The Say’s Phoebes Are All Grown Up
Click on the photo above to see the phoebes eat mealworms all by themselves!
25 New Babies This Week
New arrivals included 8 new raptor youngsters, including this kidnapped fledgling American Kestrel. We will try and return him to his family. If that’s not possible he can join a family of kestrels who just fledged young at BMW’s Tri-Cities Center.
Seven non-raptor species were admitted this past week including American Robins, House Finches, a California Quail and a fledgling Mourning Dove who made it out of its nest and onto the ground, only to run into a weed eater. It has a laceration along its neck that is fairly superficial.
Doves are in the Columbid family and don’t beg for food like baby songbirds. They reach into their mom’s mouth to eat the “pigeon milk” in her crop. It didn’t take this little guy long to figure out how to get seed out of our artificial mom (maybe doves are color blind).
Bald Eagle 17-202
The eighth eagle of the year arrived this past week, from Chelan, WA. The good news is it’s blood lead test was negative, the only eagle this year to have no lead. The bad news is his left elbow was dislocated. We manipulated the wing until the elbow joint seemed to be in the proper position and immobilized the wing with a bandage. Now the question is will it stay in place. Time will tell.
Thank You BMW Volunteers and Staff
Blue Mountain Wildlife volunteers and staff are some of the most dedicated people on the planet. Volunteers drive hundreds of miles (sometimes in one day) to help wildlife needing care. Just this past week birds were transported from Yakima and the lower Yakima Valley, the Tri-Cities, Chelan, and Walla Walla in Washington, and Enterprise and Baker City in Oregon to Pendleton. An injured fox was transported from Prosser Animal Hospital to WSU in Pullman, WA.
BMW staff, including interns, are also incredibly dedicated, working long hours for far less pay than they deserve. Thank you staff and volunteers. BMW could not fulfill its mission of preserving local native wildlife through rehabilitation, research and education without you.
If you are interested in volunteering or would like to learn more about Blue Mountain Wildlife, visit www.bluemountainwildlife.org.
And Finally, The Youngest New Arrivals: Hatchling Western Screech Owls
