linda bergman-althouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wild Side

The Loon Still Sings

lbergman1althouse — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:23:53 +0000

On their migratory journey south during late fall and winter, beautiful Common Loons, one of the oldest, most primitive of birds known, fly singly or in groups from Canada and the Northeastern United States in search of warmer waters along the Atlantic or the Gulf Coast. When one shows up at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter at 100 Wildlife Way in Newport, because someone found it beached or on the ground, the staff and volunteers at the shelter know it’s more than likely a very bad and probably lethal situation. We pray for a fishing gear injury because we consider that a blessing in a Loon’s case. Untangling line, removing hooks and treating wounds, we can definitely do something about. It’s also not too bad if a migrating Common Loon accidentally lands, softly, on a wet highway or parking lot, mistaking it for a river or lake. A loon may also get stranded on a small pond. In either of those situations, the Loon doesn’t have enough open water for a long take-off because they need a running start, sometimes as much as 400 yards, paddling furiously through the water to take flight. Their legs are placed far back on their bodies which are very good for swimming but does not enable them to walk on land, only awkward scooting by thrusting its chest forward a few inches and dragging both legs back underneath their body. So, most people think they’ve come upon an injured bird when they see the Loon can’t stand up or move about on land. The worst diagnosis, and unfortunately the most common with Loon admits, is mercury or lead poisoning. Loons born in the Northeast are exposed to large quantities of methylmercury, the form of mercury toxic to living things. These birds are particularly vulnerable to environmental poisoning for many reasons. They are long-lived, up to 30 years, and they spend their lives in the water, feeding mostly on fish, but also crustaceans, frogs, and aquatic insects. Loons are divers and can dive up to 250 feet, and a typical foraging dive lasts about 40 seconds. They are large, aquatic birds, with wing spans approaching four feet, which are relatively small in comparison to their thick bodies. A Loon is heavy and dense because their bones are not hollow like most other birds. The portly waterfowl’s white belly stays submerged when swimming and then propels itself with its feet underwater to spot and catch fish. It swallows most of its prey before surfacing. The loon has sharp, rearward-pointing projections on the roof of its mouth and tongue that helps keep a firm hold on slippery fish. Loons spend most of their life on and in the water, only wriggling ashore to mate, incubate eggs, potty and occasionally escape a storm.
As with most birds, the males are much more colorful with a dark head and red eyes, a greenish-black throat band and distinctive white spots on their back and sides. The females are more muted gray with pale mottling but share the white belly. Loons mate for life and typically produce two eggs each year. Incubation takes about 28 days, and the parents share nest duty. During the first week, chicks may crawl onto the back of a parent which is paddling along on the water’s surface. Chicks stay very close to the parents for the first three weeks, and respond immediately to calls warning of raptorial birds (or airplanes) flying overhead by scrambling under an adult’s wing. The chicks grow very rapidly and are nearly the size of the adults within four to six weeks. They also begin to demonstrate their independence by seeking their own food, diving, and exercising their wing muscles. The youngsters retain their dull grey back plumage during that time, although the belly turns white. Some people describe the Loon’s call as eerie or an unearthly tremolo cry, but to me, they sing a beautiful song that awakens a sense of wilderness. Rather than a cry or wail, it’s more like a melancholy yodel. You always know when a loon is present at our shelter, they sing even in captivity, unlike other animals that tend to go silent in the unnatural environment of close human presence, a building or kennel cab. Although difficult to describe, it’s impossible to forget their sound. Depending upon the reason they are being treated, their song can sound happy or sad, but that’s totally a human’s assessment based on knowing the odds, otherwise, it would always be a soothing melody to me. In cases of toxic poisoning, the best we can do is make them comfortable with frequent tub baths and extra padding to lessen chest compression when kenneled, give the Loons time to build up their strength with healthy fish feedings and monitor their weight. We also flush them with fluids to try to rid the gut of mercury buildup, which may not help much if the mercury has already metastasized to organs and body tissues. If they manage to maintain weight or even better, put on weight, we will joyfully and eagerly release them to continue their journey. If, despite ravenously feeding on their own, they rapidly lose weight, it is apparent they are starving from malabsorption caused by chemical poisoning and sadly, will not make it. It’s a tough reality faced by all who work at the shelter, but we manage to approach each treatment plan in an optimistic and positive manner. By providing the best care we can and with a few fingers crossed, we hopefully think this one will make it and in rare, very rare instances, one will.

Keep singing,
Linda Bergman-Althouse
Author of
“Save Them All”
now available as ebook
at Amazon.com

Wild and Merry!

lbergman1althouse — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:12:35 +0000

Every wild release is a time to celebrate at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter (OWLS). When months of care, monitoring and mentoring of wild animals pay off and animals are eventually ready to go their merry way into natural habitats where they can enjoy the lives they were meant to live, it is a time for jubilant high-fives all around. It’s truly a team effort by OWLS wildlife rehabilitators, volunteers and donors that helps get the hawks, eagles, owls, pelicans, marsh birds, cottontails, squirrels, opossums, songbirds, muskrats, ducks, geese, turtles and all the other birds and critters that pass through our clinic door at 100 Wildlife Way in Newport, back to tip-top condition and capable of living in the wild again.
Each wild animal admitted to our care goes through a process of diagnosis and identification of illness or injury that entails a thorough physical examination, x-rays if necessary and laboratory work. We gather as much information as possible on the nature of injury to include the situation and location where the animal was found. After diagnosis, we begin appropriate treatment according to the individual needs of each species of wildlife. The initial treatment is extremely significant and instrumental to a successful rehab outcome. We also consider the stress the animal is trying to manage and remember that this may be the first encounter with humans for this animal coming from the wild.
At the end of medical treatment, to prepare for release, each animal patient is transferred to a pre-release enclosure that mimics life in its native habitat and our monitoring continues. Here, the animal is able to prepare for challenges it will face upon release. Practicing skills such as flight, hunting and life around other animals is crucial for survival following any animal’s release into the wild. During this time, we also research and determine an optimal release site, which is chosen according to the natural environment typical for a specific animal and, if possible, the site where it was found if deemed not to be a perilous location. The timing of release will be determined according to the lifestyle of the animal, daily active hours and months of migration.
In the past few months, releases for our shelter have been sweet, joyful and numerous. A mature Bald Eagle downed by pneumonia is flying free again in Pender County. A young Red-tailed Hawk lacking hunting skills and suffering from starvation recovered to a full figured gal who now knows how to feed herself in the wild. Two sibling Barred Owl babies from Jacksonville that refused to stay in their nest as rambunctious youngins and who were no match for predators on the ground were raised by our resident Barred Owl, Dinah, and released in a wooded area of Onslow County. Pelicans, admitted with fishing gear injuries recovered from lacerations and infections with the help of administered antibiotics, have rejoined their flight crews to skim ocean waves again. Parking lot Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls, clipped by cars or suffering from malnutrition as a result of eating a steady diet of popcorn, bread or Cheetos, are now feeling the wind flow through their wings as they stand guard on dock poles after supervised R&R and a healthy diet of fish. Hundreds of helpless baby squirrels orphaned after the most recent hurricane became fast and furious releases that will continue to amuse us and dwell in trees everywhere. Young, misguided flying squirrels, who had moved into someone’s attic, were added to a robust colony after spending a short time at OWLS. Even a Sora, a small, very secretive marsh bird, hardly anyone ever sees, was returned to the marsh after a brief stay with us for a concussion. Although, a tiny Least Sandpiper could not be released due to a shoulder injury that never healed to 100% function, we did find a home for her with the Boston Aquarium. And there were many more! We’re never sure what’s going through their minds when they take flight, skedaddle into the brush or waddle toward a waterway on release day, but we’d like to think they’re celebrating too and appreciative of their second chance even if they found wildlife rehabilitators somewhat annoying or irritating during their stay in ICU for treatment or while encouraging them to practice their skills, even when they didn’t want to, in their pre-release enclosure, readying themselves for the big “I’m free” day.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! In this wonderful season, I wish you all the warm and special memories your heart can hold!

Linda Bergman-Althouse
Author of “Save Them All”

“Hummin’ South”

lbergman1althouse — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:37:57 +0000

Temperatures are cooling along the coast and that corresponds with the end of blooming season for food plants, so some of the tiniest among us have made a very big decision about whether to stay and tough out our modestly, mild winter or pack it in and head south. My hummingbird feeder has hung without visits since mid-September in Jacksonville. North Carolina’s Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds usually begin migrating south in late summer. Guess it’s time to take the feeder down, clean it up and put it away until next Spring now that all the northern hummers have passed through on their way to winter in Central America or on a Caribbean island. However, the feeder at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter in Newport, North Carolina still has to be replenished often because it remains visited and will be throughout the winter. Even though ruby-throats, the only hummingbirds that breed in the eastern United States during the summer, aren’t well adapted to cold temperatures especially below the mid-20’sF, some choose to stay. It’s amazing that a distance of only thirty-five miles from my house can make such a difference, but they, usually males, have been toughing it out at our shelter for years now. Why? They’re not talking, so we can only guess they don’t want to give up their territory. These little birds are definitely not wimps! Unlike mammals, that “fur up” for winter, these tiny, tropical birds do not grow extra feathering for warmth. However, hummingbirds are capable of entering a hibernation-like state known as torpor during cold spells to conserve energy.
Our shelter sees very few of these wee birds, but when they make it in for treatment, it’s usually something quite serious such as a broken wing or a displaced baby, orphaned by high winds or predator disruption of the nest in which the female is the only guardian because hummingbirds do not mate for life. Every once in a blue moon, we’ll receive a minor injury, such as a sprained wing or a “stunning” which occurs when a hummer has accidently smacked into a window or patio door. The latter injuries are what we hope for at OWLS when a hummingbird is admitted. Then, much needed quiet, recovery time and a healthy diet sprinkled with a wildlife rehabilitator’s TLC is all that’s required before they will soon be zooming their favorite backyard again.

Ruby-throats are quite inquisitive and easily attracted to feeders. Males, who sport the bright red ornamented throat, in particular are typically, territorially aggressive toward rival hummers who want to chow down at “their” feeder, as well as, other birds like the Common House Finch, and even insects such as bees, butterflies and moths. They often spend much of the day perched nearby, guarding their food source against perceived intruders and dutifully running off any encroachers. Hummers quickly become accustomed to people and will feed at flowers while you are gardening or swoop down to investigate red articles of clothing, possibly as potential food sources. Feeders hung at windows attract as many visitors as ones farther from structures. Hummingbird watchers, including those of us at the shelter, find “Hummer Wars” very entertaining, although the chases are obviously serious business to the hungry birds. For a short period immediately after fledging, a female hummingbird encourages and tolerates the presence of her own young at the feeder, but they are soon treated the same as any other adult bird; a rival in pursuit of food necessary to prepare for fall migration.
Everything about a hummingbird is fast. Wing beats are anywhere from forty to eighty beats per second depending upon what they are doing. Flight speed is normally thirty mph, but they shift to fifty mph to escape and have been clocked at 63 mph in a dive. Respiration is 250 breaths per minute. Their resting heart rate measures 250 also and accelerates to 1200 beats per minute while feeding. They are the race horses of birds, but extremely more agile. They fly forward, backward, downward, upward and even upside-down!
They will return to our area March through May, so keep an eye out and get those feeders ready. Their life span, if they make it past the first uncertain year, is five to ten years, so your returnees may have been part of your wildlife family for years! White granulated sugar is the best sweetener to use in hummingbird feeders with a ratio of one part sugar to four parts water. Hummingbirds like very sweet nectar, so anything less than twenty percent will probably be snubbed, and they will move in with your sweeter neighbor. Most feeders have some red decorative element on them somewhere, so there is no need to add red food coloring to the nectar you have prepared. Insects are also a big part of their diet. The presence of hummingbirds is a win-win situation. For just a little payment of sugar water, they will wreck havoc on your pesky, flying bug population, and that’s what the buzz is all about! Until next Spring, I Hope they’re having fun in the tropics.

Linda Bergman-Althouse
Wildlife Rehabilitator
Author of “Save Them All”

Henderson Hawk!

lbergman1althouse — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:00:03 +0000

Calls started coming into the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter in Newport weeks before the young Red-tailed Hawk was finally captured and admitted for care. The reports were all very similar. “I see this hawk sitting on the ground, for hours at a time, in the grassy area by a small stream right next to our building on Henderson Drive in Jacksonville. I can almost walk right up to it.” With each call, someone was dispatched to check out the situation. I went a few times and managed to get very close to the bird, who then flew away quite capably up and over the tree tops. The thought at the time was, she’s just hunting for snakes or toads along the stream. The business owners in the area and their employees enjoyed seeing the bird everyday and affectionately referred to their big bird as ‘Henderson Hawk.’ A day came when an employee called stating she was standing right next to the hawk, took a picture with her smart phone and sent it to me. It was, in fact a young Red-tailed Hawk, and standing next to one in the wild is highly unusual and potentially dangerous. I high-tailed it over to Henderson Drive and was able to walk up to the hawk, pick her up and place her in a kennel cab for transport to our shelter with no resistance, from the hawk anyway. People from the surrounding buildings emerged and walked rather hurriedly toward my car. “What are you doing with our bird or where are you taking our bird?” I explained to them that “it is not normal for me or anyone to be able to walk up to a hawk, let alone, pick it up. There has to be something wrong that needs to be diagnosed and treated,” I explained. They all understood and wanted what was best for “their bird.”
After a thorough examination at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter, the first year Red-tailed Hawk was found to be severely dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition. She was essentially starving. She should have weighed between 1100 – 1500 grams and was only 600. As you can tell from her ‘in the wild’ perched on a rock picture, her head was not well rounded, her eyes dull and sunken, and her emaciated chest could barely support her heavy, drooping wings. The theory is, she had not developed appropriate hunting skills. Mortality among first year hawks is around seventy percent and lacking hunting skills is one of the main reasons for that high percentage. In an outside, rehabilitation enclosure at our shelter, she is getting healthy and looking quite stunning with her fuller figure and intense, bright eyes.

Red-tailed Hawks are classified as Buteos, which are the largest of hawks. With a wing span of up to 56 inches, they are broad-winged and broad-tailed soaring hawks. They get their name from the rounded, rich, russet red tail they sport. A young hawk’s tail will be brown with dark color bands until they molt in their second year. They are carnivores and belong to the category of birds known as raptors. Their eyesight is eight times as powerful as a human’s, making it easy to spot their lunch of small rodents, rabbits, snakes or lizards, which comprises the bulk of their diet, from the air. RTH’s are opportunistic hunters and will snag just about any little critter moving on the ground with those sharp and deadly talons they use as weapons if hungry enough. In some areas of the country they are referred to as “Chicken Hawks.” When you hear a hoarse and raspy two to three second scream way overhead, it could very well be a Red-tailed Hawk letting you know she’s defending her territory or nest that may be close by.
Henderson Hawk is doing quite well at our shelter, has achieved her normal weight and is demonstrating behaviors indicative of the aggressive Red-tailed Hawk she is meant to be. She will be attending flight and hunting school in our large flight cage soon. When she graduates, she will be released to the wild, but she won’t be returning to the people and traffic concentrated area of Henderson Drive. Since Red-tailed Hawks are birds of open country, she will enjoy the wide open spaces of fields and woods one of her caretakers, whose last name is, coincidentally, Henderson, has planned for her.
Linda Bergman-Althouse
Author of “Save Them All”

Turtles On The Move!

lbergman1althouse — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:13:42 +0000

Turtles are more complicated than they look, and getting to know each species of turtle that calls North Carolina home is a challenge for staff and volunteers at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter (OWLS) in Newport, NC. Turtles come in different shapes (although they all resemble a circle), sizes, coloring, capabilities and live in a variety of habitats. They represent the oldest of all living reptiles, and have undergone little change since their beginnings early in the Triassic period of history. You’ll find turtles throughout North Carolina, from the Coastal Plain to our mountains in the west. Overall, twenty species of turtles, belonging to six different families inhabit North Carolina. Five of these species are sea turtles and one (the Eastern Box Turtle) is terrestrial which means lives primarily on land. The rest are semi-aquatic, inhabiting North Carolina’s ponds, wetlands, and other water bodies. We leave the rehabilitation efforts of sea turtles like Loggerheads and Kemp Ridley’s to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle and Rehab Center crew at North Topsail. They care for the guys and girls who need to eventually get back to the ocean. Our focus is land and semi-aquatic turtles; Box, Yellowbelly Sliders, River Cooters, Bog, Painted, Mud, Spotted, Musk and the Common Snapping Turtle or often referred to as an Alligator Turtle.
Turtles are admitted to the shelter for a variety of reasons. We’ve seen them injured by fishing gear, litter, lawn mowers, by a dog that held it a little too tightly in his jaws, suffering from upper respiratory infections due to environmental pollutants such as pesticides and quite often, hit by a car. The greatest threat to turtles is habitat loss, particularly destruction and degradation of aquatic habitats. The destruction of terrestrial habitat surrounding wetlands and ponds which is required for nesting, and hibernation for some species, poses significant threats, forcing turtles on the move to find new habitat.
Sadly, thousands of turtles are crushed every year by cars on North Carolina’s roads and highways, which brings us to the question of the day regarding turtles and those who care about them. How do you move a turtle out of the road? The first thing you want to do is safely position your car on the side of the road, (with your hazard lights blinking) to ensure you do not put yourself or others at risk while you rescue the turtle. It would be great if you just happened to have a pair of work or rubber gloves in the car but most people don’t. (Just wash your hands after handling the turtle because they can carry salmonella like most other animals, including pet cats and dogs.) Gently pick up a turtle and move it out of harm’s way, in the direction he or she was heading. What you shouldn’t do is pick up a turtle and move it to what you, as a human, deem to be a safe spot. They always have a good turtle reason why they are heading in the direction they are going. This time of year is turtle crossing time because mates need to be found and eggs need to be laid. If it is a sizeable turtle, especially a snapping turtle, you can use a stick, shovel or broom to push it off the road. Never put your hands or feet near a snapping turtle. A snapper has a neck the length you wouldn’t believe and will be able to reach some part of you. Their vice-grip jaws can cause serious injury. Also, never pick up a turtle by the tail. That hold could easily damage their vertebrae. BUT above all, when moving a turtle from potential disaster in the road, please be CAREFUL and DO NOT put your life at risk. Turtle moving only applies when you are driving down a road where YOU CAN stop and move about safely.
You might be wondering why they cross the road in the first place. It doesn’t seem smart when you consider turtle speed versus vehicular speed. They can’t truly make a serious run for it when they finally do see an approaching automobile. Turtles genuinely need to cross the road because, quite simply, they were here before the road was and ancestral mapping is instinctual. So, a turtle trying to cross the road is not heading in the wrong direction. Her instincts are telling her where to go. They cross the road, moving from one body of water to another to find mates, expand territory, find nesting sites, and lay eggs, sometimes pausing to bask on the warm asphalt along the way. Most turtles day-tripping out into traffic are females heading for that predetermined nesting site. Turtles mature slowly, unable to lay eggs before age ten and can live fifty or more years.
Although 2011 is touted “Year of the Rabbit” by the Chinese, conservationists internationally designated 2011 as “Year of the Turtle” due to the fact that many turtle species are now under threat from a range of man-made problems. Turtles are disappearing from our planet faster than any other group of animal, so let’s do what we can to salvage our turtle heritage, wherever we are. Our careful stewardship can help preserve them.

Linda Bergman-Althouse
Author of “Save Them All”
www.bergman-althouse.com

Barred Owls Down!

lbergman1althouse — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:51:04 +0000

Not every wild animal in distress is brought to the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter in Newport, NC and that, in some instances, is a very good thing. Field work occasionally happens for the volunteers and staff who work there. Let’s take at look at the example that occurred last month. A gentleman called stating a baby owl was on the ground in his yard, close to the base of a tree, and he could see the Mother Owl on a branch in a neighboring tree. This was late in the evening and action had to be taken before dogs, cats or wild night time predators were out and about. We headed to the residence around seven with enough equipment to create a makeshift nest (a basket) and hoist the baby back up the tree so Mom could continue to care for him until ready to fledge. The white ball of fluff was easy to spot on the dark tree trunk and definitely not capable of flying his way out of this mess.
Although, his Mom, a very large Barred Owl, was still monitoring the situation and would surely try to fend off possible attackers, how long she could keep that up and how successful she would be averting a disastrous outcome were in question. The solution was hardly simple, but none the less, we had to get the baby as high up the tree as possible. The tree was extremely tall and there were no limbs for the first thirty to forty feet from the ground. We agreed that roping a basket and throwing the weighted, loose end of the rope over a limb close to the trunk was the best way to hoist the new nest carrying the baby owl up the tree and out of harm’s way. Getting the basket ready to hoist was a little tricky but proved to be the easiest part of the mission. Momma Owl did not object as we placed the infant Barred Owl in the basket lined with twigs and grasses, however, something soon started stirring at the end of a limb overhead. At first, I thought it might be the adult owl coming in for a closer look at what we were doing, which made me a little nervous because I forgot my hardhat. It was dark now so I used my flashlight to scan the rustling area of the tree and found another baby Barred Owl hanging upside down by one foot.
His talons had grabbed a wad of leaves during his fall that he clutched for dear life, because he could not pull himself back up. We held a sheet under the baby and waited for the fall. A half hour later, we began thinking he might just be able to hang there all night. Every time he moved, struggled or spun, his talons, thankfully, tore the leaves just a little. In another fifteen minutes, the leaves finally tore through, and he tumbled through the air and into the sheet positioned for a soft landing. That baby owl was placed securely in the basket with his sibling and hoisted up the tree about fifty feet.
Mom watched the whole rescue operation play out and never displayed any aggression. We tied off the rope at the base of the tree and headed for home, a little tired, but proud we had been able to keep the family together. Early the next morning I went to the “Barred Owls down” residence to ensure our rescue efforts had been effective, and the babies were still safe. They weren’t. Both infant owls were out of the basket, and at that moment, one was on the ground, puffed up and facing off two neighbor dogs. I scooped them up and placed them in a kennel cab. Although at this age they are considered “branchers” and can crawl around in a tree by using their beak and talons, they were not sticking with the program by staying in the tree. They now had to go to the wildlife shelter. It happens that way sometimes. We set up the best case scenario for the family to stay together, but they just don’t cooperate. Owl parents usually care for their young for at least four months, but unfortunately risk factors made this particular case impossible. The babies are doing fine at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter, enjoying a safe haven and growing fast. Our permanent resident Barred Owl, Dinah, is fostering the two rambunctious youngsters.

Linda Bergman-Althouse
Wildlife Rehabilitator
Author of “Save Them All”
www.bergman-althouse.com
President, Wildlife Rehabilitators
of North Carolina, Inc. (WRNC)

Squirrels of The Night

lbergman1althouse — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 20:51:26 +0000

It’s quite common for most of us to see hefty balls of gray fluff with excited bushy tails zip across yards in search of a spot to bury a morsel of food in a location they may or may not remember later. Eastern gray squirrels might also be seen scampering up trees throughout the day to eat dogwood berries, Bradford Pear fruit or munch on a pine cone, but it’s rare to possibly never, that we have the opportunity to see a Southern Flying Squirrel, also called Flyers, in the wild. They are the oldest and smallest living line of modern squirrels, and in contrast to Eastern Grays, they are nocturnal. So, when we head for bed, their day (or night) is just getting started. When an adult Flyer or babies are admitted to The Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter (OWLS) in Newport, NC, it is a very big deal! Our fourth SFS, which is an unusual influx this year, was recently admitted by a gentleman who’s cat did a “bad thing,” but luckily the infant was unharmed. The female pup checked in fully furred but with eyes still closed and only 24 grams. She won’t be releasable until she reaches 70-80 grams and is capable of eating on her own. They are tiny, only grow to one fourth the size of an adult Eastern Gray and are too cute for words, as you can see! Fortunately, this infant will thrive on formula we also use for Eastern Grays and will gradually be introduced to nuts, berries, veggies, seeds, mushrooms, flowers and bark. As SFS’s are the only carnivorous member of the squirrel family, we will also add insects and mealworms to her diet. Flying Squirrels have also been known to eat bird eggs and carrion in the wild, but that won’t happen at the shelter. And so is the way of the wild, even if they are cute and tiny! Flyers don’t really fly, they very gracefully, glide. They have a furry membrane called a patagium that extends between the front and rear legs, which they use like Batman’s cape, to glide through the air. The flap of skin on each side of their body enables them to parachute from tree to tree. They use their flat and furry tail like a rudder, controlling their direction, allowing them to make 90 to 180 degree turns in the air. They are so beloved in the western part of the state that artificial trees were erected along the roads’ shoulders to help flying squirrels glide across a highway that exceeded their gliding ability without the aid of alternative trunks and limbs on which to land.
Southern Flying Squirrels prefer mixed forests that provide old trees with cavities for nesting to include abandoned woodpecker holes, but have also been known to nest in bluebird boxes, stacked cordwood piles, build a nest in a tree crotch just as the Eastern Grays and even move into an attic or two. We have two adult SFSs rooming with us at the shelter now because they chose someone’s attic in which to live. They don’t hibernate and are active year round. So, if our southern winter temperatures dip too low for their thin fur coat, many flying squirrels will commune in one nest to keep warm. The average number is ten to twenty, but fifty Flyer aggregations have been recorded. They can also enter a state of torpor (state of physical inactivity) to withstand frigid temperatures. Like Eastern Gray Squirrels, Southern Flying Squirrels produce two litters of two to seven infants a year. Young are born without fur or any capabilities of their own. Fur grows in by seven days and their eyes don’t open until they are twenty five plus days. The parents leave their young sixty-five days after they are born, but they don’t become fully independent until about four months old. As adults, they spend a lot of time on the ground foraging at night, so they must be on the alert for the many predators that can do them in, and the list is long: owls, raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, snakes, weasels and the common house cat, which tops the list as the most devastating predator of flying squirrels. They are very graceful in flight but extremely vulnerable on the ground. Their home range may be up to twenty-five square miles for females and double that for males. Flying Squirrels hear better than other squirrel species because, for their size, they possess a very large ear cavity. That feature helps them detect the movement of predators at night. They make a few different sounds, such as a loud and sharp “tseep,” which is considered an alarm or caution call to other flying squirrels. As for the chittering and “chucke” vocalizations, no one is really sure, but the snorting sound is associated with the act of challenging a lower ranking flying squirrel of the same sex. As most animals do, they too have a hierarchy. Ah oh, gotta go. Another Southern Flying Squirrel just checked in. She’s different in color, amber as opposed to steely gray and only 22 grams!

Hope you are having a wonderful “almost” Summer!
Linda Bergman-Althouse
Author of “Save Them All”

All Fly, but All Different!

lbergman1althouse — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:40:45 +0000

Feeding tiny birds is a full time job when springtime, baby season rolls around at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter (OWLS) in Newport, NC where I volunteer. There is no down time between feedings because baby birds, especially songbirds, eat every thirty minutes or less, depending upon their size when admitted to the shelter. By the time a wildlife rehabilitator at OWLS has made the baby bird feeding rounds in the infant nursery, it’s time to start the process all over again. And because birds eat from sun up to sun down, the shelter adds a third shift of volunteer personnel to cover evening hours until the sun dips beneath the horizon.
Baby birds are admitted for a number of reasons; some understandable to rehabbers and some not; a tree holding a nest might be cut down, a nest may have been built in an inconvenient place such as on a lawn mower or in a mail box where Carolina Wrens are known to homestead, a baby Robin might have fallen out of a nest and a cat brought him home, high winds could have blown a Cardinal’s nest apart which spilled newborns on the ground for power walkers to find or House Sparrows built a nest in a hanging plant on the porch causing bird parents to dive bomb the residents whenever they were too close to their babies. Now, that last reason is puzzling to wildlife rehabbers because our first thought as an animal caretaker, which we sometimes verbalize, is ‘can’t you use the side or back door until they fledge?’ Songbirds grow and fledge very quickly, in a matter of weeks. Remember, the smaller the bird, the faster they mature and become the capable flyers and self-feeders they need to be in the wild. If an alternate door is not an option, our next inclination is to see if there is a way to relocate the babies to a safe place in the vicinity of their parents. If that is not doable, they or the loner is admitted to the shelter’s nursery, formal identification takes place and care begins.
The keys to taking care of baby birds is possessing knowledge of dietary needs for a certain species, being aware of their unique behaviors and knowing what physical set-up is required for specific birds. Yes, they are all birds and all fly, but they are all so very different. Some birds are Passeriformes or mainly seed eaters, such as the House Finch while a Mockingbird enjoys fruit more, insectivores, like a Chimney Swift, eat bugs on the wing and some birds metabolize protein better than others. Hand held tweezers, that keenly resemble Mom or Dad’s beak, deliver mealworms that are quite popular with most baby birds, and our shelter provides 10,000 a week to nursery mates during peak baby season. At OWLS, we also have species specific infant formulas that are somewhat pasty but filling, nutritional meals we administer with a syringe. We have the gapers, such as Blue Jays, Brown Thrashers, Starlings and Sparrows, who cooperatively hold their mouths wide for feeding time and those who don’t gape at all, such as Mourning Doves or Pigeons, who have crops to fill. Some birds, like Killdeer, are precocial, which means they start eating on their own shortly after hatching. Most birds are built to perch on limbs, but Woodpeckers, Flickers and Chimney Swifts need to cling vertically to a rough surface and still, others, such as Woodcocks or Quail, sit or hide from predators in tall grasses or shrubby areas.
Wildlife rehabilitators need to know what makeshift habitat is best for each bird youngster admitted and provide that environment when they have grown beyond their incubator stay and need to stretch their legs and wings a bit. The knowledge required to appropriately and successfully care for an array of baby birds is quite extensive. That’s why when someone calls the shelter to tell us they found a baby bird and asks what they need to do to keep it alive, we advise the caller to try to get it back into the nest or place the baby bird in a small basket high in a tree so the parents can find the infant and feed him or her until ready to fledge. If that isn’t possible, we ask them to bring the youngin’s to us. Not many people outside the shelter have the time (every thirty minutes from sunrise to sunset, 24-7), particular diets available, specialized equipment and bird know-how to devote to these fragile little beings most of us love to watch in the wild. Birds need to learn to be birds and experience a series of developmental stages very quickly during that process. We don’t want them habituating with human caretakers. So, the faster we get them fully feathered, physically strong, eager to fly and out to our pre-release flight cages the better. Sometimes, in the nursery, a few juveniles are more eager than they are ready and may escape during feedings for short bursts of freedom until we encourage them to return to their enclosure mates. We deal with their acting out!
It’s a busy time at the shelter, but I eagerly invite you to tour the facility at 100 Wildlife Way (252-240-1200) in Newport, NC on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays at 2 pm. Take the opportunity to check out baby bird care in action! It’s amazing to see birds in their unique developmental stages; from homely bobble headed, skin blobs clad only in fluffy down, if not naked, to the beautiful, fully flighted and self-reliant wildlife they become.

Linda Bergman-Althouse
Author of “Save Them All”
www.bergman-althouse.com

Wayward Pelican Returns!

lbergman1althouse — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:39:29 +0000

Ralph, the wayward North Carolina Brown Pelican, arrived March 9, 2011 by donated use of a Chevy van, at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter, Newport, NC from Nova Scotia, Canada. The theory, and most likely fact, is this young plunge diver was blown off course last year during Hurricane Earl and found himself lost and alone in a maritime province of Canada. It all started, for our shelter, about two months ago when we received a call from Hope Swinimer, animal rescuer who works at ‘Hope for Wildlife’ located in Seaforth, Nova Scotia. She asked if she could return a pelican to North Carolina. It was an unusual request but well received. The story started for Ralph much earlier than that. In September 2010, a brown pelican was spotted sitting on the roof of a strip club called Ralph’s Place in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Knowing pelicans are not found that far north usually, a call was made to Hope by a concerned observer. Hope didn’t know if it would, in fact, be a pelican since she had only seen one other pelican in the flesh in that area and that was many years ago. In addition, misidentifications are known to happen when animals are unfamiliar, but like all wildlife rehabilitators, she packed up rescue equipment large enough to accommodate a pelican. The bird took flight when Swinimer approached and led her on a chase that ended when he knocked himself out by flying into a plate glass window. She scooped him up, and pelican rehabilitation began. He was loopy, underweight and definitely lost. Ralph became his name based upon his landing spot, and Hope became his vigilant caretaker, providing vitamin-spiked herring meals and monitoring his behaviors and weight gain. He waddled around the Canadian rescue barn, flapping his wings and appearing quite content. When he bounced back from emaciation and regained good health, Hope began the process of getting him repatriated to the U.S. Southeast but ran into bureaucratic red tape which extended his stay through the fall and winter. Once the paperwork came through, it was time for a three day road trip for volunteer driver Garry Sowerby, Hope and Ralph. The Canadian rescue and over-the road team and their celebrity passenger, Ralph, were welcomed with arms-wide- open, southern hospitality by the North Carolina OWLS rescue crew and the media.

It was a grand ‘coming-together’ for wildlife rehabilitators of the ‘Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter,’ USA and ‘Hope for Wildlife’ from Canada. Hope and Ralph had bonded over the last six months, which was quite obvious when Ralph, who surprisingly turned out to be a girl, was introduced to her new enclosure. While OWLS volunteer David sprayed water into her food bowl, she ran to Hope and leaned against her leg. “I am going to miss him,” Swinimer said. “He is beautiful, in my eyes. He almost looks prehistoric in some ways.” Check out Ralph(ia)’s video debut at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/video/ralph-the-pelicans-new-home/article1937014/

Ralph(ia), is settling in well at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter, but it will take time to relearn pelican behaviors since she is young and has not been in another pelican’s presence for the past six months. She is currently being hand-fed fish and encouraged by the presence of fish in her food bowl to begin eating on her own. Since she bonded with a human during her stay in Nova Scotia, human contact is being limited at this point to enable a timely reintroduction to other pelicans which will promote healthy identification behaviors with her own species. Six other pelicans are currently enjoying a rehab stay at the shelter and Ralph(ia) will soon join them, learn pelican social order, get physically fit and eventually return to her old sky and turf of North Carolina.

Linda Bergman-Althouse,
Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter Volunteer
President, Wildlife Rehabilitators
of North Carolina
Author of “Save Them All”

The Christmas Squirrel

lbergman1althouse — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:45:46 +0000

When I got the late afternoon call, it didn’t sound good. A squirrel was cat attacked and rescued by a little girl who had been holding the adult squirrel in her lap for over an hour. As a wildlife rehabilitator with years of squirrel experience, my first thoughts were, this squirrel is mortally wounded and on his or her way to squirrel heaven or the squirrel’s in shock. If it was the latter and the squirrel came around while on the youngster’s lap, the scene would not be pretty and could possibly become dangerous to downright bloody. After the gentleman caller told me that he thought “all the squirrel needed right now is to be held and kept warm,” I knew I had to get that squirrel off the nine-year-old’s lap. I met the family at Burger King around 6 pm, and the little girl was still carrying the squirrel in her sweatshirt, even after my advisement to place her in a box for transport. The squirrel was moving but not responding normally, so I gently transferred her from the sweatshirt by towel to a kennel cab. In the triage at my home, I placed the kennel cab on a heating pad and gave her some time. An hour later, she was a totally different squirrel. She growled, chattered and charged the door more than once when I checked on her. Confirmed: it was the latter. Even though the towels evidenced no sign of blood, I figured a ride to the Outerbanks Wildlife Shelter (OWLS) in Newport, when I went in for my shift the next day, was in order to give her the once over for possible puncture wounds that would need to be cleaned and treated. The ride to the shelter went well, but the exam room was another story. She was totally IN rather than OUT of her little squirrel mind and wanted no part of an exam, probably reflecting on the cat that pounced on her and carried her around a day earlier. Maria and I are much bigger than the cat! We decided not to sedate her because of the risks involved and since she was acting her normal squirrel “in survival mode self,” avoiding us at all costs and still no signs of blood or injury, the decision was made to take her back to her neighborhood and the trees she knows. It was dark when I arrived home on Christmas Eve, so back into the triage she went. She would be a Christmas Day release, or so I planned. Christmas morning, after feeding all the outside critters, I headed into the triage and the place looked like a robbery had gone on in there; things were overturned, knocked off shelves AND squirrel poo pellets were ON TOP of the kennel cab! She had chewed her way through the side of my toughest kennel cab and was no longer inside. She beat the live trap three times Christmas Day before finally being caught Christmas night. Then it snowed quite heavily the very next day!!!!!!! Snow is welcomed by most North Carolinians, because it happens so rarely, especially on the coast and even more appreciated around Christmas, but not so much when you have an agitated adult squirrel to release. So, I had to wait for a partial melt off before her release, which wasn’t until two days later. While confined to the live trap, she had plenty of food and water, and even felt comfortable enough to do a little remodeling by chewing at least five cover towels to make nesting material and because it was Christmas, I used red, green and white towels, of course. She chose white as her dominate color as you can see.
On Tuesday, I called her rescuers to let them know she was coming home. The little girl wanted to be present, along with her Dad and brother. I’m thinking – there’s not a lot to see with the speed of a squirrel release, but it was cute. They were all standing in the road, flagging me into the drive, when I arrived. I found a big tree and pointed the live trap towards it. No one saw anything! She was so fast, she was out of the trap and up the tree before our eyes could register anything! It even took a while before we could locate her in the tree! After dumping a zip lock bag of squirrel munchies at the base of the tall pine, I wished the family a Happy New Year! and we parted to enjoy the remainder of our holiday season. I’m hoping, with everything the squirrel experienced in the past week, she knows to be a whole lot faster, way more vicious and a little wiser when moving about during her daily scheduled activities.

Happy New Year Everyone!!
Linda Bergman-Althouse
Author of “Save Them All”