News From The Mews

Author Fredrik Backman shared a video of his dog's habit of laying in front of the refrigerator, leaving just enough room to open the door. He describes her humorous ability "to ALWAYS be in the way, without TECHNICALLY being in the way." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fredrik Backman (@backmansk) Aldo the kestrel turned out to have the same skill on Monday when I gave him a larger chunk of food than usual. He tried to fly to another perch with his feast, but the weight of it pulled him down. He landed on the ground and scuttled into the corner to start eating his chick. Unfortunately for me, he chose the corner right in front of my exit door. I was trapped! I slowly cracked the door, hoping he would hop away. Aldo, however, continued ripping at his meal. As I inched the door open, I found that it could swing past Aldo with just a hair's distance to spare. I slipped out the door and thanked Aldo for not technically being in the way. 

We sadly had to say goodbye to our wonderful interns, Katherine and Kylie, last week. In their final days, we made time for them to hold Aldo the kestrel on glove and give him a few tidbits. What a special farewell and thank you for all of their hard work this summer!

As I walked past the pollinator garden with Carson, the hawk's neck stretched back and forth almost comically. Carson was stabilizing her vision as we moved just like a chicken or pigeon strutting. By holding the head steady while the body moves, birds can keep a clear view of their moving environment. As the body continues to move forward, the head quickly snaps forward to catch up. It appeared Carson was just as interested in observing the garden - or the rabbit rustling in the foliage - as I was!

I've always thought of Aldo the kestrel as a colorful bird, so I was surprised to find these black and white tail feathers in his mew!

The fiercest little predator in the Northwoods just may be the Tiger Salamander. Though they don't roar like a tiger, they are just as dangerous - if you are a worm, that is. Our little salamander snaps at anything that moves nearby when he's hungry. If he's lucky, he grabs hold of a worm and shakes it vigorously to subdue the prey's movements. And in just a few gulps, the worm, who is nearly as long as the predator, is swallowed whole.

Cleaning the raptor mews may be a dirty job, but it can lead to some interesting discoveries. Under a pile of shredded newspaper, I found this feather from Carson the Red-tailed Hawk. The central shaft forms a slight S-curve, telling me this came from Carson's alula, a bird's "thumb."  I noticed faint lines along the feather vane like frets on a guitar's fingerboard. Known as stress bars, these lines are weak spots in the feather. They form if the bird undergoes heightened stress as the feather grows. It might be physical stress like starvation or psychological stress like escaping a predator. For Carson, I believe these stress bars are caused by her permanent wing injury affecting feather growth.