Michele reports there are 28 young Barn Owls at the Tri-cities Center. Most are large enough to eat a whole mouse so are outside in nest boxes. It must be a record year for voles. The resident male Barn Owl continues to make nightly deliveries of  multiple voles to each nest box.

One lone, slightly fuzzy, young Barn Owl was admitted to the Pendleton Center. It was found in a yard near Echo, Oregon. He appears to be healthy. We will attempt to reunite him with his family.

We had Visitors!

Students and parents from St. Basil Academy in Walla Walla visited this past week. The clouds were ominous, but the rain did not fall as they learned about hawks, owls, eagles, falcons and turkey vultures!

Thank You Toni For Sharing Your Pictures

Amazing photographer Toni Faust sent these photos of the Osprey who are nesting at the east end of Pendleton. This is a good reminder to always pick up loose bailing twine. One Osprey was tangled in the twine…

It was able to get the twine off its leg and the other Osprey picked up the twine and removed it from the nest. Two lucky Osprey! Hopefully they will find no more baling twine to use for nest decorations.

Please, always dispose of used baling twine so nothing gets tangled in it.

You can now visit BMW’s Online Store…

Click on the photo below to visit the store. We are starting out slowly with three different graphics. More options will be added as we learn the ropes. Thank you to Winnie, with help from Samantha and Tricia, for creating the store.

The young Barn Owls that Tricia and Michele banded last week are now outside in a hack box at the Tri-Cities Center.

Many of the hack boxes are “duplexes” like the one pictured above. They are mounted on a platform that is fastened to a 12 foot pipe. The boxes are placed near trees that provide shade during the day and a place for the owls to roost once they fledge. Initially, food (mice) is placed inside the box. Once the owls fledge, the mice are placed on top of the box. 

You may recall a few weeks ago we relocated a barn owl and her eggs to the hack site because the building where she nested was being torn down. The owl initially sat on her eggs, but then abandoned the nest and the eggs froze. The owl is now layng more eggs in the same hack box and a male Barn Owl who was raised at the hack site (we know this because he is banded) is bringing her food! This is one example of a benefit of banding rehab birds. 

The Education Birds at the Pendleton Center also think it’s spring. Harlan has started laying eggs. If you look closely, you can see one speckled egg on the right side of the nest. She is very protective of her egg!

Bald Eagles Jonathan and Rita are also working on a nest…

Intern Lizzie arrived this past week. Lizzie is a junior at Brigham Young University – Idaho majoring in Fisheries, Range and Wildlife Management. She is hoping to become a wildlife rehabilitator. Tricia is giving her some pointers about working with a Turkey Vulture on her glove. Daryl is a willing partner.

BMW’s Online Store is open for business!

Click on the photo below to visit the store. We are starting out slowly with three different graphics. More options will be added as we learn the ropes. Thank you to Winnie, with help from Samantha and Tricia, for creating the store.

Very Exciting News!!!!

Last, but not least, we have exciting news to share. Blue Mountain Wildlife has been named as a beneficiary of the estate of Morris Thompson of Boardman, OR. BMW’s board of directors is determining the best way to utilize the bequest with the goal of building a new wildlife hospital.  

Tricia and I and visiting veterinarian Jonit Greenberger traveled to BMW’s Tri-Cities Center and banded 10 young Barn Owls. Michele then placed them in a hack (nest) box. They will be ready to fledge from the box in about month. 

Since Tricia and I came from the Pendleton Center, we wore appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), so as not to inadvertently expose birds at the hack site to any infectious disease, specifically Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, HPAI, that we may have encountered at the Pendleton Center. 

Bald Eagle 23-024

The only high risk species currently at the Pendleton Center is Bald Eagle 23-024. He is responding well to treatment for lead toxicity. He tested negative on admission with the FluDetect screening test for HPAI. On Friday we received the results from the OSU Diagnostic Lab that the PCR test for HPAI (a much more accurate test) was also negative. That means we can safely move him from the Quarantine Building to the Main Clinic.

His damaged wingtip is healing nicely so we have removed his wing bandage. On Wednesday, when we recheck his blood lead level, we will remove the foot bandage. If the halux fracture seems stable, we will leave the foot bandage off. His appetite is excellent and he is eating cut up rat with gusto!

Its Baby Season

It is the time of year when wildlife are having babies. Please call before picking up baby wildlife! Generally they do not need to be rescued. A doe will hide her fawn in a safe place and then leave it to forage for food. The fawn is much safer that way. You are putting it in danger if you try to “rescue” it. 

If you find young birds on the ground that appear to be fully feathered, do not assume they are injured if they cannot fly. Baby birds grow very fast. Songbirds are generally full grown when they fledge. Within a few days, their feathers will also be fully developed and they will be flying. Their parents will continue to feed them while they learn to fly.

Raptors take a little longer to develop, but they can often be renested if they end up on the ground. If you have questions, please give us a call. Even though we can provide food for a baby bird, its parents are the best ones to teach it the ways of the bird world!

This young Great Horned Owl ended up on the ground. She was “rescued” and taken to Animal Clinic East in Walla Walla where she received a clean bill of health. Michele returned her to her family on Saturday. Young owls are very good at climbing trees. This youngster would probably have been back up in a tree by the next morning.

There were just three admissions to the Pendleton Center this past week and all occurred on Wednesday. Red-tailed Hawk 23-025 and Sharp-shinned Hawk 23-026  both had non-repairable wing fractures and were humanely euthanized.

Bald Eagle 23-024 is being treated for lead toxicity. The eagle was found near Baker City and transported to BMW by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. In addition to having a blood lead level of 52 micrograms/deciliter (20 mcg/dl is considered toxic), the eagle has fractures in his left wingtip and left halux (backward pointing toe). He seems to be responding well to chelation to remove the lead from his blood. We will have to see how the fractures affect his ability to maneuver in flight and grasp prey with his left foot.

BMW Volunteers To The Rescue!!!

BMW volunteers Kenny and Janie responded to a call from a woman in the Tri-Cities who could hear scrambling noises in the wall behind her microwave oven. They took the microwave down and reached in the vent to remove two starlings. The starlings were released at the Yakima delta and they encouraged the woman to install a cover on the microwave vent. Now is a good time to make sure all the vents in your house have appropriate covers. Cavity nesting birds and squirrels are looking for a warm and cozy place to nest!

Update on the Honduran Milksnake

The week before last, Jared Mitchell, USDA Wildlife Services, brought BMW a Honduran Milksnake that had been found in a box taken to Goodwill. Since it is a non-native species, releasing the snake was not an option. She has been transferred to former intern Adrian’s expert care. Adrian sent the photos below and reports that the snake is adapting well to her new temporary enclosure and is preparing to shed. If you look closely at her eyes in the bottom photo, you can see they are blue. That means her ocular scale is separating from her eye while she develops a new one. We are so fortunate to have caring folks like Jared and Adrian to help us out! Thank you both!