Megan Mosby
Executive Director
Among the many new opportunities at Liberty Wildlife is our ability to finally be open to the public. As is obviously needed, our hospital is full of recovering patients necessitating that the public must view the activities through windows into the triage suite and the surgery suite. However, the educational side of the facility is fully open.
On Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays we invite the public to educational activities. The heat of the summer makes it a little more difficult as volunteers and staff take care of cleaning duties and hand feeding activities very early in the morning…better for people…better for animals. On Saturdays, a few intrepid education volunteers prepare a different program weekly to awe the visitors, and they are a huge hit.
Another fun opportunity will be presented this coming Saturday, July 22nd at 10:00. It is our educational offering brought to you by the Liberty Players, and they are just getting revved up to present the charming program…Roadkill Café…yes this is a delightful offering using the wit and skill of the Liberty Players, the presence of live wildlife, a professional set and an a funny, informative, and well-acted script. You will not be disappointed. You will be happy to know that there will be more of its kind in the future giving you more reasons to come back. I can see the beginning of a following …I mean, how many times have you seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Sound of Music? The similarity is in the repeat viewing not in the subject matter…but one never knows what will be next.
And, these new offerings are just the beginning. Our ever-popular classroom presentations, booth set ups will always be on the agenda as well as a variety of new offerings once the heat breaks. We foresee camps, intersession opportunities, speaker series, and environmental programs for the entire community.
We spent the past 35 years looking forward to the time when we could show off our educational offerings and now the time is here. Our well-trained educational volunteers and ambassadors are finally getting the showcase that they deserve. Let’s not forget the offerings in our Interactive/ Interpretive room full of critters, activities and a peek into nature.
Put it on your calendar to visit us during open hours which will expand in the fall. We will be offering many fun events including a Unique, Antique and Gift Boutique in the fall, a delightful twist on our regular Baby Bird Shower and a wickedly fun new Wishes for Wildlife.
More information will be forthcoming…just remember to leave room on your calendars to visit the new educational offerings especially next week at Roadkill Café, starring the Liberty Players and Ambassadors…you will enjoy it.
See you on Saturday for Roadkill Café…
This Week @ Liberty – July 17, 2017
This will be somewhat short as I have been pretty busy with other “operational” projects this week that kept me from getting many photos. The temp has mitigated slightly, but the dew point has risen into the uncomfortable range and the monsoon has begun with a vengeance. So far we have faced the storms with little or no damage, but the season is still young. Unfortunately, there are still some little birds and animals trying to grow and survive in the wild and today, there were not many times when there wasn’t an intake at the window to check in. We’re still making small improvements in the facility and we are really proud of the operation in general. I am happy to report that more often than not, people bringing in birds and animals are providing donations that will keep us going through the summer as we plan for new and different fund-raising opportunities.
Since I was a little short on photography in the last two weeks, I’m going to re-run some of the past shots that some of our new readers haven’t seen. If you get tired of “old” stuff, leave a comment and I’ll try something new. (On that note, let me put out a call to ALL volunteers and readers in general to send in your great wildlife photos for the next issue of Wing Beats due out in a few month!)
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As the temps continued to climb, the birds take any opportunity to cool off. We provided blocks of ice in the pools for the bigger birds to stand in to cool their feet which cool their whole body.
As we see different kinds of birds at different time of the season (right now it’s white wing doves!), this Differential grasshopper landed on one of our lobby windows and displayed his colors proudly. He really needs to keep away from the Swanson’s hawk enclosure!
The big peregrine in ICU continues to make progress. She still has issues, but she is getting better. On the more alarming side was the arrival of two doves that came in, both with multiple pellets from a gunshot. I don’t believe there is a dove season in Phoenix so this tells us there is illegal gun activity in town.
A baby skunk was brought in form the Papago area today. Mom and siblings were not with it, so we got the job to keep it alive. The little guy was very hungry and scared so after Holly fed it, we sent it to SWW since they had others of his age with whom he could socialize. Teamwork is what makes wildlife rehab work!
One of my favorite adventures was a trip to Haines Alaska several years ago. In the week between Thanksgiving and December 1st, I lucked out with three days of clear weather although it was -35F the whole time I was there. I was able to get about 1,400 pictures at the Bald Eagle Preserve along the Chilkat river north of town. I just thought with our recent record high temps, these might help everyone feel a bit cooler! (HAH!)
Posted by Terry Stevens
Operations Director