daily dose of dogs (aka cats with your coffee)

Wildlife Wednesday – Another Release

Last week I wrote about the beginning of the releases at Wild Angels.  At the end of that post, I updated you about the starlings.  They have been in an outdoor enclosure with special wire (just for birds).  At first, they weren’t really getting the hang of scavenging for their food.  Well, all of that changed, and they’ve recently been doing a great job of finding food and feeding themselves.  On Sunday, I was at Older Daughter’s house and it was Release Day for the starlings.  I stood back and Older opened the door to their enclosure and stepped back.  At first, they didn’t get it.  In fact they flew around in their enclosure and even landed above the open door several times.  Then all of a sudden one of them flew straight out and up.  It soared into the sky, flew over Older’s house and landed way up in a tree in her backyard.  The other one took a little longer to find the open doorway, but when it did, we saw a repeat performance. 

Older said she could see both birds way up in that distant tree.  I couldn’t spot them in the tree line.  But I told Older Daughter, once again, that I don’t know how she does what she does.  My heart was racing as those birds “flew the coop.”  Sure, my heart was racing out of excitement and exhilaration but also out of anxiety.  Older Daughter found these two starlings when they were tiny, completely bald, and dying.  She carried them with her day after day, feeding them every 20 minutes from sunup to sundown.  I couldn’t imagine how hard it would have been for me to then watch them fly off into the Unknown.

 

 

 

Older told me that she feels both of those emotions as well.  She says it is always extremely difficult to release the wildlife that she has brought from abandonment, illness, starvation, etc. to fully healthy young adults, and then send them off without knowing the future for them.  But this is the work of a wildlife rehabber. 

After the release, I told Older that I sure wished she might see these starlings again.  The dove I’ve written about STILL visits occasionally.  Older said it’s always such a gift to get to see a released animal come back for a quick visit.  She acknowledged of course that if she saw a starling flying around anywhere on her property she certainly wouldn’t know if it was one of hers.  Starlings are very common birds and there are plenty all around here. 

Well, the morning after release day, I got a text from Older Daughter.  One of the released starlings had come back for a visit.  Older was out doing her morning routine, and a starling was making a bit of a fuss in a tree above her. 

 

 

She called to it and it flew directly down onto the deck rail.  Older hurried to put some favorite food on the rail and snapped a picture.  Then she ran for the little water dish the starlings had always used.  The starling ate a few bites and drank some water and off it went.  WHAT a wonderful feeling for Older Daughter.  She wished she had seen both starlings but it sure was amazing to have this visit.

 

 

As Older was talking to the starling and scurrying around to get food and water for it, she was unknowingly attracting her regular visitor.  Just as the starling few off, the dove arrived just a few feet away on that same deck rail.

 

 

Doesn’t get much better than that!

 

Wildlife Wednesday – The Releases Begin

The first of the releases has begun.  There are raccoons, opossums, and starlings to be released.  You might remember that two of the raccoons were older and bigger than the other three.  After time in an outdoor enclosure (learning about food, water, climbing, and less human contact), the two older raccoons have been successfully released.  It is always bittersweet for Older Daughter when she releases animals.  They started out abandoned, too young, and sometimes injured or sick.  Reaching the milestone of surviving babyhood, the next step is to learn how to make it on their own (in an outdoor enclosure).  Finally, the day comes to let these beautiful creatures venture out into the wild to live the lives they were meant to live.  These two raccoons bounced around in Older’s yard for a while and then headed for the woods.  They learned to climb while in their outdoor enclosure and they put those skills to work right away.

 

 

 

A few days after the two raccoons were released, Older released an opossum who's been at Wild Angels since the spring.  I've mentioned before that Older Daughter really hates releasing opossums because they just don't fare that well in the wild.  But this girl lumbered off and headed into a nearby woods.  Then just yesterday, Older got quite a treat.  I've mentioned that she puts food out each evening for whoever might be around to take advantage of it.  She has the occasional raccoon show up for the feast.  And this summer the wobbly momma raccoon and her two kits have come for a meal many times.  Well, just as Older was spreading the food around she caught movement out of the corner of her eye.  Out popped the two raccoons who had just been released a few days before.  They were still together and they came for a little snack.  Older said they looked great and didn't seem to be super hungry.  It's joyful to get confirmation that a release is doing OK.   The joy didn't end there, however.  That night Older saw movement outside near one of her enclosures.  She went out to check and the opossum was back.  She snapped a couple of pictures and ran in to get some food.  When she came back out with a meal for this gal, she was actually noodling around inside the enclosure she'd been released from.

 

 

 

 

 

The starlings were especially difficult to train to scavenge for their food.  They are beginning to get it, and they are enjoying flying around in their enclosure.

 

 

 

Good stuff!

 

A Couple of Updates

This will be just an update post on a couple of kitties I’ve written about recently.  Let me get the bad news out of the way first.  Well, not bad news really, just not what I was hoping for.  There has been no sighting of the tabby cat I’ve been trying to catch since last February.  The trap has been set every single day since the last sighting (about a week and a half ago), but no catch.  I set the trap in the area I’d spotted her in, knowing she will probably never come to that place again because that is where she encountered me.  I’m sure she’s terrified to come back to that spot.  All I can do is hope and wait for her to show up somewhere again.  I’ll be keeping an eye out.

The good (GREAT) news is about a little kitten I wrote about a few weeks ago who had been caught in a car motor and lost her tail and one of her back legs.  The vet who did her surgery named her Chevie.  After surgery, Chevie went to Older Daughter’s house to recover.  At first she could only lie on her side.  She had to be syringe fed.  Pretty soon she was able to sit up with help.  Then she could sit up on her own and eat on her own.  Finally she started trying to walk.  The day she “ran” through Older Daughter’s house, Older knew she was ready for adoption.

Of course, only a very special person could be the adopter of sweet little Chevie.  There were extra questions for this adoption in addition to the ones on the application.  If my daughters believe someone is good enough to adopt Chevie then I believe they are good enough, too.  And that special adopter has been found.  My daughters have been receiving updates since her adoption.  Sounds like this little gal is getting the royal treatment.  I only have one picture from the new home, but the adopter said that Chevie slept with him the very first night, right under his chin, purring away.   I cannot tell you how that warms my heart!

 

Playing with one of her many new toys

 

Have a great week!