News From The Mews

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.

It was so cold this week that even Carson the Red-tailed Hawk got to come inside. She seemed quite content spending time in the warm classroom. I could tell she was comfortable because she sat with her foot closed and outstretched, a classic raptor relaxing pose.

Our tree frog tends to be a little shy. Or maybe he just seems that way because tree frogs are mostly nocturnal. He spends most days resting at the top edge of his habitat and comes down at night to jump in his water bath or eat a meal.  We leave a few mealworms in a dish overnight for him to snack on. Sometimes he decides not to eat and I scoop the leftovers back up in the morning. One day this week, I was surprised to see that one of the mealworms had transformed.  The frog's leftovers: a mealworm (top) and a pupa (bottom). Mealworms are the larval phase of a Darkling Beetle. Just like butterflies, these beetles have a four-stage life cycle. Larvae (or caterpillars, in the case of butterflies) emerge from eggs. Next is the pupa, more commonly known as the chrysalis phase in butterflies. This is the cozy cocoon where the insect transforms their body and crawls out as an adult beetle or butterfly. Darkling beetle lifecycle (uen.org) The frog's leftover mealworm had become a pu...

When I checked on Aldo to see if he was enjoying his meal, he hunched over and drooped his wings so I couldn't see the mouse clutched in his talons. This behavior, called mantling, is common in hungry raptors trying to hide their food from predators that might want to steal it. Aldo didn't realize that I was looking forward to my peanut butter sandwich for lunch and had no interest in snagging his mouse.  Once I stepped away, I could see his shadow proving that he went back to his meal: 

This may look like a simple photo of a snake. But this scene means so much more to me. I don't just see a snake here; I see a happy snake.   I'm not an expert in snake body language or emotions. I can't claim to know what Emory is thinking or feeling here. But what I can see is a snake stretched out under her heat lamp, looking out into the world. This is a snake that is relaxed and observing the activity around her, not running away from it.  It seems so often that Emory spends most of her time curled up tightly under one of her caves. At the sight of any movement, she usually recoils back to her safe hide. The snake in this photo seems comparatively calm, feeling safe enough to spread out and watch me take the photo. She looks just about as happy as a snake can look, in my opinion!