QT with the raptors

We were back at the raptor center today and there was a ton of stuff to be done.  First, we got a more in depth tour of the facility and we met all of the birds used in the education program as well as the Auburn University mascots (The War Eagles!).  There are a bunch of different types of birds used in the education program. They have two barn owls, a turkey vulture, a black vulture, a few types of hawks (some of them are found in the US and some of them are only found outside of the US), the aforementioned eagles, barred owls and the little screech owl (itty bitty and oh so adorable).  This is a picture of two bald eagles. I don't know how well you can see from the picture, but one looks like your stereotypical bald eagle with the white head and the one on the ground is still almost entirely dark colored with no white on his head.  He is a juvenile bald eagle and won't get the characteristic bald eagle coloring until he is a few years old and officially an adult.

We then got a short lecture on falconry. I, personally, had no sense of what falconry involved so it was interesting to learn more about it from two people who have been falconers for a long time.  Basically, falconry is hunting using birds of prey that are trained to some extent.  Before the development of firearms, using birds made hunting for small game much easier.  Today it's more of a sport but, depending on what their bird catches, the falconer may eat what is caught.  Training of these birds builds off of their natural hunting instincts and abilities and mainly focuses on getting the bird to allow a person to accompany them during the hunt.  Falconers are required to have government permits in order to legally own wild birds.  Veterinarians are also required to have permits to treat wild animals, however, they can treat a bird owned by a falconer without one of these permits because they are essentially working off of the falconers permit. Cool stuff!

Next, we took two of the rehab birds over to the main hospital for neurology exams. One bird was a baby barred owl who, we believe, suffered his injury during the recent tornadoes. This is him:

                                           

He's a cutie pie, right? Earlier this week, we did radiographs on him because he wasn't standing and didn't seem to have the ability to use his legs at all.  On the radiograph, we found that he had a compression fracture in the thoracic area of his spine. Here's the radiograph, you can't really see the fracture without blowing up the image, but the rad itself is interesting.  The thing on his head is the mask that we use to administer gas to keep the birds unconscious during the procedure. We aren't really concerned with the head so we don't worry about getting textbook perfect radiographs.

His neuro exam revealed that he did not have an appropriate deep pain response in his feet and was lacking the ability to grip with his left foot.  His left wing was also not functioning properly.  Unfortunately, given this result and the evidence from the radiograph, there is nothing that we can do to help this bird.  We had to euthanize him. It was a major bummer, but his quality of life would have been poor.

On a lighter note, we were able to take two of the birds out of the critical care ward and place them in outdoor aviaries.  This is done when the birds are recovering well from whatever injuries they may have had and are able to coexist with other birds (and ideally, they can fly again).  It's basically the next step in what will hopefully lead to re-release in to the wild.  We put out a Great Horned Owl and  a Barred Owl.  We did a physical exam on both birds to ensure that they were ok to go in to the aviaries and we will continue to monitor how they adjust to the new setting.  Here is the Great Horned Owl with a ridiculously attractive human just prior to being placed in an aviary (jk, this is a less than stunning pic of me because I'm half smiling and half concerned that he's going to break free from my grasp and tear me into little bite-sized owl treats)

See how he's staring me down with his big owl eyes?!?! Seriously though, I'm wearing thick leather gloves to handle him because their beaks and their feet/talons are so strong that they can exert hundreds of psi of pressure and I rather like having ten fingers thank you very much.  Those little tufts on his head are what give the Great Horned Owls their name...the tufts look like little horns.  You can seem them better in this picture of a different owl in the aviary.

We checked in on our duck friend from Monday and he seems to be doing well! The tissue around his wound is starting to looking healthier and less dried out.  It looks like there is some granulation tissue starting to form in the wound which is just ducky! Ha. Ha. Ha.

In the afternoon, we had to catch all of the birds in the aviaries in order to weigh them and assess their body condition.  The aviaries are large outdoor enclosures that are probably 15-20 feet high.  Inside them are perches at various heights that provide a more natural environment for the birds.  That's peachy keen for the birds, but makes catching them slightly more challenging.  We use the big gloves and our ninja like skills to get the birds.  It's important to put one arm up to shield your face (should they decide to fly right at you) and use the other hand to grab one of the bird's legs. You get control of their legs first, holding them both in one hand, then use the other hand to hold around their neck and keep their wings pressed to their body.  It's not the easiest thing ever but the staff person that was with us said we did a great job, go us!  We weighed all the birds (15 or so maybe??) and assessed their body condition.  There is a body condition scale (BCS) that is used for birds and it ranges from 1-5.  One being emaciated and five being obese.  The anatomical point of reference for this scale is the keel bone.  The keel bone is located on the bird's body...here's a diagram:

The keel is that big, blade shaped bone labeled "keel"...crazy, I know.  So we palpate the keel bone and, based on how prominent it is/how fleshy the area around it is, we assign a BCS score.  This, coupled with the weight of the bird, is an important way to track potential health changes in the birds.  If these values decrease, it can be an indicator of illness in the bird. At the same time, increases in these values can indicate that the bird is thriving and healthy.  Most of the kids we worked with today were either at an ideal score of 3 or a bit on the tubby side...that's ok too.

The last event of the day was doing fecal exams on the birds.  We use a special solution that is mixed with a fecal sample to help any parasite ova or other bacteria and protozoans to float to the top and be picked up on a slide cover slip which is placed on top of the little container.  The cover slip is then placed on a slide and the slide is examined under the microscope.  We didn't find anything of note on the slides that we looked at, which is good for the birds.  In wild birds, it is fairly common to see some bacteria and coccidia, but no such luck today.

Busy day! Hopefully, you guys are able to see the pictures that I posted in here fairly well. It can be difficult to get good pictures, especially in the aviaries, but I'm doing my best for the betterment of the blog! Good night all!