Category Archives: FCWR

My Raptor Internship at Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation is winding down. Since this week was the first session since the initial class that I didn’t take any photographs, this will be a very brief summary of the day. The lecture for this week focused on rehabilitation and medical issues. We also spent some time reviewing previous material in preparation for the final exam next week. (eek!)

In the afternoon we had the usual cleaning duty and handling experience. I took Meepy out of her mew. I heard her vocalize for the first time and I suddenly understood the meaning of her name. She meeped at me! She actually seemed a bit out of sorts and it took me a few tries to get her on the glove. After a walk on the FCWR grounds I put her into the weathering yard and my fellow classmates then all took turns practicing equipment removal and assembly with Meepy. Part of our exam next week will be practical so I think we were all happy to have the extra bit of practice. Until then I’ll be studying my notes!

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During this week’s Raptor Internship at Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, we learned about raptor diets. We also got to watch Pip do a bit more flight training. Along with the usual handling experience and mew maintenance, I got to hold a Red-tailed Hawk for the first time. (!!)

Pip the Barn Owl was given some more flight training. Last week we watched two of Flint Creek’s volunteers, Karen and Linda, work with Pip. This time two classmates got to flight train. Pip started out a bit over-enthusiastic – flying before he should have. Then after a few flights he completely lost all interest, the rascal.

As the class was coming inside after the flight training, a huge huge flock of Sandhill Cranes flew overhead. I took this crummy video – see how big the flock is?

After lunch some classmates took Junior and Meepy out of their mews. The rest of us waited inside while Dawn brought 0511 into the classroom. I got to hold her first.

Dawn warned that if she bated, it wouldn’t feel like anything we’d experienced before – like she was taking our arm away with her! 0511 was agitated during the initial transfer and I was awed by her strength.

First taking 0511 onto my glove

0511 starts to settle down

Once the transfer from Dawn to me was complete, I was surprised by how heavy 0511 was. She didn’t fully relax while I was holding her and a few times I could feel her strong talon grabbing my arm – what power!

0511’s powerful talons

Nervous but happy

Most of the time her legs remained in a somewhat awkward position and she kept her wings slightly spread. It probably didn’t help that I was nervous, too. I was waiting for a bate but after a while my arm felt fatigued so I gave her back to Dawn.

After this we took turns walking with Junior and Meepy. Towards the end of my walk with Junior, he bated and didn’t correct himself. I was happy to have the chance to lift him back up, with coaching from both Dawn and Linda, who were nearby at the time. During my walk with Meepy I took the long path. 🙂

While we were cleaning out a couple of the mews, Dawn showed us the insides of a quail (prey item), to illustrate the digestive tract of a bird. We had seen diagrams in the morning but it was helpful to see the real deal. Lucky for you I did not manage to take photos of this. 😉

Next week: Rehabilitation.

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The focus during this week’s Raptor Internship was training education birds. The brief lecture covered how to glove and flight train a bird, and training using positive vs negative reinforcement.

Two volunteers, along with Pip, then demonstrated flight training using a creance.

Pip on the glove, prior to a flight

Pip in flight

Pip about to land on the glove

The trainers face away from each other between the flights. During this time the receiver prepares the food reward on the glove and the bird finishes the food it has just received from the last flight. When the bird and the receiver are ready, both trainers turn around and the receiver blows her whistle to signal the bird to fly.

Here’s a closer look at the creance. It’s a piece of capped PVC pipe with some sand (?) inside to make it the appropriate weight for the bird in training.

Dawn explained that lures may also be used to flight train a bird, and she showed the following two examples. The pigeon might be used for training a bird like a Peregrine Falcon, while the black and white “skunk” might be used for a Great Horned Owl.

In the afternoon we had more handling experience. I took Pip first and since he had flight jesses on, I had to change his equipment, which went pretty smoothly. Next I walked with Meepy, and finally with Darwin. All of the students were walking around the grounds at the same time; it was like a parade of raptors.

After the raptor walkies, it was time to clean out a couple of the mews. I hadn’t cleaned while a bird was in its cage before, but I got to pick up waste and change the water in Zen’s place while he watched me warily from the corner. Next I worked in Junior’s mew. Junior’s a bit horny these days, which might mean he could be aggressive towards people. While I was picking up, volunteer Karen kept an eye on Junior and stood guard in case he got any bad ideas. For those keeping track, I found another two headless mice while cleaning out the mews this week. 😉 Next week: feeding and nutrition!

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Wow, I can’t believe the Raptor Internship is already over the halfway point! This week’s lecture was about housing requirements for raptors, and about transporting birds. As usual, in the afternoon we had handling experience.

First we observed as Dawn and volunteer Karen changed the anklets on 0511 (“oh-five-eleven”), one of Flint Creek’s resident Red-tailed Hawks. Here’s 0511 before the procedure. She’s so beautiful!

Then we all took turns walking with Darwin. Darwin was the first bird we handled, back in week 3. Here he is on a classmate’s glove before going outside. Isn’t he gorgeous?

When we weren’t walking, we were scrubbing & cleaning. The highlight for me was finding a headless mouse in Darwin’s mew. 😛

After everyone had a turn walking with Darwin, it was nearly time to leave for the day so we were dismissed. One classmate and I stayed a bit longer so we could walk with Darwin alone. Our first solo walk with a bird! Thank you Connie for taking a few photos of me with Darwin. Here’s my favorite.

During the walk I passed a man and his daughter who were interested in Darwin. I told them he was an American Kestrel and was going to say more but the man started to approach me and I suddenly got nervous. Raptor education FAIL. I politely asked the man and his daughter if they wouldn’t mind to continue their walk. Later I passed another man walking on the path; he offered to stop and let us pass. I had the idea he had been walking there before and passing someone with a bird on the glove wasn’t so remarkable to him.

After everyone had left, Dawn asked if I wanted to put Darwin back in his mew, and feed him. Oh, sure, I can do that. 😉 Dawn handed me a mouse and I walked into Darwin’s mew. I set the mouse on a stump and removed his equipment. It had been a while since I’d worked on removing a leash extender so I it took me a minute. Then I raised my hand to let Darwin fly to his perch. I didn’t open my fingers enough and he was a bit stuck for a moment before his jesses were free from my glove. I felt bad about it but Darwin wasn’t hurt and I certainly learned from my mistake – that won’t happen again.

Next week: training (and hopefully less mice than this week).

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During this week’s Raptor Internship at Flint Creek we finished covering the natural history of raptor species. In the afternoon we had more handling practice.

First we wrapped up discussing the diurnal raptors and then covered the nocturnal raptors of North America, again with a focus on the birds most commonly seen in Illinois. During part of the lecture Dawn had Turkey, Flint Creek’s resident Turkey Vulture, on her glove. Turkey likes to stand with his wings spread out. While Dawn was lecturing, he yawned several times. I guess he’d heard it all before.

Before the lunch break I asked who we would be handling in the afternoon. Just then Junior, one of Flint Creek’s Great Horned Owls, was being brought into the building by a volunteer. As if to answer me, right at that moment he hooted loudly. I had my answer – we’d get to work with Junior!

Junior came to Flint Creek via RAPTOR, Inc, in Ohio. He’s got quite a history, a big part of which you can read over at Susan’s blog: The owl who loved me. Junior has been at Flint Creek since 2007. The past two winters he has had a female Great Horned Owl outside his mew and trying to get in, apparently interested in his amorous calls (she would move on, eventually). From what I have seen, Junior is very vocal. The boy loves to hoot.

One thing we heard about Junior was that although he is fully flighted, he has a tendency to not correct himself after a bate. Before we took turns walking with him, Dawn brought him into the classroom to see if he would bate, so she could demonstrate how to help him back up. He was not immediately cooperative.

Once outside, just before handing him off to the first student, he bated. He didn’t self-correct so the other students ran over to watch Dawn demonstrate getting him upright again.

While one student was walking with Junior, the rest of us helped a bit with mew maintenance (ie cleaning up poop, pellets & leftovers, scrubbing and replenishing water).

Finally it was my turn to walk with Junior.

He was so relaxed during our walk around the grounds. I was kind of hoping he would bate so I could correct him, but he was just chillaxing, giving a hoot here and there and looking around. And it was a nice day for a change, with lots of sun breaking through big white clouds, not too cold.

Back inside I took a few more photos of him. Gratuitous glam shots:

Later we all got to walk with Meepy again (squee!) and take a second walk with Junior. Meepy was like a different bird, she was so much more relaxed than last week. I was also more relaxed, and I was able to keep my arm in position much better than before. I could see a big improvement in myself from last week to this week. 🙂 Still need to work on my arm strength though.

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