News From The Mews

I cover the mew floors with paper every winter to make cleaning up easier without running water. And there comes a point every spring when Carson the Red-tailed Hawk decides that the newspaper is actually nesting material. She drags sheets to the corner, along with a few sticks I provide, and spends time perfecting her nest.  This week, I caught her making careful adjustments to her nest. Then squatting down with a stompy shimmy, which I assume is intended to shape the inner bowl of the nest: Even though Carson doesn't have the same resources available as wild Red-tails, she still displays these innate nest building behaviors. Nearly the same behavior can be spotted on this live Red-tail nest cam if you skip to 6 minutes and 25 seconds into the clip: 

I stepped gingerly into Otto's mew, unsure how I would be received. The last time I was there, just a few hours earlier, I had to catch the owl for his scheduled beak and talon trim. Would he hold a grudge against me after the procedure? I set the scale on the ground just like I did every day. I offered Otto a mouse tidbit - he took it eagerly - and tapped on the scale. After just a moment's consideration, Otto jumped down to the scale and reached for another tidbit. I maintained my calm demeanor as we finished the session, but I had a little dance party going in my head. I celebrated that Otto may not like "Haley-the-Bad-Guy," but he still trusted "Haley-the-Mouse-Tidbit-Provider."

I had a bit of a scare recently when my pet rabbit, Wally, stopped eating his hay. It was a sign that something was wrong. And it could cause even more problems because hay is vitally important for maintaining their delicate digestive system. As part of his exam, his veterinarian took a blood sample. The clinic called the next day to say that his blood chemistry all looked normal except for elevated glucose levels. They were not concerned because rabbits who are stressed (after a long car ride and veterinary exam, for example) often have high glucose. That is a normal stress response that is adaptive for survival. Stress serves to prepare animals (including humans) for "fight or flight" in response to a threat. Heart rate, respiration, and blood sugars are increased to provide the body extra fuel for running from or tussling with a predator (1). Since Wally didn't know that Dr. Mary was, in fact, trying to help him, his body was prepared to handle what he perceived to be ...

Aldo and Carson were due once again for their annual veterinary exams at The Raptor Center clinic. While Dr. Annette worked on the anesthetized birds, she quizzed a vet student observing the procedures.  "If Aldo is healthy and weighs 104 grams, how much blood can I safely take for bloodwork?" The student thought for a bit. "You can take 1% of body weight, right?" Dr. Annette nodded. "So that would be about 1 milliliter." Dr. Annette prepped a needle and found a blood vessel in Aldo's neck. She pulled back on the syringe but his blood didn't flow as easily as she expected. He was likely a little dehydrated, which made sense because he hadn't eaten all day in preparation for this exam. We arrived home a few hours later and he got a tasty mouse. I'm sure that made him feel better about the stresses of the long day!

Aldo the American Kestrel has been inside for several days during our cold snap. He has a tendency to get bored during these long stretches indoors and likes to destroy his preferred rope perch. It gives me a headache to hear him ripping at the rope because the perch is a pain to repair. To prevent too much destruction, we ramp up enrichment. Newspaper strips to rip, mealworm snacks, and live bird feeder cameras are good ways to keep him busy. I also change out his perches occasionally. Today I removed his favorite rope perch and left him with two perches covered in plastic turf. He doesn't have rope to destroy, it's good for his feet to have a different surface to stand on, and he gets something new in his day.

I was delighted to find this well-timed photograph of a Red-tailed Hawk "slice" from photographer Ron Dudley:  See more from photographer Ron Dudley on his website: Feathered Photography Caught in mid-mute, the photo clearly shows how forcefully a hawk can clear out their last meal. The falconry term for this is a "slice," defined by The Modern Apprentice as " the throwing of a mute as what Accipiters, hawks, and eagles do forcibly ejecting the material. Falcons mute straight down while the other raptors fling their fecal matter out with a bit of velocity. " I see the effects of this every week while cleaning our raptor mews. Aldo, our American Kestrel, drops his mutes below his perches so it is relatively easy to clean up. Carson the Red-tailed Hawk slices her mutes "with a bit of velocity" so the whole floor, and even the walls, are splattered with poo.