The title's just here to distract you from the fine print.

First a couple of crops from the shots I posted yesterday. I viewed them full size and just fell in love with the expressions on those silly birds and had to have them in my journal.





For contrast, the babe alone, pre-introduction. Any doubt that they're happier not kept as pets when you see the contrast?



Next, and I'm only going to say this once, so if anyone inadvertantly scolls past the warning and is squicked out don't come a squallin' at me...

MOUSES!!!

First up in this section, the cute. Welcome to the baby mouse ball.



Help yourself to a drink.



Yeah, their cages can get kinda icky. We don't clean them or move mice when there are really young ones in there. The colony's strong and can take it, though. In all the years I've been there I can count on one hand the sick mice I've seen.

Next up in this section, one count on that hand. Scabby the mouse.

We segregated him from the colony weeks ago. We segregated him because we didn't have the heart to euthanize him. We segregated him to allow him to die in peace.

He fooled us but good.

Two weeks ago that bald patch was one big scab. Last week it was half the size. I could have kissed him when I saw it was gone, but nnnnnnnnnnnyeaaaaah... I'm not kissing him.



Blurry shot, but that's because he's so active, and that's a good thing! You can kind of see how his one eye is still scabby here, but again, two weeks ago both eyes were just red raw:



When I gave him that wheel two weeks ago he could barely take two steps on it between scratchings. He kept on stepping though. I didn't even see him scratch once this week, and what's more he'd been so busy digging around all week I had to unbury a great bulk of it to make it usable again.

My little hero. The body he's trapped in might have a fierce case of the uglies at the moment, but what a lovely little being. With the quota of losses we face at the shelter, unexpected saves are cherished indeed.

It takes years to develop all the skills necessary to be a proper title.

Eagle lessons, week one.

Thor supervises Totem Pole practice:



...aaaaaaaaand right, two three four...



...and then instructs a class in yapping 101:



Guest lecturer Mr. About To Be Released offers a workshop in flapping...





...with a special section on how not to get knocked off your perch.







Yes, Golden, some birds do need to be taught this stuff. Don't look so incredulous - you were awkward and graceless once yourself.



All is harmony and happiness by all appearance. Apparently I do, though, still bear the scent of satan to certain rebandaged individuals lurking behind the perches in the tall grass.

At least I didn't have to rotate the title 90 degrees.

A long but lovely day at the shelter.

It's funny - I'm always very humbled by compliments on my photos. Very honestly so - I point and click and out of eighty one shots I get a handful of keepers. Yay me. I'm also always ready to admit that it's pretty hard to take a bad picture of such gorgeous beings.

Proving that my method can defeat the most spectacular subject matter, then, I present the following:

Our beloved, majestic Ferruginous Hawk, in a pose very similar to ones I've had immortalized, and which have inspired me to utter the unkindest epithets upon the photographer:



A shot of the Long Eared Owl that speaks for itself:



Happily persistence does pay off with these guys, and the perfection of design prevails.



Adorableness is almost impossible to screw up, thankfully. You can certainly always count on a Short Eared Owl for adorableness, too.



He really was in just the sweetest mood. While he was in a spare cage having his cleaned I took the opportunity to score a shot with some itty bitty owlie feet (there are a lot of owl feet fans in the world!).



He was easy to pick up and handle, and when I went to put him back he stood calmly on my hand looking for a good place to land. When he spotted the food I left on his tree stump he leapt and landed on it, and couldn't have looked more pleased. That moment was simply too cute to disrupt with photography.

Speaking of cute, you can't beat Kestrels for that.



Especially not two Kestrels with one wing each that devotedly leap to protect one another whenever their cage door is opened.



They were in mellow moods too, though. I didn't get screamed at even once. That's no mean feat with Kestrels.

Here's a fellow that doesn't know the meaning of the word mellow. I've learned to crack the door of the room he's in open and wait for him to stop bouncing off the walls before proceeding. I waited until all was quiet, and as soon as I opened the door just wide enough to get my body through I was punched in the gut with a Cooper Hawk body slam.



I'm thinking a very releasable bird, that one. Unlike, of course, this one.



Chubby little Brigitte here is an imprint. He (yes he - at least that's the current guess. Obviously there have been different guesses in the past.) had just had a squabble with his brother, and went crying and squalling over to Diva there for consolation. It's always something with Brigitte. The dynamic between the three Great Horned Owls really seems to have de-Diva-ed Diva, too. He's so mellow now, and seems really happy in there. He was totally cool with Brigitte coming over... almost as if he were used to it...

...I get the feeling I'm calling the wrong owl "diva".

Last but far from least, a brand new Dove. You can never have enough Doves.

Beaver Pond Trail

What's the last thing you expect to see on a trail called "Beaver Pond Trail"?



Well it is, really. I think I'd swerve off the road out of sheer shock if I ever saw a deer crossing at a deer crossing sign. They don't know what those signs mean.

Of course the deer don't put those signs up themselves, either. Beavers are considerably more proactive about declaring their presence.

A random title for some random shots.

Here's a Red Tail whose injury is pretty self evident displaying the most could barely be bothered to display display I've ever seen. She's definitely not habituated - I think she was just being lazy.



Here's the Bald Eagle we have scheduled for release. Not a technically great shot, but I like getting shots of attitudes that don't generally get published. It's not elegant or breathtaking or majestic, but it's as interesting a phase of flight as any other.



Here's our resident Golden reacting to all the Bald Eagle releasing/catching/re-releasing activity going on in her aviary.



Okay, maybe it's more accurately a shot of the Golden not reacting to all the Bald Eagle releasing/catching/re-releasing activity going on in her aviary. We're definitely not concerned with the effects of stress on her metabolism.

Here's the beautiful, soulful Barred Owl.



Those deep brown eyes own my soul.

If I don't read this title often enough it'll turn feral.

The young eagle has continued to improve, but has not stopped exhibitting clear signs of habituation. The only possible cure for that is a bunch of other eagles.

I hauled him outside.



He took flight.



He baffled himself.



Don't look at me, eagle, you put yourself there.



He found his way down.



He surveyed his new roommates.



He took flight again.



He... well, he's young.



He settled in.



Yeah, that's him on top. That's our resident Thor with the open beak vocalizing his opinion of the seating arrangement.

The eagle closest to the foreground is the one that's been flying around. He's due to be released amid much pomp and ceremony. A local lodge is holding a pow wow for him.

The eagle hiding and running away in the back is hiding and running away from me. After hauling the baby out I hauled him in for a wing check and rebandage (visible on his wing there), so he doesn't like me very much. His wing's doing well.

All three will survive their maladies. In the case of the baby it's a true miracle. I only today found out what his bloodwork results were when he was admitted. Well below the threshold at which birds are expected to survive.

It's the year of the eagle indeed. Happily it will be a successful year.

Meanwhile I'm just delighted that Thor has company.

It's too late to write a decent title too.

Why are beavers beloved by all of nature?

Because they make the trees smile!



The rain that has been refreshing us by the bucket allowed enough of a reprieve to get out today. Now it's late and I'm tired, but full very pic intensive posts about Beaver Pond trail are forthcoming!

I wrapped the title in old grocery bags to keep it dry.

Today it rained. Hard. I stayed at home, but my mind was back on Hayburger trail with the butterflies.

Simmon's Trail

I am so in love with this trail.







Just be careful about walking in someone else's footsteps - especially after a rain. Someone might be living in them.