Dakota Gatherings

Angel and I teaching in Winona

The last 2 Fridays, I have spent the day teaching 3rd graders about eagles as part of the Dakota gatherings here in Minnesota. In total, I saw nearly 1,000 school children across 3 twenty minute programs! These gatherings are great for the local children to learn more about the Dakota culture and I always enjoy presenting :)

Angel enjoying the sun during the program!

 

 

Septoberfest has begun in Wabasha! So my co-workers and I took some time to race horses

Was'aka loving the wind in Mankato

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!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween!!! We gave our birds some pumpkin enrichment just for the occassion :) After they figured out the pumpkins wouldn't explode, most quickly grabbed the food!

Destroying the pumpkin

New Perch!

I had way too much fun making this mouse pumpkin!

Leaning as much as possible to get the food!

The Donald

I have been training my center's Golden Eagle for about 6 weeks now. He is AMAZING!

He has picked up on our training fairly quickly. This bird once panicked and tried to evade me when I began to approach him. Now he steps up like a champ and is calm as can be even when we go into the classroom. We still have lots of shaping to do of the behavior and a few more things to accomplish but so far so good.

Here are a couple pictures of my newest buddy!

Chillin' in the mew

In the mew

Having some sprinkler enrichment

Loving the sprinkler!

Little Perks

Check it out!

I got my very own eagle handling glove. It was actually sewn specifically to fit my hand! It is a little thing but I am super excited about. I even brought it home to help break it in a little faster.

Both layers of my glove

I have used it for one week already and its working nicely. Although, Columbia broke it in more than I would have liked today. She actually put a hole in it and managed to cut my hand with one of her talons when recovering from a bate. It was bound to happen sooner or later with one of the birds. And don't worry, it barely left a mark. My hand is just going to be sore for a bit!

NEC

Well, I have been at my new job for almost a month now. So far, so good. I am really enjoying it and am excited about what lies ahead.

Was'aka and I

For the first part of this week, our main building is shut to the public while the air conditioning unit is repaired. Its brutally hot out and all of our programming is outside. Check out the website - you may notice a certain someone in the banner :) I am holding a platter of pellets (eagle and owl) and talking about why we feed the birds bones, feathers and fur.

Care and Management

Last week, I got to take a workshop at The Raptor Center down in the cities. It was 4 days learning about training, first aid and raptors in general. For me, it was fun and I learned some fun facts to take back with me. As part of the class, we got to handle some birds - I got a peregrine falcon and bald eagle on glove for the first time. This won't surprise some of you but the peregrine was more exciting and beautiful to me!

Transferring the bird to my glove

Getting adjusted

This is a male eagle - he weighs about 7 pounds.

As usual in pictures with me and bird - my mouth hanging open

One last photo - my arm was getting tired!

We also got to spend some time practicing our first aid skills down in the clinic on actual patients. I got to give fluids to a couple peregrines and a goshawk. I also bandaged a peregrine and sharp-shinned hawk. Let me tell you, those teeny toes make putting a bandage on difficult. This was one of the most beneficial parts of the entire workshop - getting hands on experience on birds that are alive!

More pictures to follow once The Raptor Center puts there's online. I didn't take too many and sadly did not get my photo with the peregrine :(

Eagle Eyes

Check out page 2 of the latest Audubon Center of the North Woods newsletter! I wrote the article and took the picture :) Its called "Eagle Eyes" and is all about raptor vision.

http://www.audubon-center.org/Newsletter_Summer2011_LowRes.pdf

Woodrow

This week brought us more signs of spring. The ice went out on the lake and the smelt started running. As enrichment for our eagle Woody, we put a few smelt in his bath on Tuesday. He was jacked - at first just for a bath and then for the fish. Here are a few pictures of the excitement.

Bath before eating

Hunting

Hunting

Gotcha!

Got another

Done!

Another Eagle

Today, a staff member found a bald eagle on the ground near our dining hall / office building. It was just sitting there and made not attempt to fly off when approached. I got to capture it and then walk the new interns though how do the physical exam on the eagle. There were no obvious physical injuries so based on its attitude and fiestiness, I am guessing it is another victim to lead.

Demonstrating to the interns how to do a physical exam

Showing how to safely handle a raptor foot.

Demonstrating more of the physical.

A bird print in the snow near where the eagle was found.

A wing brush in the snow.

One thing that I noticed about this eagle was its feather patterns. This eagle was probably about 3 years old based on the amount of white the bird had. If you look closely at the face you will notice that it almost has a face band like an osprey (I actually did a double take when I got close to it). As with all birds we get in like this, I hope it beats the odds and is released back to the wild.

fish and birds

This week was a busy one for wildlife.

First we had to finish putting up the mosquito netting on the bird enclosures. This was a slow job because we didn't want to tear any of the netting and have to redo a panel.

Second task of the week was to give the birds west nile vaccinations. This meant putting all of the birds on the table....including Woody. For, me this meant grabbing my first bird. Our bald eagle. It was a little nerve racking but quite the adrenaline rush. Apparently it is go big or go home around here.

The other big project was gutting fish to feed the birds. This was another first for me (I had dissected many fish for school but never actually gutted one). The DNR was out at various lakes this week gill netting fish. The ones that didn't survive got put in a cooler and given to us. Through the week, we gutted nearly 120 pounds of fish!

All in all, a very productive week :)