Back Where They Belong

This beautiful little hawk is a young cooper's hawk that had fallen from the nest tree during the start of the rainy season here in South Florida. Her sibling arrived at the Miami Science Museum just two days before. We were unable to return them to the nest immediately due to ongoing storms which put not only the birds, but the humans at risk. We nervously waited a week but when we arrived, we not only found both parents, but another sibling still in the nest tree. Remaining baby in tree.

All renesting photos courtesy of Richard Williams, the concerned resident who brought both birds to our center.Parent in nearby tree
I prepare the youngster for the last leg of her trip home.

Once again Jeff Fobb is there to assist and he has positioned himself in the nest tree.

I climb up to make the hand off to Jeff. The young hawk is hooded to keep her calm.
Fortunately it was a success, but.....part of the story is missing in these photos. Would have been a great shot for a few laughs had Richard gotten the prelude to why I'm holding this young hawk who is now wet. Can't blame him though, we were all sort of in shock as the bird flew around from branches and towards the lake. She made a desperate attempt to grab at a palm tree that we all knew was a doomed effort, and fluttered into the lake, quite gently if I may say so! What happened next got me hauling my butt off the ladder rather quickly. A big black male muscovy duck made a beeline for our young friend and she desperately began to swim for the shore. As the duck gained ground I sprinted towards the lake, tossing my cell phone in the grass and heading straight into the lake with shoes, socks and all other clothing intact. Thankfully the lake was shallow, the hawk was within arms reach, and the only wet clothing I had to endure were the socks. The bird was safe.

On the third try of placing the bird in a tree farther away from the lake, the young hawk dried out a bit before flying about 10 feet across to the tree containing her siblings, and we all breathed in relief as she settled on a branch next to her other sibling and one of her parents. Too bad no one caught the more glamorous side of this story on film, but hopefully you got the gist of it and clapped just as we did at the happy ending to this story.

Taking a break, visiting animals in Georgia

What an amazing visit I had back to my original home town, Atlanta Georgia. When I left 9 years ago, I wasn't an animal rehabilitator and barely had started my journey with birds of prey. So what a treat to visit and learn about animals with which I had no hands on experience.


This rather unique face came slowly waddling over to me at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell Georgia. Trust me, these animals are not usually so friendly, and I do NOT recommend trying this on your own. Because the director and I had previously communicated, I was privledged to receive a personal up close view of this amazing creature. This animal was orphaned as an infant when a trapper, ignorant of beaver natural behavior, mistakenly believed this animal's older sibling was the newborn baby. He almost died along with his brother from the time elapsed before discovered. I learned that beavers have a very close knit family structure and live together in what is called a "lodge." He has been in captivity for around 13 years and recently alone when his brother sadly died of organ failure.

This cute little guy is one of the most critically endangered freshwater turtles in the eastern United States. The bog turtle unfortunately suffers from overcollection for the black market pet trade as well as for the fragmentation of habitat which has reduced the overall variety of genetic variation. This individual is part of a breeding program to help re-establish the wild population through captive breeding. There is some great information at http://www.fish.state.pa.us/education/catalog/ab/bogturtle/bogturtl.htm

The next day was one I would not soon forget! I was again honored to get a behind the scenes visit at the Georgia Aquarium courtesy of our head veterinary consultant Dr. Gregory Bossart. I was thrilled (to say the least) to come this close to a beautiful beluga whale while it was in a training/enrichment session. Training is very important for marine mammals as they are exceedingly intelligent creatures and need varied mental stimulation and social interaction. It increases the trust and bond between the animals and handlers. Another added benefit is that medical procedures are performed with less stress when the animals are trained to present body parts for examinations and injections.

Lastly, it's no wonder that I love animals so much, considering that animals have always been a part of my life and my family too! Here's my mom's latest, Izzy, a two year old bundle of energy called a yorkshire terrier.

Helping Others Who Help Animals

From time to time, the Miami Science Museum's Wildlife Center is asked by another institution to participate in a very special event to raise funds. In these difficult financial times, these events loom large in the continued survival of non for profit organizations. We were honored to support the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium in their annual Spring Fling at the Ft Myers Convention Center. Pictured below are some of their reptiles featured inside.
Our friends at Calusa Nature Center have given homes to several permanently disabled raptors from our center. Although this bald eagle pictured here didn't come from our center, he was rescued in Kansas from a prison facility. Their center has been home to screech owls, a red shouldered hawk, and a great horned owl from our facility.


We were also thrilled to meet animal advocate and television celebrity Jack Hanna at this event. He presented several videos presenting various causes ranging from sea turtles to mountain gorillas. There were a lot of cool and interesting animals for us to see (other than our own). Pictured below is me with our short tailed hawk and Jack Hanna of course.

On Saturday I attended Folke Peterson Wildlife Center's annual fundraiser. There was arts, crafts, facepainters, the police department with their working animals, and tours of the beautiful display cages along the Findley trail housing birds of prey, waterbirds and grey squirrels. The highlight of my day however was meeting this beautiful swallowtail kite. This bird resides at the center as an educational ambassador. Swallowtail kites are named for their long scissorlike tail and their ability to glide along the thermals hanging in the sky motionless like a kite. Their diet is primarily insects but also small amphibians and sometimes birds.

Please support your local non for profit organization in these difficult economic times, whoever it may be, no matter how small your donation. Without these organizations, who will be there when you need help?