I spent 3 months in Key West from October too to learn the basics of avian husbandry and I can safely say it was the craziest 3 months of my life. Running around all over the shop picking up injured birds, cormorants, pelicans, hawks and falcons of every shape and size sure did work me to the bone. The weather wasn't bad though, if it was below 70F that was deemed as 'cold'. Madness. I was tube feeding baby doves which had fallen from the nest and hand feeding the pelicans with beak deformities. It was definitely an experience to say the least. After packing my bags and returning home I spent a couple of months taking stock of what I had learnt and writing up a report for university. Then I packed up and left for Alaska in March for another 3 month stint.
The upside of BTLC is the we don't go chasing around injured birds to bring them back to be fixed. The birds come to us, often in a large crate sent via air cargo (Alaska is a big place!) by some very nice airlines who don't charge us an arm and a leg for the service. The birds who come to us aren't your regular garden bird feeder residents either, we're working with Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles... and the little birds too!
Most come to us starving and dehydrated after a few weeks of unsuccessful hunting, found on the ground and unable to get away. Some have more serious injuries like broken wings, legs or high numbers of ticks or lice in amongst their feathers. It's not a glamorous job and we often gain ourselves some 'eagle presents'. Lice that decide they need a new home, in our clothes! Guhhh disgusting, and so itchy!
It's definitely worth it though, many of the eagles (currently a third of those that we intake) end up being released back into the wild to fight another day. These are huge events with many people from the local community present to see the magnificent sight of such a huge graceful bird returning to the sky after weeks, or sometimes months of care. But it's not all about eagles...
We often get calls from the public about dead waxwings lying under bushes, and we ask them to bring them in. Waxwings are buffy brown all over with black bars on the wings and a neat little birdy zorro mask over their eyes, a little smaller than an American Robin. They're pretty handsome and it just so happens that nine times out of ten they aren't dead at all... actually they've had a pretty good time, getting drunk on fermenting berries. Waxwings aren't picky when it comes to what berries to choose, and they often get into those which have fallen on the ground and have begun to ferment. Berries + fermentation = a very slight alcoholic content, and if they eat enough they can become drunk.
Yes drunk.
Drunk waxwings.
So what do you do with a drunk bird? I don't think AA would take kindly to the new members, after all... they're rather messy! (Those berry seeds have to get out somehow!) Well, what we do is introduce them to the birdy drunk tank. Essentially, we hydrate them, give them a drug to reduce the swelling (they might have fallen out of a tree and that won't help a hangover) and leave them to recover. With some fresh, 0% proof berries and lots of water the waxwings are back on their little toes in no time. We find them a flock to join as they are very social birds and don't appreciate being on their own, and hope they shun the bottle the next time it comes around!
Alcoholic avians... who knew! More on the happenings of Bird TLC next time... and by next time I mean tomorrow.
Fly safe,
G x
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