News From The Mews

I peered into Carson's mew through the dusty screen. Dust was stacked high in each of the screen's little mesh holes. I imagined how many Who-villes must be established on all of these specks - Horton would have his hands full protecting them all!  Look at all those specks and potential Who-villes! Our raptor mews are covered with a layer of screen to keep mosquitoes out. The screens always become matted with dust, feather particles, pollen, and cobwebs. Wiping with a washcloth will remove some of it, but they still look grungy.  Then this mesh screen cleaner came across my internet searches. The angled fibers promised to scrub both sides of the screen at once. I thought it might be worth a try. Back in the mews, I wished all the Whos good luck as I swept the specialized brush down the screen. I was delighted to see a cloud of dust puff away from the screen. It worked better than a washcloth!

If you've been following my articles, you may know that little things can delight me. One of those little things tickled my fancy this week when I spotted a few plastic dog kennels at the UCC garage sale.  I began picturing our emergency bird crate at the Museum. The crate sits outside, just in case a fire or other disaster prevents us from entering the building. The emergency crate could help us evacuate one of the birds. Unfortunately our emergency crate was pretty janky. A creative person, long ago, modified this crate to stand upright on the metal door. The old emergency crate. (click for larger image) I've only kept it because it would theoretically hold a bird in an emergency.  When I saw the crates at the UCC sale, I realized we could finally replace it with an affordable, more reliable option. My eyes lit up when I saw this particular crate. It's an old style that I can't find online anymore. The plastic is more sturdy and it has perfectly placed ergonomic hand ...

We've been practicing behavior-based feeding with our snakes for a few years. That means we don't feed on a schedule; we feed based on whether the snakes show behaviors that indicate they're hungry.  Our Gray Tree Frog has generally remained on a regular schedule of feeding. But recently, I've noticed some new behaviors like springing off the branch when we open the door or mouth snapping at a water mist. Could these be signs that he's hungry? I'll give him an extra mealworm or two when I see these expectant behaviors in case his stomach is rumbling.

In the summer heat, Aldo the American Kestrel likes taking a shower from a spray bottle!

American Kestrels are cavity nesters. They find holes in trees or utilize nest boxes to keep their eggs safe. Then why does Aldo the American Kestrel make a nest on the ground every year? He creates a depression in the gravel and chatters noisily, bowing up and down, to advertise it to potential mates. Meanwhile, his enclosed hutch remains relatively unused during breeding season.  I once worked with another male ambassador kestrel that tried to nest on the ground. Curious! Both of these kestrels are human imprints - they were raised by people. I wondered recently whether that impacted their nesting preferences. Maybe the people didn't raise these birds in a cavity. Perhaps they were growing up on a flat, open surface, like someone's kitchen counter or a rehab facility's clinic. If they imprinted on their caretakers, did they also imprint on their nest type? That's just my speculation - what do you think?

Toward the end of my interview, I was still waiting for a hard-hitting question.  Two peer reviewers were visiting the Museum as part of a reaccreditation process through the American Alliance of Museums. During my scheduled time block with them, it was not the interrogation I imagined. We simply chatted casually about the daily care and training that I do with our live animals.  At the end I asked if they had any questions for me. One of the reviewers said, "I think that says it all." He indicated the sign I have posted above the whiteboard: The quality of our work is the quality of their lives. I truly believe this sentiment. Any time I think about cutting corners because I'm busy or tired, I realize that our animals deserve my best - even if it takes a little extra willpower some days - because the quality of their life depends on it.  It was meaningful to be recognized by the reviewer for this core belief that has shaped my work at the Museum.

Shipping live worms can get expensive. Especially when we need a re-supply in the middle of winter when heat packs add to the shipping cost. That's why I decided to try raising my own mealworm colony this year. It has taken trial and error to figure out a system to keep worms and pupae safe from the voracious adult beetles.  This week I checked on a bin with a post-it note labeled "Teeny Mealworms, egg sifted 3/16/26." I was delighted to see hoards of little wiggling worms. At about two months old, the worms were finally big enough to feed to our tree frog! Yum!

I have very stressful memories of learning to make braided paracord jesses during one of my internships years ago. The process requires threading one piece of paracord through another. I learned to burn one end of the cord and push it through with a bent paperclip. Frustration ensued as it often took 10 or 20 attempts to pass it through completely. Luckily, I found a new tool that makes it much easier. The fid is a blunt needle made for weaving or lacing paracord. The fid holds onto one end of paracord and can smoothly guide it through the second piece of cord. Now this step of the jess-making process takes just 1 or 2 attempts. Whew! I learned that the Latin word fides means "trust." The root can be found in words like con fid ence or fid elity. I don't know if the paracord fid was named after  fides,  but I certainly feel like I can trust this piece of equipment to keep my frustration at bay.

Carson the Red-tailed Hawk was so excited for her first bath of the season!

Providing a spa experience for a snake is pretty simple. A plastic box with damp moss is all Emory needs for a cool, humid sauna. The rat snake got this treatment when her eyes turned milky white. This is a sign that her skin, including the scales over her eyes, is getting ready to shed. The high humidity box will help the old skin peel off easily when she's ready.

I noticed Carson the Red-tailed Hawk busying herself in her nest corner a few weeks ago. The beginning of breeding season certainly made sense to me when the temperatures were in the 40's and 50's. But surely she wouldn't worry about her nest now that it was covered in snow, right? Carson's strong nesting instinct proved me wrong, however, when I saw footprints in the snow alongside snow-covered sticks. When nesting season has begun, not even a snowstorm can stop it!

Last week, Aldo, Carson, and I hopped into the van and headed to the Twin Cities for their annual vet appointments. I was excited to unload at The Raptor Center and take the elevator down to the clinic. I knew our birds would be in the very best hands.  During Carson the Red-tailed Hawk's exam, I got to feel squishy fat pads behind her legs. While interesting, it was a sign that she was overweight. I'd have to adjust her diet when we got home.  Aldo the American Kestrel Then it was Aldo's turn. I was perhaps most anxious about his eye exam since cataracts were spotted in the kestrel's eyes two years ago. Luckily, Dr. Annette found the cataracts were the same size and were likely not impeding his vision.  Afterwards, we made our way back up the elevator and I loaded two healthy birds back in the van. And I breathed a sigh of relief at another smooth vet visit.

Aldo comes inside when the outdoor temperatures dip below 10°F, so he has been in the office a lot recently. When people ask why, they often nod and answer their own question: "oh, because he's so small!" But size can't be the only way to explain this bird's winter hardiness.  Both my daughter and my cat delighted in watching chickadees at our bird feeder last weekend. Weighing in at just a half-ounce, chickadees are 1/7th the size of Aldo the American Kestrel. Yet they survived even through our recent -30°F nights.  My whole family was enthralled with watching the bird feeder at breakfast! Chickadees have fascinating strategies to cope with Wisconsin's winters. They ensure a food supply by hiding seeds in the fall, and enlarging the memory portion of their brain (hippocampus) by 30% to remember where those seed caches are located. Small owls, about the same size as kestrels, also overwinter here. They can locate prey under a blanket of snow with their amazing...

Red-tailed Hawks are built for Wisconsin winters. Many migrate south to find food, but with a steady food source, large hawks can handle the cold. On really cold days, though, I like to bring Carson inside to unthaw for a few moments with her lunch. This week I set her in her crate and offered half of a rat. I intended to take a photo of her enjoying her meal, but she had swallowed it before I managed to get my camera up! She tucked a foot and I let her rest for a few more minutes until going back outside.

Is it strange that I was excited to break out a brand new spray bottle? I pulled it out of storage to replace the old, now broken, spray bottle that contained our daily disinfectant. This new bottle was larger, so I had to figure out how to mix the proper concentration of disinfectant that would be effective at killing dangerous pathogens like avian influenza.  I didn't learn much in my high school chemistry class that remained relevant in my adult life. But in situations like this, I am always thankful that Mrs. S taught us an easy way to calculate conversions.  I grabbed a piece of scratch paper and drew a long horizontal line. I added 16 oz of water, the capacity of the new spray bottle, at one end. The Rescue disinfectant label told me I needed to mix a concentration of 1 part Rescue with 64 parts water, so I added that to the line. The water units cancel each other out and I am left with how much Rescue I will need to add to the new spray bottle: 16 ÷ 64 = 0.25 oz Rescue....

Every fall, Carson's weight skyrockets along with her appetite. Though our Red-tailed Hawk doesn't need migration reserves stored away like some of her wild relatives, Carson still has the instinct to bulk up for winter.  Carson eagerly awaits her next rat tidbit while standing on the scale. We bumped up Carson's daily food amount in September as she started acting more and more desperate for her meals. Her weight climbed steadily. She reached over 1,500g (3.3lbs) and I began decreasing her food gradually, trying to keep her within her healthy weight range. But it always amazes me how her weight continues to increase even with less food. How does her body do it?

"Aren't you afraid of her beak so close to your face?" That's a question I hear occasionally during raptor programs when Carson the Red-tailed Hawk sits on my glove. Though her sharp, hooked beak is inches from my nose, I am honestly more concerned about her feet. Raptor beaks are usually just for eating; talons are made for grabbing. To avoid those talons, I am always very careful about how I move my right hand. When offering tidbit treats, I always hold the food in forceps to keep my hand at a distance. And I deliver the food high, straight to her beak. If I move it too low, she might be tempted to grab the food with her foot. Sometimes my hand needs to come within striking distance of those talons like earlier this week when I applied a leather conditioning grease to her anklets. This required my full attention to avoid getting a talon in my hand. Before coming near her feet, I showed Carson my open hand to say, "see? No food here." I reached around the b...

It was time for a beak trim for Otto the Great Horned Owl. As long as he was down for the procedure, I also planned to replace the leather equipment on his legs. I cut off the old anklets with difficulty, navigating around bunches of fluffy leg feathers, and was surprised how stiff the leather felt. I tried folding the old leather strip in half and heard a snap. It was so brittle that a crack had formed along the length! The leather didn't break completely, but it was still good that I had replacement parts ready to go. These new strips were lathered in a protective grease to keep the leather supple until their next replacement. 

I noticed recently that the rope on Carson's perch was rather smooth. Smooth surfaces are rare in nature and can cause foot problems for our raptors. It was time to re-rope the perch! I unscrewed the perch from the wall and removed the old rope. I carefully wound the new sisal rope tightly around the 2x4 and reinstalled the perch. When Carson returned to her mew, she looked indifferent. But I like to think that she appreciated my handiwork! 

I started recording our snakes' behaviors  in 2023 and invited Museum visitors to contribute their observations while visiting the Curiosity Center. A QR code routes to a form where staff or visitors answer questions about what the snakes are doing. Where is the snake? What is she doing? How does she respond if you move in front of her window? I checked in on the results this week and was pleased to see so many responses, over half of which were submitted by visitors. One commented, "Love this interactive info request!" I'm so happy that this project has given people a new way to interact with our live animals! Not surprisingly, the data pointed to two common reptile characteristics. Both Digger and Emory spent the most time close to their heat lamps, and they both spent most of their time motionless. As ectothermic animals that can't create their own body heat, it makes sense that they spend time in warm places and conserve energy by resting. I also noticed trend...