It was a busy week, with two owl rescues and a program at Spruce Creek Elementary. Katie & Frodo visited with Ms. Ritchey's class and Mr. Frodo honored everyone by casting an awesome owl pellet right in front of the kids.

Owls will regurgitate a compact little pellet which contains the undigested portions of their dinner, such as bones, feathers or fur. Closer examination will usually reveal entire skeletons of the small animals, including jawbones, wishbones, femurs, rib bones. It is fun to try to put them back together.

Katie & Frodo Travel to Marine Discovery Center

Katie is an American Kestrel, and Frodo is an Eastern Screech Owl. Both are small birds of prey native to our state. Because of injuries they received as young chicks, both Katie and Frodo are unable to survive on their own in the wild. Thanks to special education permits from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, they are permanent residents with me and travel to schools and special events for educational programs. This Monday we are participating in the Master Naturalist Program at the Marine Discovery Center, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

Katie & Frodo will meet the students, and help them to learn about the issues facing wildlife in Florida. Even in today's economy, development is continuing, and the loss of habitat is the greatest single issue facing both humans and wildlife in this state.

Since birds of prey are very secretive, most people don't get a chance to see them up close, and it is always fun meeting new people and teaching them about these great little birds.

Mark at the Marine Discovery Center wrote:

THIS REMINDS ME OF THE EVENING WE WERE CALLED
TO RESCUE A BIRD HANGING BY FISHING LINE HIGH
IN A TREE UNDER THE SOUTH BRIDGE. BY THE TIME
WE GOT A LADDER, NIGHT HAD FALLEN AND THE DOVE
HAD PERISHED.  AS I CLIMBED UP TO RETRIEVE IT'S
BODY, MY FLASHLIGHT BEAM CAUGHT THE DISTRAUGHT
 LOOK OF ANOTHER DOVE WATCHING FROM THE BRANCH
ABOVE.  I'M SURE THEY WERE PARTNERS AND I'M
SURE THEY BOTH SUFFERED.     

Phyllis Lamborn wrote:

Hi Gina,

Thank you for sending this to me.
It reminds me of the scripture:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them is forgotten by God" Luke 12:6

Animals do have brains and feelings,
and they are so pure of heart they are
unashamed let them show.

When my daughter was a young teen, she lost her first horse.

She asked a preacher friend of ours if horses go to heaven.

He replied, "Animals live their lives in God's will.

They don't know sin.

They never leave his presence in the first place."

Karen Stone wrote:

Very moving, I can relate. My parakeet, Tweedle Dee was
 doing so poor and finally died. 
He took care of her and cried for days!

Young Anhinga gets another chance

On Saturday, we received a call from a family in Samsula. They found a young Anhinga sitting on their picnic table with something caught around the end of its beak. When I got there, I found a large ball of something similar to velcro hanging from its beak, with just a few strings wrapped around the very end of its beak. It could not open its mouth, and therefore, had probably not been able to eat for some time.

Anhingas have serrated edges to their beaks, to aid in catching fish, and whatever this stuff was, it was strong and could not be pulled apart, or pulled off because of the serrated edges, so I used scissors on a Swiss Army Knife. It took me 10 minutes to cut all of the material away from its beak, and all the while, this young bird just sat there quietly, not struggling, waiting to be freed.

Because he was still strong, we took him back to the creek and set him down, he quietly waddled over to the edge and jumped in, quickly diving into the cool water. When he popped up, he turned around for just a moment, and then he was gone.

Another great day! And another great use for Swiss Army Knives!

Follow up on young red shouldered hawks

This chick successfully fledged the nest a couple weeks ago. He is one of the lucky ones. Just like the four young red-shouldered hawks we released yesterday in the DeLand area - they flew out of the box like they were shot out of a cannon- so happy to be back home!!