Golden Eagle Search

This morning, I went out searching with a couple people from work for Golden Eagles. I hadn't seen one in the wild before so I was excited. We found a couple!! Yay :)

Male kestrel hanging out on a power line

We also spotted several American Kestrels - one of my favs! As well as numerous Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles and a mob of crows! It was a great way to spend the morning!

Gibwanasii's First Program

Tonight Gibwanasii did his first raptor program! It was a little rough at the beginning but once he settled down he did great! I am so proud of my little buddy and glad all our hard work paid off :)

Teaching

Picture time after teaching the 5th graders about falcons

Gibwanasii!

Meet the newest member to the education team at the Audubon Center. Its a male American kestrel! He came to us through a rehab center in Utah. Somewhere along the line he became imprinted and was turned into a rehabber after coming down to see construction workers repeatedly.

Since we just got this bird on Monday, he is still getting acclimated but so far its looking like he will be an awesome education bird. We named him Gibwanasii, which means American kestrel in Ojibwe. I can't wait to start training him!

Goodbye Nero

As some of you know, one of the American kestrel's that I trained here at Audubon died yesterday evening. If I've talked to you about my experience at the Audubon, I have probably mentioned him. He was a little bird with lots of personality. Below are a few of my favorite photos of him.

 

Nero (and Jeff) teaching me how to handle raptors for the first time.

Nero, bathed and with his most favorite food, after a long couple days of outreach.

Just hanging out.

His death caught all of us completely by surprise. True to Nero, he was found with food in his beak and talons. Right now, we don't know what happened. There was nothing obviously wrong and he was still young for a kestrel in captivity. There is a necropsy being done in hopes of getting some answers.

I had grown accustomed to my little buddy's morning greeting/twitter when I got to the barn and will miss him heaps :(

Outreach

Nero after a long day of teaching - freshly bathed and eating his favorite food.

Today, I returned from an overnight outreach. We went to Morris, MN for a program where all the 5th graders in the county come to a wildlife area to see lots of different nature related presentations. The Audubon Center, brought 3 birds to do 5 X 25 minute programs.

After the long drive, sleeping in a hotel with the birds and a full day of teaching, I felt a bit like Nero looks. Ready to go home, have a good dinner and take a shower. Another outreach done and one fantastic picture of Nero :)

BIRDIES!

Meet my birds.

Ok, they are not mine but rather reside at the Audubon Center where I get to train them. Both of them are imprinted which is why they are non-releasable.

This is Nero, the male American kestrel. He is a dirty little thing - always has food hanging from his beak and/or talons and can make his mew a pigpen. When you go to his mew he starts twittering at you as if to have a conversation.

This is Isis, a female American kestrel. Sometimes I think she is angry with the world because she can have an attitude (Isis is the bird that footed my ear). Even with the attitude she is super cute - when I stand outside her mew she often flies to meet me. When I feed her, she makes little chirping sounds and has the cutest sneezes.

~krazy kestrel~

Every now and then, you have a day where nothing goes quite as planned.

Take today for instance. I started a new step in my training of Isis. She was being a rockstar and doing really well. She was actually eating small pieces of food from my hand for the first time. Problem was I couldn't finish my training because of all the things going on in the barn.

By time I returned with the last of her food, she was hungry and unhappy. Usually, she flies to her food platform and waits for me to feed her. This time, she perched on my shoulder. Then, as if to show her dislike of the days activities, she footed my ear before flying off. Yes, you read that correctly - she grabbed my ear with her talon.

Once the laughter subsides, you will be glad to know that I am fine. I find the humor in the situation but was still freaked out a bit while it was happening.

Heres hoping our next training session goes more smoothly!!