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Owl-banding & wildlife care...
Nov. 4th, 2010 11:23 amI had my second owl-banding volunteer night on Tuesday -- just a few pictures, because we were too BUSY to stop and take pics. We caught 54 owls -- 2 same-night recaptures, 2 same-season recaptures, 1 previous season recapture, and 49 new ones -- which is the second-biggest night they've had since starting banding in this location 6 years ago. The record is 62... but we only stopped banding on Tuesday because we ran out of bands. We had net-runs of 12 and 13 owls, and the last run had 9 owls, which suggests that if we hadn't run out of bands, we could have stayed open and perhaps broken that record. As it was, I got home at 1:45am.
First, though, a pic of a couple of owls from the demo night on 10/30:
( More this way... )
In addition to the owl-banding volunteering, last weekend I also started volunteering for wildlife care at the same Mass Audubon facility; I'm doing Saturday mornings. (Fortunately, it means getting up no earlier than for work. For someone like me, who is such a night person and hates getting up early, it's painful to lose a weekend sleeping-in day, but I'm giving it a try.)
It was interesting, and kind of fun and rewarding. Being new, I was started out on the duck and goose enclosures. (The ducks and geese are let outside in the morning and come back inside for overnight. Their inside pens have to be completely cleaned out.) This pretty much meant scraping up duck and geese poop; but I guess what's fortunate about that is that they're largely fed pellets, so as poop goes, it could be worse (and smellier). At least it's a very accomplished feeling when you finish and have a nice clean enclosure ready for them!
After that, I was part of the team that went over to Bird Hill, which is where they have several raptors (and a crow) in flight cages that the public can view. All of the animals are of the "can't be released" variety (injured, like a missing eye or wing; or imprinted on humans); it isn't a rehab place. They have a lot of animals and birds that are "education" animals (taken out to schools and stuff), and then some who are just to be viewed, which is what the Bird Hill ones are. I got to go into the flight cages -- with a great horned owl, a little broadwinged hawk, and the crow -- where I picked up any leftover mouse bits (mmm, entrails!), cleaned up visible random poop, and left fresh water and fresh mice (providing a bit of a challenge to parents walking by with small children). That was pretty neat, and not too onerous either.
I'm kind of glad that I'm starting in fall, though. I don't exactly look forward to days when it's raining (everybody has to be fed, no matter the weather), but it's really good that it's not hot or buggy right now.
First, though, a pic of a couple of owls from the demo night on 10/30:
( More this way... )
In addition to the owl-banding volunteering, last weekend I also started volunteering for wildlife care at the same Mass Audubon facility; I'm doing Saturday mornings. (Fortunately, it means getting up no earlier than for work. For someone like me, who is such a night person and hates getting up early, it's painful to lose a weekend sleeping-in day, but I'm giving it a try.)
It was interesting, and kind of fun and rewarding. Being new, I was started out on the duck and goose enclosures. (The ducks and geese are let outside in the morning and come back inside for overnight. Their inside pens have to be completely cleaned out.) This pretty much meant scraping up duck and geese poop; but I guess what's fortunate about that is that they're largely fed pellets, so as poop goes, it could be worse (and smellier). At least it's a very accomplished feeling when you finish and have a nice clean enclosure ready for them!
After that, I was part of the team that went over to Bird Hill, which is where they have several raptors (and a crow) in flight cages that the public can view. All of the animals are of the "can't be released" variety (injured, like a missing eye or wing; or imprinted on humans); it isn't a rehab place. They have a lot of animals and birds that are "education" animals (taken out to schools and stuff), and then some who are just to be viewed, which is what the Bird Hill ones are. I got to go into the flight cages -- with a great horned owl, a little broadwinged hawk, and the crow -- where I picked up any leftover mouse bits (mmm, entrails!), cleaned up visible random poop, and left fresh water and fresh mice (providing a bit of a challenge to parents walking by with small children). That was pretty neat, and not too onerous either.
I'm kind of glad that I'm starting in fall, though. I don't exactly look forward to days when it's raining (everybody has to be fed, no matter the weather), but it's really good that it's not hot or buggy right now.
