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 :(

Open House

Today was Audubon Center of the North Woods annual open house. It is a day where the public can visit and do activities like high ropes, climbing wall and paddle a voyagers canoe. About 350 people showed up to partake in the events.

I spent the day at the barn talking to people about the animals. As a special treat, this year people could buy tickets to feed our crow Mob. This was good enrichment for him and he got his favorite treats - raisins and mealworms. It was also good enrichment for me. I got many laughs when Mob started playing with the kids shoe laces and calling at them.

Nero and flat Stanley

Dakota and flat Stanley

While working the open house, I took the chance to take a few pictures of Stanley and the birds. Flat Stanley came from a group of 3rd graders in Connecticut. After reading the book about Stanley, they sent out paper Stanley on an adventure. While here, Stanley wants to learn about birds. Pretty cute, right?

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.