New Kid In Town

If you have been out to World Bird Sanctuary this past summer you may have noticed an area of the exhibit line that was roped off.

 If you took the time to stop and look at the area you might have noticed a small brown fuzz ball on legs in the early part of the summer, and toward the end of the summer a teenager sized crane hanging out.  Our two injured Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) Shawnee and Menomenee, originally from Wisconsin, hatched their first chick this summer.

 New Sandhill Crane baby (photo: Cathy Spahn)

Sandhill Cranes are found throughout North America.  The northern populations are migratory.  Sandhill cranes have the largest wildlife spectacle we can see here in North America.  As the cranes migrate From February to early April hundreds of thousands to over a million Sandhill Cranes will pass through and temporarily stay in a small area of Nebraska along the Platte River.

I have always enjoyed cranes, but when I first saw their gathering along the Platte River I fell in love with this amazing species.  Seeing the amazing amount of birds, hearing their call, and then watching this bird dance I could not help but fall in love. 

There are 6 subspecies of Sandhill Crane; 5 of them are found here in North America. 

Sandhill Cranes stand between 34-48 inches tall and have a wingspan of 73-90 inches.

When our two cranes first arrived at WBS I worked on doing some basic training, which helped with getting them more comfortable around me.  With the help of me rewarding them with superworms (a beetle larva that kind of looks like a worm), the cranes became more relaxed and would allow me to enter the cage.  As long as I kept 6 or more feet between them and I, they were comfortable.

Over the last few years they have become more vocal.  This year they laid a few eggs, and one of them hatched.  This little one we nicknamed Clyde after the middle name of Walter C. Crawford Jr, our Founder and Executive Director, who passed away in July.  This youngster was one of Walt’s last projects with us.

As with all birds, Sandhill Cranes grow rapidly...almost ready for release (photo: Cathy Spahn)

Clyde, our youngster, has now been released at the Squaw Creek Wildlife Refuge in the northwestern part of Missouri.  In fact, Clyde is the first ever, captive bred Sandhill Crane to be released into the wild in the State of Missouri.  Clyde seems to be integrating well with a small flock of Sandhill Cranes that resides in that area.

If you like Shawnee or Menomenee (named after places in Wisconsin where they are from) you may adopt one or both of them.  To adopt a bird Click Here, or call 636-861-3225 and ask for Marion.

 

Submitted by Cathy Spahn, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

World Bird Sanctuary honors birdhouse builder with Eagle Release

On Saturday, July 13^th, 2013, World Bird Sanctuary honored Bob Seyer with a Bald Eagle Release, for his contribution to conservation and the World Bird Sanctuary’s Kathryn G. Favre Wildlife Hospital.

Since 2011, Mr. Bob Seyer has been building birdhouses and donating them to World Bird Sanctuary’s wildlife hospital for sale, to support the care and treatment of sick and injured wild birds, in the hopes that they may be rehabilitated and returned to the wild.  The birdhouses are built from wood which Mr. Seyer salvages from construction sites that would otherwise be destined for landfill.  He then fashions them into bluebird nest boxes and wren nest boxes.  Over the last three years, Mr. Seyer has donated 4,000 bird houses to World Bird Sanctuary.  These bird houses are sold for $2-$3 each, and have raised approximately $9,000 for the wildlife hospital over the last three years.

 Mr. Bob Seyer gets ready to release the eagle into the wild (Photo by Donna Tucker)

Earlier this year, a bald eagle was admitted to the Kathryn G. Favre Wildlife Hospital at World Bird Sanctuary after injuring its wing when it hit a high tension power line over the Mississippi river.  It was rescued from the water by a passing boat captain and brought to World Bird Sanctuary.  After months of intensive treatment and rehabilitation, it was deemed ready to be returned to the wild in early July.  Joe Hoffmann, Sanctuary Manager at World Bird Sanctuary, asked Mr. Seyer to release the eagle, as a way of honoring his contribution to helping the birds admitted to the wildlife hospital.

Another Bald Eagle flies free. (Photo by Donna Tucker)

On Saturday, July 13^th, 2013, at Bee Tree Park in Oakville, Mr. Seyer released the eagle back to the wild – where it flew over the Mississippi before disappearing out of sight.  It was a memorable occasion, and a fitting way to acknowledge the wonderful service that Mr. Seyer is providing to World Bird Sanctuary and the birds in our community.

Trumpeter Swan Released

On December 21^st, 2012, the Kathryn G. Favre Wildlife Hospital received a call from the Missouri Department of Conservation to see if we could take an injured Trumpeter Swan. 

The swan is a juvenile – about a year old – juveniles have some dark streaks in their feathering.  Adult Trumpeter Swans are snow white.  The swan was found at Columbia Bottoms Conservation area with another swan that was already dead.  Both swans had been shot.

 Sanctuary Manager, Joe Hoffmann and the young Trumpeter Swan

The Trumpeter Swan is listed as a rare species of conservation concern, with current estimated populations of about 5,000 throughout the mid-west.  They are not a hunted waterfowl species and are protected by law.  It is illegal to shoot Trumpeter Swans. 

The area where the birds were found is a waterfowl hunting area, but it is considered easy to distinguish a Trumpeter Swan from ducks and snow geese – they are much bigger and have very distinctive coloring.  The Trumpeter Swan is considered the DC10 of birds because of their large size!

 This young bird weighed 22 lbs.

This young swan weighed about 22lbs – nice and plump.  The heaviest flying bird in the world is found in Africa – the Kori Bustard – weighing in at up to 42lbs! 

MDC conservation agents brought the swan to the World Bird Sanctuary, where we stabilized it with medication and fluids.  The swan had lost a lot of blood and also had internal bleeding.  Two large pellets had lodged in its skull – one in the nasal cavity and one in the brain.  Every three hours, for two days, the swan was given fluids and large doses of antibiotics and steroids to aid in recovery.  The internal bleeding stopped after the second day and, exceeding all expectations, the youngster started eating on its own and drinking out of a large bucket of water.

 We were initially concerned about brain damage but its behavior was normal and it seemed to like looking out of the window near it's inside rehab cage.  The x-rays showed that the swan's legs and wings were untouched by the shotgun pellets, so we moved towards a quick release.

 Joe Hoffmann releasing this young Swan back into the wild

On the early morning of January 3^rd, 2013, we released this juvenile Trumpeter Swan back to the wild at the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary near West Alton, Missouri. 

 The young Trumpeter Swan back where he belongs

There were about 300 other Trumpeter Swans nearby and they honked at each other before the release.  It seemed non-dramatic as the swan paddled away to meet its friends, but this was the first Trumpeter Swan that I have released in 23 years at World Bird Sanctuary!  Walter Crawford, our Founder and Executive Director, remembers one other time when we were able to successfully return a Trumpeter Swan to the wild.

Special thanks are due to our vets, Dr. Stacey Schaeffer and Dr. Eric Siebel-Spath at St. Louis Hills Veterinary Clinic, for acting quickly to save this beautiful swan.

Submitted by Joe Hoffmann, Sanctuary Manager for the World Bird Sanctuary

Mission Critical – Breeding & Releasing threatened bird species

Over the last 30 years World Bird Sanctuary has released over 800 captive-bred Barn Owls into the wild.  The Barn Owl is the most endangered owl in the mid-West.  While the species is no longer endangered, the wild population is still considered threatened, so we continue our work to breed barn owls and release them into the wild.

With the generous donation of a local family foundation, we plan to release 12-16 captive-bred Barn Owls this year.  The first three were placed in their ‘hack Barn’ on Monday, May 9, and were released to the wild on 16 May.

Banding a young Barn Owl.

Once the birds are old enough to fly and support themselves (approximately 60-80 days) they are banded with a leg band issued by the United States Geological Survey.  This band will serve as a unique identifier should the bird ever be captured during a study, admitted to a wildlife hospital, or if its body or skeleton should be found.  This data will enable researchers to determine how long these owls live, how they move, and where they live.

The Barn Owls safely released into the hack barn, where they will stay for one week.

Once the birds are banded they are released into a 'hack barn.'  This is a safe, enclosed barn where the owls will live for a week.  They will continue to be fed while they are in the barn.  After a week of acclimatization, the barn is opened and the owls are free to come and go as they please.  Food will be left out for the birds for approximately a week after their full release.  More often than not, they leave the first night to embark on their new lives as wild owls.

At World Bird Sanctuary we are proud of our propagation program, which was instrumental in getting the Barn Owl removed from the Missouri state endangered species list.

Submitted by Catherine Redfern, World Bird Sanctuary Director of Development