Celebrating Vultures at Animal Kingdom

Today is International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD). Did you celebrate nature’s clean -up crew today? Disney’s Animal Kingdom is celebrating vultures all month!

Arthur and I visited Animal Kingdom on Thursday, September 1st, the date highlighted on the Disney Parks Blog as the day the park would be participating in IVAD. We later learned that the celebration would continue through the entire month of September.

We first visited the Rafiki’s Planet Watch part of the park, where we had a look at the educational vulture posters and materials on display. Books about vultures were available for perusing and materials like vulture skulls and feathers were also on display. Cast members played vulture fact games with kids and had a great little presentation to show the strength of vulture stomachs which involved small plastic bones and smoking vulture “acid” stomach juices.

Vulture skulls
Vulture skulls. The one with the huge nostrils in the foreground is a Turkey Vulture.

Vulture information display
Vulture info display at Rafiki’s Planet Watch

Vulture information display
Vulture info display at Rafiki’s Planet Watch

Next we got a big thrill when we checked the activity tables for small kids. Among the coloring pages and vulture masks we found a couple of Birdorable Vulture puzzles!!

Birdorable vulture downloads!
Birdorable goodies at Rafiki’s Planet Watch before being snatched up by thousands of fans

At the Tree of Life area of the park, another information station was set up by the Lappet-faced Vulture exhibit. This included a model vulture nest and a pair of model life-size vulture wings was available for kids (of all ages) to try on.

Lappet-faced Vulture sign
Permanent display sign for the Lappet-faced Vulture exhibit area

Vulture information display
Vulture info display at the Tree of Life

I'm a vulture!
I’m a vulture!

At the Animal Kingdom Lodge, another information booth with more educational materials and a video display was set up and manned by a naturalist.

Vulture information display
Vulture info display at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

Rüppell’s Vultures reside in one of the lodge’s savannas, and there were two sessions of public viewing of vulture feeding and enrichment.

The birds are trained to come feed by a visual cue – the waving of a flag. Now as it was a bit overcast and the wind was picking up, the zoologist interpreter at the viewing mentioned that the birds sometimes won’t feed in high wind or in the rain. I wonder if that’s because they would not normally prefer to fly in such conditions and therefore would not be able to find food to eat. In any case, somehow I ended up with the task of waving the flag. I managed to wave in the birds after some hard work. 😉

Calling in the vultures
Calling in the vultures

We were treated to a family group of three vultures who came out to munch on some raw bones, a special meal for the birds (who usually eat rats or mice).

Rüppell's Vulture
Om nom nom…

Rüppell's Vulture
… nom nom nom…

Rüppell's Vulture
… nom nom nom…

Rüppell's Vulture
Rüppell’s Vulture

Having commemorated IVAD on our own in the past, this year it was special to have a destination where vultures were being celebrated so enthusiastically. I was impressed with the materials and information being shared with visitors of all ages at several different spots in the park and lodge. I think celebrating vultures at Animal Kingdom might become an annual tradition for Arthur and me. 🙂

Turkey Vulture
A Turkey Vulture soars over Disney World

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My visitors came from *where* in August 2011?!?!?

Here are my favorite search terms that brought visitors to this site during August 2011. This is part of an ongoing monthly series on blog search terms.

binoculars to eat… I guess we all get hungry out in the field, but is this really practical?

does the magnificent frigate bird live in florida?… Yes! Both bird and blogger. 🙂

raptors cloacaPerv!

small crested birds florida tit… Good thing they added “crested” and “birds.” Hope they found what they were looking for!

cute birdemic drawing… Did someone mix-up Birdorable with the shock and terror?

cloaca bird blue jay… Seriously? Two visitors arrived here searching for cloaca last month?

shrike with impaled… I just love that someone was searching the interwebs for this! Whenever we have seen shrikes, we’ve searched for impaled prey. So far, no luck. I will squeal like a schoolgirl if I ever see it in life. Check out this great encounter with a juvenile shrike practicing the, uh, practice.

what’s that bird movie in 2011… Can’t wait, that’s what!

what is the bird with red eyes and looks like a toucan… I am very curious what this searcher was seeking. What looks like a toucan but is not a toucan?

happy crowds of biologists pictures… This makes me happy.

where do homing pigeons hide when lost?… Aww. 🙁

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BPW: Clumsy Anhinga

While visiting Gemini Springs earlier this week, I stopped to watch an Anhinga preening and drying itself in a tree.

Gemini Springs
The Anhinga is in the upper right quadrant of this picture, in the highlighted circle

Anhinga

Anhinga

As I watched, I hoped it might decide to hunt so I could observe it in the water. I just love watching snake birds do their thing. But this beauty just keep on preening.

Anhinga

Anhinga

After about ten minutes, the Anhinga started awkwardly hopping downward towards the center of the tree. It seemed to be uncharacteristically clumsy and I wondered if it could be after some prey in the tree, like a frog.

I lost sight of the bird just as it approached the bottom of the tree, which was over the water. It seemed to vanish behind the leaves. Or did it fall into the water? I approached the tree from the grassy shore, but I couldn’t see the bird.

Just as I was considering stepping into the murky water to check on the fate of the Anhinga, I saw it on a lower branch, shaking water off its body.

It was covered in aquatic vegetation, so I think it did get into the water, maybe not on purpose.

Anhinga

Anhingas always seem so graceful to me, so it was surprising to see this apparently clumsy individual. Of course, I don’t know what happened during the time I lost sight of the bird. Maybe it acquired prey and was satisfied with a successful hunt. From my vantage point, though, it looked like a bit of slapstick.

I left the bird to another preening and drying-off session.

Anhinga

Bird Photography Weekly is a regular collection of user-submitted bird photos from all over the world. The new edition comes out every Sunday. Go have a look at this week’s submissions!

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Posted in Bird Photography Weekly, Florida, Gemini Springs, Volusia Birding | 3 Comments

Birders, help yourself help wildlife

This morning, Arthur and I saw what we first thought was an unfortunate roadkill opossum on the road as we drove through our neighborhood. To our shock, we saw the injured animal was still alive, and struggling to cross the road. What to do?

What would you do if you saw a Mute Swan bleeding by the side of busy highway? Who would you call if you saw a Brown Thrasher lying in the middle of a busy city intersection, dazed from a window strike? If a Great Blue Heron was struck by a car in your neighborhood, would you know what to do?

I was involved in these scenarios and more as a volunteer with FCWR. Being familiar with wildlife rehabilitation in the Chicago area, I knew who to call in case of animal emergencies. But I came across plenty of concerned citizens who were frustrated by the time they got in touch with someone who could help them and their distressed animal. Unfortunately, police departments, emergency services and local governments don’t always know the closest rehabilitation centers. If you start calling random government agencies, you might have to play phone tag, while your injured animal is waiting for urgent care.

If you believe that birders are more observant than the average person, you might also believe that birders are more likely to come across situations like the ones listed above. Judging from emails sent to a few state listservs I’ve followed in the past, birders might be in a better position to find and help injured wildlife, but they don’t always know what to do or who to call. So prepare yourself, and write down some numbers or add them to your phone. Think of all your non-birder friends out there too… who are they going to call when they find an injured bird? It might just be you – so you better be ready. The time you save by being prepared may mean life instead of death for an injured animal.

Now that we’ve moved to a new area, one of the first things I did was look up local wildlife rehabbers and note which species or families they help. I’ve added their contact information to my phone and to Arthur’s phone. I’ve made note of the addresses, too, since cellphone reception isn’t the same everywhere. In our case we’ve noted several that are close to the places we’ll frequently visit. We’ve entered them with the “last name” Wildlife, so we don’t have to remember individual center names and they are all easy to find together in our contacts.

Besides noting contact info for local rehabbers, I spent a few moments looking over the websites of my local groups. Rehab centers are almost always underfunded, and understaffed, relying on the hard work of dedicated volunteers. Becoming familiar with how different local groups work may help me and potential wildlife rescues in the future.

And it helped us help the opossum this morning. We turned the car around and Arthur got on the phone with our closest mammal rehabilitation center and prepared the cardboard animal carrier we keep in the car. I put on a pair of gloves and grabbed a blanket to gather up the injured opossum and transfer it to the carrier. (Besides noting the phone numbers, we take the extra step of keeping a few pieces of equipment in the back of our minivan to recover injured birds or animals.)

Here are some wildlife rehabilitation directory sources. They might not have the most updated information on every listing, so it’s a good idea to be sure the organizations you find are still in operation. Often a simple Google search will give you an idea of the rehabber’s status.

The Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory
National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association
Wildlife Rehabber search

More sources of interest:
My Dog Found a Nest of Baby Bunnies decision tree
I Found a Baby Squirrel on the Ground decision tree
How to Rescue a Sick, Injured or Baby Raptor

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Competition for The Big Year

In the United States, unless its a holiday weekend, feature movies are traditionally released on Friday. Movies often have their best weekend during the first week of release, and a lot depends on the competition they face during that first weekend. So as birders anxiously await the release of The Big Year on Friday, October 14th, let’s see what else is coming to theaters on the same weekend.

Trespass is a thriller starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman, and directed by Joel Schumacher. Like The Big Year, Trespass so far doesn’t seem to have an official site or any trailers in circulation. Will audiences go for a big-name thriller over big-name birding comedy?

Footloose is a remake of the 1984 hit musical of the same name. Footloose already has an official site and has several trailers in circulation. I suppose this movie has a very different target audience from The Big Year.

The Thing is not a remake but rather a prequel to another 1980’s hit (John Carpenter’s film of the same name). The horror flick already has an official site and trailers to view.

The independent horror Killer Holiday is also slated for October 14th. I would guess this might have limited release, but I’m not sure. This movie has no official site but an official Facebook page instead.

Finally, the Spanish drama The Skin I Live In will open in New York and Los Angeles on October 14. This Sony Classics title was directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Interestingly, artwork for the movie includes Audubon’s iconic American Flamingo painting, which can be seen on the official site.

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Flights of Wonder

“Flights of Wonder” is a live show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom that uses free-flighted birds from all over the world. Arthur and I attended a performance on a recent visit to the zoo / theme park.

While waiting in line outside the outdoor theater, a cast member came out to talk with the crowd along with an avian ambassador, a Great Horned Owl. I spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the handler’s rather thin glove and one of the owl’s talons resting precariously on the cuff of said glove. Eek.

GHOW
Great Horned Owl with small-gloved handler

The show takes place in the Asia-themed part of the park, and the stage was made to look like an Indian ruin.

Stage
Flights of Wonder stage set

The performance began with birds like macaws, hornbills, toucans and others flying across or walking on the stage to a short narration about birds of the world. The birds flew from the sides of the stage and from holes in the stage itself. This first part starred birds alone; it was a few minutes before the human host came out.

Grey Crowned Crane
A free-flighted Grey Crowned Crane wowed the crowd

Throughout the rest of the program, different bird species were introduced, and we got to see more amazing free-flying (or free-running) birds, as well as some (somewhat) natural behaviors. For example, a Seriema came out and smashed a plastic figure on the ground several times. In the wild, these birds will beat prey like lizards on rocks before consuming them.

A couple of audience participation bits were cute but an added cast member for comedic relief really fell flat with me; the beautiful birds were enough “entertainment” for me. The audience seemed to like it, so if they get the show’s message of conservation, it’s all fine with me.

Scarlet Macaws & Spectacled Owl
Free-flighted Scarlet Macaws and handler with Spectacled Owl

The final bird of the show was a Bald Eagle (who stayed on the glove). Handlers also came out with a Bateleur and a Spectacled Owl, who remained on stage for the audience to have a closer look.

Bateleur
Handler with Bateleur (a species of eagle)

“Flights of Wonder” is a sleek show with a great variety of beautiful birds and a clear message of conservation. If you don’t mind some cheesy entertainment with your birds, you’ll probably enjoy this show, as I did.

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The Audubon Center for BOP in Maitland

Back in April, Arthur and I visited the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Florida. The center is part of Audubon of Florida and treats up to 700 injured raptors each year. In addition to rehabilitating birds of prey, the center has non-releasable education birds in their permanent care. The center is open to visitors six days a week.

We took a self-guided tour of the facility, which houses several permanent residents in lovely mews set on nicely groomed grounds.

Audubon Center for Birds of Prey grounds
Raptor mews set on lovely grounds

A volunteer was cleaning a mew belonging to several Red-tailed Hawks. Other mews housed multiple birds of the same species, including Osprey, Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl and others.

Mew cleaning
A volunteer cleans a mew

Other resident birds were enjoying their time in the “Bird Garden”, visible from the main building. Here we see Picasso the Red-shouldered Hawk in the lower left side of the picture; the Barn Owl in the center is Daisy I believe; the Bald Eagle on the far right is named Francis if I am reading my key correctly.

Bird Garden
A view of the “Bird Garden”

From a different vantage point we watched this Bald Eagle enjoying an after-tub sunbath.

Post-bath Bald Eagle
A Bald Eagle dries off after a bath

Other, smaller permanent residents were on display inside the enclosed porch of the main building. Here we see (counter-clockwise from bottom right) American Kestrels Olivia and Newton, Merlin Sable, and Eastern Screech Owl Buz peeking out from his box.

Audubon Center for Birds of Prey
Small birds of prey

A young Red-tailed Hawk was sitting in another part of the grounds. Look at the first red tail feathers coming in, replacing the striped juvenile feathers. The young bird also has a light eye (visible to top right of bird’s body) that will become darker as it ages.

Red-tailed Hawk new feathers
Red tail feathers coming in

Birds in rehab are never on public display, but visitors can get an idea of the behind-the-scenes work from the patient list board.

Clinic patients
Clinic patients

As we toured the grounds, we spoke with one of the volunteers, Sheena. She was kind enough to bring out a couple of birds for us to see up close. First we got to meet Merlin, a male Barred Owl. He was noticeably smaller than my beloved Meepy, but no less beautiful. Merlin is an imprinted bird who is also missing an eye (that’s a very sad story I may share another time).

Merlin the Barred Owl
Merlin the Barred Owl

Next we got to meet Picasso, a Red-shouldered Hawk. Having never seen a Red-shouldered so close, I was fascinated. He was smaller than I would have guessed (typical that the size is surprising!) and simply gorgeous. Picasso has a permanent wing injury and is also unfortunately missing an eye (I caught his “good side” in this picture).

Picasso the Red-shouldered Hawk
Picasso the Red-shouldered Hawk

We enjoyed our visit to this lovely facility and thank all of the volunteers and especially Sheena for such a warm welcome. I have a feeling this was not our last visit to the Audubon Center for BOP in Maitland…

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Posted in ACBOP, Florida, Rehabilitation | 1 Comment

My visitors came from *where* in July 2011?!?!?

Happy August! Now that Arthur and I are more or less settled in here in DeBary, Florida, I hope to pick up the birding – and blogging – pace this month. It looks like local bird clubs will start up again in September and I hope I’ll have even more to share with my readers in the coming months. Migration is already underway. Birds await! Meanwhile, here is a short list of some of the more interesting search terms that brought visitors to this site during July 2011. This is part of an ongoing monthly series on blog search terms.

identifying baby cardinal vs cowbird… Really? For one thing, baby Northern Cardinals have crests, and cowbirds don’t. By the way, don’t search Flickr for photos of baby cowbirds – it’s kind of depressing (and I love cowbirds).

what bird song sounds like T-shirt?… Do you perhaps mean what bird sings “teacher”?

i need the official warblers shirt… I didn’t realize the Warblers went pro!

describing the inside a parrot’s eye… Sounds like someone skipped lab this week?

what is a black bird that swims with wings open and has yellow beak in Illinois… Double-crested Cormorant, maybe.

teddybear like- birds… Oh, my. I really wonder what this person was seeking.

Magnificent Frigatebird: strengths and weaknesses… Meager content output, mediocre photos taken with low-grade consumer camera, uninteresting posts – oh, those are only weaknesses. 😉

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BPW: Black Skimmer

Black Skimmers

I saw my first Black Skimmers back in April by Merritt Island. Although they had the expanse of the Indian River behind them, these birds were more interested in a puddle at a turnoff on the Max Brewer Bridge. We got to watch them do their thing – fly over the puddle with lower mandible dipped in the water.

Black Skimmers

It was very cool to see but also kind of hard to watch, because the water was so shallow and they would hit their beaks on the rough pavement below. It gave me goose bumps, and not in a good way, but it was fascinating how they would recover so quickly from each mini obstruction. Their heads would bend down ever so slightly with each hit, and then recover to a normal position. This all took place in a microsecond and multiple times during each pass over the puddle.

Black Skimmers

While interesting to watch, unfortunately I didn’t manage to take any pictures or video of this behavior. I found a clip on YouTube which shows the normal feeding behavior of these birds: Black Skimmers feeding. I hope you’ll enjoy this collection of photos that I did manage to capture.

Black Skimmers

And if you want to see something really cute, I have two links for you: Birdorable Skimmer and Baby Black Skimmer @ 10,000 Birds.

Black Skimmer

Bird Photography Weekly is a regular collection of user-submitted bird photos from all over the world. The new edition comes out every Sunday. Go have a look at this week’s submissions!

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Posted in Behavior, Bird Photography Weekly, Florida | 3 Comments

Random April Viera Wetlands

This might become a longer series, now that Viera Wetlands is a day trip rather than a week-long road trip. My first such post was back in November, 2009. All of these photos were taken in late April, 2011.

Viera Babies
Baby Anhingas and baby Great Blue Herons share a nest tree

Juvenile White Ibis
Foraging juvenile White Ibis

Viera Rookery
Heron/Egret rookery

Crested Caracara pair
Pair of Crested Caracara

SACR Family
Sandhill Crane family

Loggerhead Shrike
Loggerhead Shrike

Limpkins
Pair of Limpkins

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