The Rookie Files: Becoming a Bird Person

The end of December is a time for reflection.  A year in review so to speak, and while many people think about changes in relationships, family and getting older, I’ve been thinking about my unexpected love of birds.

You may recall from my first blog that I mentioned I was a rookie.  This is true not only for shows but for birds in general.  Yes--shocking I know--but the truth is that once upon a time I was a huge mammal person. 

 Dwarf Mongooses formerly at the top of my list

 Meerkats, otters, prairie dogs, lemurs, big cats, red pandas, canines these were my passions, along with frogs (which are clearly not mammals).  I would map out zoo routes so that I could find my way to the meerkats the fastest; I knew which zoos had my mammalian friends and where to find them. 

River Otters--one of my former favorites 

I could navigate a zoo in record time and see all of my favorites and if I was short on time I skipped the aviary.  It wasn’t that I disliked birds; I just didn’t really get them.  Over the years I was exposed to them on occasion--songbirds in the backyard, shorebirds at the beach, raptors at environmental centers.  Nothing really clicked.  There was no passion, no drive to research their behaviors.  Then one day in college I needed another biology course and my friend suggested ornithology.  It sounded cool, so I signed up.

That course was the first of many life changing bird experiences.  Once you learn about birds it’s impossible not to be fascinated by them.  The course was both lecture and lab and I learned so much from both.  Feathers, hollow bones, flow through lungs, physiological systems that are so efficient humans are envious, and fused, lower back vertebra called the synsacrum are just a few amazing traits unique to birds.  In the field lab I discovered I was a decent birder, other than once telling my class that the call of a mourning dove was an owl ( which is what I was told when I was younger--so a perfectly honest mistake).

After Ornithology class I had a new appreciation for birds, but I didn’t really LOVE them—yet.  That didn’t happen until I interned at WBS, and even then it snuck up on me.

 I arrived with a fear of Great Horned Owls 

I arrived at WBS with a car full of belongings, everything I had learned in ornithology, and a fear of Great Horned Owls.  This last was entirely the fault of the movie Rock-a-Doodle whose villainous owl not only gives owls a bad name, but gave me nightmares for years.  I was entirely prepared to treat the next three months as a stepping stone.  I would work hard, learn all that I could, and then move on to the next aspect of environmental education.  As you may have guessed, that is not what happened.

Have you ever been waylaid by a chicken?  They are absolutely irresistable!

The birds snuck up on me.  They waylaid me when my guard was down, and worked their way into my heart before I even realized it.  I learned about more species, their life histories and their personalities.  The feeling of having a bird on your glove and being involved in their training is highly addictive.  Then I was invited to do shows and the rest, as they say, is history.

  Murdock excited to see me

Now the aviary is my first stop.  I have a small but growing library of field guides and bird books, and my cell phone is 98 percent bird photos.  If you had asked me in college what I would be doing right now, “working with birds” is probably the last response I would have given you.  Birds sneak up on you.  Once you learn about them it is impossible to not be fascinated by them.  So come out to the sanctuary, meet our birds and see what it took me until college to figure out: birds are awesome, bird people even more so.

Submitted by Leah Tyndall, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

The Rookie Files: Mesquite

Having only flown two Harris’ Hawks, both of whom are old pros, I didn’t know what to expect when we got a new juvenile. Mesquite, otherwise known as skeet or skeeter, was definitely not what I expected. Eager from the get-go and always learning, I can tell that one day he will be an excellent flyer, once he matures.

Meet Mesquite, the Harris' Hawk 

Mesquite is a juvenile male Harris’ Hawk. He is only a little over a year old and not only is this his first year flying in shows, but it is his very first year in shows period. Mesquite was put on equipment and manned (taught to sit on the glove) this winter. He is very precocious and a quick study. Within a matter of days he was eating in front of us, and only a few weeks later he stepped to the glove and was walked around the ETC.

Mesquite has always allowed us to push the envelope. He was hopping from one glove to another within a couple of months of being introduced to humans. This ready adaptation to humans is not completely uncommon in Harris’ Hawks, which is why many falconers use them and why they are a favorite bird for educational programs.

 Mesquite displaying the juvenile plumage typical of an immature Harris' Hawk

Harris’ Hawks are one of the only social birds of prey. They will actually hunt in family groups of four to seven birds. Hence their nickname “wolves of the sky”. One hawk will chase their prey, for instance a jackrabbit. If the jackrabbit dives for cover in a burrow, that Harris’ Hawk will actually crawl in after it to flush it out. Once it is flushed the jackrabbit is in for quite the surprise, since waiting on the other side is the rest of the family of hawks, and together they would kill their prey and join in the feast. In this social situation however, the young actually get first dibs on the kill. This helps to ensure their survival and the survival of the pack.

 Rifle, an adult Harris' Hawk - note the difference in overall plumage and tail feathers between Rifle and Mesquite

Now, unless you live in the US Southwest, it is unlikely that you have seen this particular species of hawk in the wild. If you are familiar with the Southwest, right about now you’re picturing how very sparse it is in terms of plant life and therefore perching options. Have no fear; the Harris’ Hawks have a great adaptation for this as well. One hawk will land on top of a cactus where the spines are still nice and soft. Then another hawk will come along, carefully ball up its feet and land right on top of that first hawk. This is known as stacking, and up to four Harris’ Hawks have been seen hunting in this manner. Not only does this offer them somewhere to perch, but there are now four sets of eyes on the lookout for food and predators.

Mesquite does not stack with other Harris’ Hawks.  For now he enjoys soaring right over the audience’s head (twice!), and getting used to Malone in the weathering area. If you happen to stop by before shows start (9-10:30ish) then you can see both Mesquite and Malone on display.

 Notice the stripes on Mesquite's tail feathers

Right now you can tell them apart since Mesquite still has his juvenile plumage. His front looks like cookies and cream ice cream as opposed to Malone’s solid brown, and Mesquite’s tail feathers are striped. This coloring would help him to blend into the nest in the wild.

Better hurry though! He already has two white-tipped dark brown tail feathers. They grow up so fast…

Submitted by Leah Tyndall, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

The Rookie Files: Riley

Each year as May approaches I get more and more excited, knowing that we will soon be headed back to the Milwaukee County Zoo to do another bird show. 

Riley

Our crew consists of some old as well as some new faces (both human and animal) and of course a couple of rookies.  Perhaps most exciting for me is the fact that Riley, our American barn owl, will finally be making his first appearance in shows. 

Riley spent the summer last year becoming accustomed to strange new people and places. He was one of our most popular teaser birds, or birds we take to the sidewalks around our theatre to get people excited about the show. People were very excited to see him sitting on the glove or on his perch in the weathering area, and the characteristic barn owl “upside down head” (when curious about something, raptors will turn their heads upside down to see the object better) was always a crowd pleaser.

A 42 day old Barn Owl baby displaying the "upside down head" posture 

Riley was hatched at the World Bird Sanctuary to two of our breeding barn owls, Athena and Sonar. He is a little over a year old and very curious. Like all barn owls he has fantastic hearing, thanks in part to the shape of his face. A barn owl’s face is shaped like a satellite dish, and those hundreds of tiny feathers that make up the disc help to funnel sound directly to the ears. This adaptation allows barn owls to hunt in complete darkness; in fact they can hear a mouse scurrying up to ninety feet away!

 A 63 day old Barn Owl displaying the typical Barn Owl heart shaped facial disc

Barn owls are also excellent hunters because they can easily sneak up on their prey. “How,” you may ask?  Their feathers of course!  Owl feathers have a soft fringe along the leading edge of their outer wing feathers, sort of like the teeth of a comb. They have even smaller fringes on the trailing edges.  This muffles the wind as it passes through the wing, allowing owls to fly silently and sneak up on their prey. That mouse will never know what hit it!

Barn owls are fantastic predators, but they are also a prey that can be a prey species. Great horned owls and barred owls, especially, will eat this species. In order to compensate for this, barn owls have one of the highest reproductive rates for a bird of prey. They can lay up to fourteen eggs in a clutch, or group of eggs, and some years they will double clutch. That’s a lot of little barn owls in a nest!

 A basketful of curious Barn Owl babies

Luckily for Riley, he did not have to worry about sharing a nest with so many siblings. Since we knew he was going to be used for education he was largely raised by humans. In order to acclimate him, we took him home with us at night. He learned how to hide from predators behind my TV, hunt my remote control, and fly by jumping from my dresser to my couch. He was a quick study when it came to sitting on a perch, though he preferred trying to climb up the sides rather than jumping, and loves sitting on the glove (in fact, he prefers it to his perch). Riley loves to explore, to the point of causing his trainers worry when he tries to squeeze out of his pens (he is very squishy) and his first experience with snow resulted in him trying to take a bath in it (he found this did not work out as expected).

 Riley checking out the snow

This summer, Riley will perform in shows, showing off his excellent sense of hearing and hunting skills. So if you’re in Wisconsin, feel free to look us up! And if you’re not in Wisconsin, why not plan a road trip? Everyone should be Milwaukee bound!

Submitted by Leah Tyndall, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist 

The Rookie Files: Mia

How to teach an old dog (or owl as the case may be) new tricks.

Thus far the birds that I’ve talked about were completely new to shows this summer.  Some of our rookies, however, were previously in shows but it had been a while since they performed.  One bird however has done shows for most of her life, but last summer was only her second year doing a completely new behavior.

Mia is a sixteen year old spectacled owl.  This species is found in the rainforests of Central and South America.  They are easily recognized by their dark head with white markings around their eyes.  These markings strongly resemble a pair of glasses or spectacles, giving the owls their name.  Juveniles are not so easily recognized since they have the exact opposite coloration of the adults. They are white bodied with a dark facial mask.  In fact, they look so different from the adults that when scientists first saw them they thought that they were looking at two completely different species of owls.  It actually takes anywhere from one to five years for the juveniles to molt into their adult plumage, rather than one year as in other owl species. 

Spectacled owls also differ from most owls in their call.  Rather than the customary hooting we associate with owls, spectacled owls are nicknamed the knocking owl because their primary vocalization sounds like someone knocking on a pane of glass.  This can be a little disconcerting when you are alone in the building and your spectacled owl begins calling unexpectedly.  Spectacled owls will eat crabs (their favorite tasty treat), rodents, and occasionally birds.  There is even one recorded case of a spectacled owl catching and eating an adult three toed sloth!

Mia never snuck off to eat the zoo’s sloth, but she did love to fly for rat meat.  After spending most of her life and show career as a walk on bird (aka sitting on the glove and looking pretty) Mia free flew for the first time in the summer of 2008.  It was a very simple pattern, only one or two hops.  Last summer we were a little more ambitious.  Mia hopped from the trainer’s glove to a flat top perch.  From here she made her entrance onto the stage usually prefaced by an excited “wooo!”.  First she flew to a stump where she was rewarded with a piece of rat meat, and then she hopped to a second stump.  From there she flew back to the first stump before revving up her rocket boosters (figuratively) and flying offstage(literally)to a stool where she was picked up and escorted back to her perch.

 Mia did an excellent job last summer, although she had a few issues on windy days.  Sometimes she would be blown unexpectedly by a strong wind gust and end up on an unintended perch(or fence), but she usually recovered quickly.  She even reprised her role as a walk on bird on the occasions that she took a very long, wet bath right before a show.  Oddly enough she was still a fan favorite, even when she looked like a drowned rat.

In the off-season Mia spends her time in her specially constructed indoor flight cage, since she can’t handle Missouri’s cold winter climate.  Most of the day is spent sitting and preening, with the occasional bath thrown in every now and then.  In March she makes a special guest appearance at the International Owl Festival in Minnesota and then relaxes till the summer.  This summer we are hopeful that Mia will be able to fly a more complicated pattern and end on a trainer’s glove rather than a stool.  Who says you can’t teach an old owl new tricks?  Well no one, and maybe Mia and her flying prowess are the reason.

Submitted by Leah Tyndall, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist