Megan Mosby
Executive Director
Summer is upon us. And, among other things, that means it is time for summer camp. If you haven’t chosen a spot for your little ones yet, let me suggest that you look at the few spots left that we have at Camp Liberty Wildlife.
Here’s what your little ones will be doing starting June 11th and going through June 15th.
- There will be opportunities to learn all about the rehabilitation process for native wildlife. What happens to the critters that you bring in to our care? Our state of the art hospital is a pretty exciting place to be.
- Baby birds with their adorable peeps and bottomless pits will be a part of the agenda. Every day is different. Every day is exciting.
- There will also be an art class taught by a professional wildlife artist of renown—to wake up each child’s inner artist. It could be the beginning of a nature journal!
- To further incite their creative juices, they will be using recycled materials to make their own paper….let’s hear it for art and sustainability….and a little bit of magic and science thrown in.
- There will be nature walks to the river to feed the rehabilitated ducklings that are being readied for release.
- Many other hands on wildlife experiences including up close introductions to native wildlife that lives around us.
If you have an inkling to peek into fun, science, and creativity…not to mention an exploration of science and nature, go to our web site, www.libertywildife.org to register or find out more information about signing up for this wildlife experience at Camp Liberty Wildlife.
See you there.
This Week @ Liberty – June 04, 2018
June is busting’ out all over…and it’s 108 degrees and it’s not even summer yet – officially. We’ve been through the first windy days of early spring, and now we’re getting into the day-after-day “extreme heat advisories” which also drives baby birds – both sparrow and eagle – out of their nests prematurely. Lots of baby doves, grackles, mockingbirds, kestrels, and a few more colorful migrants have shown up at out intake window lately. Our foster parent GHOs and barn owls are raising youngsters in the multiple dozens, and yet another baby bald eagle came in yesterday. The heat also made our work-day event somewhat less than pleasant, but a lot was accomplished and the grounds look pretty nice – for now.
The baby bald eagle from the last TW@L only stayed a few days and then was placed back in the nest – one more time! We were able to give him fluids and some supplemental food in the brief time he was with us which is about all we can do. Sooner or later, nature has to be allowed to take charge and get these birds airborne on their own. But as you’ll see below, sometimes they just won’t stay in the nest long enough be successful eagles…
Our battle against glue traps took another turn this week as something other than a bird got unintentionally stuck and was brought in. Some people showed up at the window with a small cotton tail rabbit who was stuck to a glue card intended for – something else. It’s little wonder these tools of the pest management trade have been outlawed in Australia. The directions specify they are to be used only indoors, but we hear lots of justifications for using them where ever the purchaser wants to. Like all anti-pest devices, they are not over discriminating and are definitely not species specific.
Once in a while we get in something unusual or even spectacular at the intake window. Last week, a baby (a nestling, actually) arrived after being found on the ground. This is the second year we got in a baby robin so maybe in the future, they won’t be quite such a novelty. The Bullock’s oriole is also more occasional than rare as we had two hanging out in front of our new building earlier this spring. They are truly beautiful birds and are welcome back anytime! The one of me is a representative shot of what it takes to be successful at the window – four arms!
We have a new veterinarian volunteering at Liberty, Dr. Tan. She was at the facility last week and had the opportunity to do surgery on the badly fractured leg of a young raven. It’s good to know we have such talent willing to give their time and efforts in the service to Liberty and the animals we care for.
The orphan season always puts lots of pressure on our “staff” of foster parent owls, hawks, and falcons.With just a little help from a couple of education birds, our non-releasable great horned owl pairs do a phenomenal job of feeding, protecting, and mentoring all the orphans that find their way to our door. And when they art through, the young owls have been fed like regular owls, learned to react to things like regular owls, and hate humans like regular owls and thus are perfectly ready to enter the real world and be successful owls as they were intended!
And yet another baby bald eagle left the nest a bit prematurely and ended up at Liberty this week. This big girl is not presenting other injuries, just some dehydration and a slight under weight condition due to early departure. She’ll be fed, hydrated, and allowed to spend a couple days perfecting her flight skills and then will, by week’s end, be returned to her nest for another attempt to fledge properly!
If only I had four arms…!
Look for a new format in the TW@L notification e-mail coming soon!
Posted by Terry Stevens
Operations Director