticines, after being surrounded by galliformes and raptors and waterfowl for so long.  I'm still hoping one day to work with sea birds, but my future is so unclear at this point I have no idea of whether I will be able to or have the opportunity.

Speaking of galliformes, we had a lone chukkar partridge staying with us for a week or so. She would hang out inside the electronetted area with the bantams. Dust bathe, sun bathe, preen, look for stray bits of food, and generally just look content.  Even with these wild gallies I've been so impressed with how they respond to voice tones and emotion.  I don't know if they can read human expression, but they certainly look directly at your face  when they are deciding how to act/react to your presence. (extrapolating from canine behaviour here)....honestly I'm met more Labrador retrievers with short attention spans and dull senses than I have chooks--but perhaps that's simply because labs live in an olfactory world more so than a visual one.

Apparently she likes the garage...especially on the really hot days.

 



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It's Sunday night now...

G has to go to Ely again this week---for four days!! : ( We had a great weekend together, and we're not ready for it to end. While I've been doing most of the evening duties he's made two jars of pickled beets, and has made GF bread for some fantastic bruschetta...with our tomatoes, garlic and basil. Also our beets...I'm pretty lucky. 

 

Well that's all the time I'm allowed apparently. While I've sat here trying to finish this last paragraph I heard a flapping of wings, and managed to catch out of the corner of my eye our naughty buff duck flying out of their paddock, then watched her walk to their pool to hang out by herself. I have to go and chase her back in and lock them up for the night...We saw a huge raccoon in our front yard the other night, so we're on extra high alert.  Good to have these reminders every once in a while.  Like the time we let the ducks stay out past dark one night and found a possum inside their enclosure, but stuck behind their hut door (either that or she realized they could probably do her some serious harm, and she was there trying to figure out her next move...)

That'll do, possum.