There is
nothing in the world quite like free flying our
trained birds for education programs at World
Bird Sanctuary.
You get especially attached to the ones you've known since they were hatchlings
Raising
them, training them, caring for them in the off season; you get to see them
through all of their life. You get
attached to them and they get attached to you. For the most part, free flying goes off without a hitch, but
every now and then things happen that cause a bird to fly off.
A common
reason for a fly-off is wind. Wind can help birds
travel naturally; it reduces the need for them to flap from one location to
another. Wind is especially
difficult for new fliers because they don’t yet know
how to maneuver in it. Riley our
captive-raised Barn Owl weighs less than a pound, so when a huge gust of wind
blew him off course during a free flying training session, he had no choice but to go with it.
We lost
sight of Riley in the woods and despite the best efforts of all who came to
help we could not find him before dark. Normally on the rare occasion we have a bird out overnight we
come back to that area before dawn the next day and again begin trying to cue the
bird to us.
Where oh where could Riley be?
This time
we were looking for a Barn Owl, a nocturnal bird that was probably going to be
moving around at night instead of settling in like a hawk would. Just to be on the safe side I cued him after
dark, using a “pish” cue. This is
a special noise that Barn Owls already know, which sounds similar to the noise their parents would make
when feeding them. It helps us to
get a Barn Owl’s attention.
That
beautiful face that so many people love about the Barn Owl serves a very
important purpose. It is their facial disc and it is made up of stiff, bristly
feathers that capture sound from the air and direct it into their ears. Most owl
ears are asymmetrically placed on their head; they have one up high and one
down low. With Barn Owls, the ear
holes in the skull are symmetrical and the ear flap (pieces of skin that cover
a Barn Owl’s ears) are asymmetrical.
The facial disc and asymmetrical ear flaps combine to give Barn Owls one
of the best senses of hearing in the animal world. They can hear the pitter-patter of mouse feet from ninety
feet away.
So, I tried to use that to my
advantage to call Riley that night. Even if he couldn’t see me, he could hear me and pinpoint my
location. Unfortunately it did not
work. Nor did our continuing
search efforts yield anything the next day or night. Despite everyone keeping an eye and ear out, there was no
sign of Riley…until he shot out of the trees around four p.m.-- almost 48 hours
after he flew off. It was right when we were bringing the rest of the birds on
jesses inside for the night. He looped around a bit, darting into and
out of the woods, but soon he landed safely on my glove. Riley was home!
Riley, back safe and sound after his big adventure
In fact, based on where he darted out of
the woods, he may have never ventured very far from where we last saw him! He was probably safely camouflaged from
any wild predators and did not call back to us because he did not feel perfectly safe in his “new “environment.
Fly-offs
are a risk you take when free flying a trained bird, but with good
training, a dedicated staff and volunteers, fly-offs
are rarely permanent. Also, there
is always something to learn from a fly-off, and the observant always take the
lesson to heart to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Thank you to everyone who helped during Riley’s Big Adventure.
Submitted by Leah Tyndall, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer
1 comment:
Welcome back, Riley!
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