Newsletter Contest!

Good morning everyone!
I hope everyone is doing well! We are doing absolutely fabulous here at Upstate watching Spring slowly make its way to East Tennessee.

Today we'd like to make all of our blog readers aware of our very first contest we are having here at Upstate! We need a name for our newsletter! We've had some entries already, but we are open to many, many more entries! Please submit all entries toNatalie@UpstatBirdsofPrey.org, and in the subject like please put "Newsletter Title". Along with your entry please include your first and last name, phone number, address (to mail out your prize), and your age. We require your age so we can confirm that you are over 18 or have the permission of your parents to enter this contest, receive the prize, and have your name posted in our first official newsletter featuring the name you helped select.

The winner will be announced on August 1, 2013. This will give us a chance to reach as many people as possible before the first edition is written. Also keep in mind that you can enter as many names as you would like!

The top 5 names will be submitted to our Board of Directors, and a few of our mentors to make the final decision. Should there be more than one entry for the winning name we will award up to three (3) prizes if there are more than three (3) there will be a drawing of names. 

Also if to know you are the one that named our newsletter isn't rewarding enough there is also a prize awarded as well! So get to naming guys, and good luck everyone! 

Upstate

Touch 'N Go

Tráthnóna maith!

That would be 'good evening' in Irish. It is still March you know - so we're just dragging St. Patty's day out a little. We do hope everyone is fairing well in this bipolar East Tennessee weather. If you've lived here long enough you're used to it, but for new residents it can cause whiplash. Let's get on to what everyone came here for, shall we? 

First, we'd like to share a couple more photos from Lucy's release last Saturday. We'd like to extend a thank you to Dr. Ellen Rudolph for the amazing shots!

She's "camoed" in about 3/4 of the way up on the left
hand side perched on a small branch.

Right before the release.

Next Roscoe, our Great Horned Owl, is a moseying right along. We are still keeping a close watch on his eye, and he is progressing slowly but surely. He will go for a check up this week with the veterinarian. If all goes well, and his eye continues down this road to recovery we will be able to release him soon enough! Aside from his eye, he is doing very well, and we are sure he is ready to get back to tearing up the night skies!

Now for Rocky, our newest patient, a Red Tailed Hawk. Rocky's condition is a bit sketchy at this current time. It is really "touch 'n go" with him. He has started using his injured leg more as of late, and is actually perching on it. This is wonderful progression, and we hope to see more of it. Along with the good news also comes the not so good; he is also having digestive issues. We are closely monitoring this of course, and hope this also will come a full 180° turn around. We are hoping for the best with Rocky, but are always cognizant that nature will ultimately take whatever course it chooses. Here are some heartening photos of his leg progression.

Paralyzed.

Trying desperately to perch!

Almost fully perching!

As always ladies and gents we will do our best to keep you as informed and up to date as we can! Life here at Upstate is exhilarating, and we do our best to keep the blog as up to date as possible. Should questions or comments arise don't be bashful, please ask away! Education is one of our main goals, and we want people to take advantage of any knowledge we can pass along.

Enthusiastic,

Upstate Birds of Prey

Lucy is Home

Good evening dear friends!
Well without further delay...

Lucy is home!
Saturday night's (March 16th) release was a complete success! After an introduction to Lucy's story, and lesson on the Barred Owl Lucy was released. She first flew to the top of a near by roof, and perched on the gutter. It was as if she was saying her thank you's and goodbye's. She slowly look around at all her spectators one last time, and then flew to a near by tree. She is now home, in the wild, where she belongs. If you'd like take a few moments to look over Lucy's blog entries, and make this picture even more spectacular than it already is.

Lucy's 1st Entry
Lucy's 2nd Entry

Ecstatic,
Upstate Birds of Prey

A Special Thanks!

Good afternoon dear friends!

A sketch of Lucy in the flight pen!

Today's the day! I hope everyone is as stoked as we are about Lucy's release!

This entry is to send out a very special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Haynes!

It was by their gracious donation of their garage that we were able to renovate into a flight pen in order to get Lucy ready to fly this evening! Without their giving hearts and willingness to help Lucy wouldn't be able to go home tonight! Once again thank you Mr and Mrs. Haynes for your generosity! It is because of people like you that we are able to do what we do, and care for these injured creatures of God! 

Very appreciative,

Upstate

A Infinite Amount of Words

Greetings everyone!

We have pictures! They say a picture can say a thousand words, but we at Upstate know they speak an infinite amount. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Lucy is more than ready to go home, and doing great! We can't wait for her release come Saturday!

The next few photos are of our newest patient, Rocky - 

a Red-tailed Hawk. Ain't he a beaut? The pictured leg

is that of the paralyzed one. 

We hope everyone enjoys the warm weather this weekend, and keeps an eye to the sky in hopes of seeing something as remarkable as Rocky!Sincerely,
Upstate Birds of Prey

Roscoe, Rocky, & New Faces

Good day all!

We'd like to go ahead an extend a 'Happy St.Patrick's Day!' to everyone! We hope everyone enjoys a little Irish food, and over abundance of green come Sunday. Click here for a delectable corn beef and cabbage recipe to help celebrate this Irish holiday. 

We have quite a few items to cover in this entry - so pay close attention, because you never know when something you read will come in handy one day. 

First let us give you another update you on good 'ol Roscoe - the Great Horned Owl. He is out of the UT hospital, and currently residing in our hospital. He gets eye drops every morning and night due to the fact that his eyes have not yet healed. The craters in his eyes are on the cornea. The veterinarians actually scratched the cornea because this can allow for faster healing time. The scratches are not visible to without the use of an opthalmascope like human eye doctors use. We find what doctors and vets can do so amazing! We will take him back to UT in ten days to have them rechecked. (For all raptors the eyes are critical for hunting.) We could not do this without UT's help - especially Dr. Jones and Dr.Greenacre. We have yet to find a local veterinarian that is willing to help us with birds of prey due to the fact that they are not taught about them in veterinarian school, and they are dangerous wild animals. Also we'd like you to keep in mind that as we keep referring to Roscoe as a "he or male" we are but guessing. We guess the sex of the raptors generally by size, but when the male and female look the same the only way of knowing for sure is seeing a female lay eggs, or by having a DNA test done. Just another a little morsel of information for you; the Great Horned Owl is actually the largest common owl in American. As Roscoe continues to progress we will keep you updated! Any questions concerning Great Horned Owls, or Roscoe specifically please feel free to shoot us your questions.

Not Roscoe, but a great shot of a Great Horned Owl to get an idea of their size! (Click here for photo credits).

Next up we have a new patient to introduce; Rocky, a male Red-Tail Hawk. We'll do our best to get some pictures up of him soon! (Sorry for the delay!) His care will be fairly comprehensive, but the ultimate outcome will only be known in time. Raptor rehabilitating can be a frugal affair that take much time, but we learn a lot by doing our very best. Rocky has paralysis in his right foot. We had x-rays taken today, and while we can make a few guesses as to the reason it is paralyzed we cannot be 100% positive. We can see in the x-ray where someone has shot Rocky in the leg (in an area that would not have caused this issue). This is a great time to remind everyone; killing or hurting a raptor/bird of prey is a federal offense. There are very strict fines, jail time, and a felony record attached to any type of cruelty to these birds. Click here to read the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. If we see an injured raptor it is our responsibility to get the bird help. As Rocky continues on his journey with us we will be sure and keep everyone posted. Be sure and stay connected to the blog for pictures!

CAMO! (Click here for photo credits.)

Now ladies and gents we'd like to introduce you to a couple of new folks who will be working with Upstate. First, Dr. Victoria Taubner; a raptor rehabilitator, physician, falconer, and educator. She has joined Upstate's team as a consultant. As many of you know Upstate Birds of Prey is a young program, and getting the help (second opinion and/or help with medications) of someone with Dr. Taubner's experience is a true blessing. Thank you Dr. Taubner! Also when we picked up Rocky we also picked up another Upstate volunteer! Her name is Crystal. Crystal is a mommy of two, a wife, a working mom, and she is also in school to become a registered nurse. We welcome her! If those of you following us on this blog come to the Barred Owl release this Saturday you will get to meet everyone working with Upstate, and making all of this possible. Speaking of Lucy, our Barred Owl, did you know a Barred Owl is named after the strips on its feathers which look like bars. These bars help them blend into the bark on trees so they can hide from predators. Many raptors get their names from the way they look, or where they live.

Well Upstate companions I hope you were able to digest all that! Once again we are super excited for Lucy's release on Saturday, and hope to see everyone there! Do take care, and enjoy the spring like weather this weekend!

Enthusiastic,

Upstate Birds of Prey

Fly Lucy! Fly!

Good day fellow Upstate followers! 

Spring is in the air! The days are getting longer, then sun's rays a bit warmer, and a tingling is felt by new life soon to start sprouting all about. I hope everyone is as ready for spring as we are here at Upstate!

We have some fabulous new to share! Lucy, if you remember, was a Barred Owl that came to us extremely underweight and dehydrated. We actually had to go back to feeding her with tweezers, and use only skinless mice since her digestive system had been "shut down" for so long. Well, we are happy to report Lucy has a superb clean bill of health! She will ready to leave our care this up coming Saturday, March 16th around 8:00pm. This will be a public release - so all are welcome! We will have a class on the Barred Owl, and nocturnal raptors prior to release at 7:30pm. If you can attend please RSVP via email with the number of people in your party. We plan on having refreshments afterwards, and we will also need to do our best to seat everyone. Email us at Natalie@UpstateBirdsofPrey.org, and we will give you directions to our location.

Full of anticipation,
Upstate Birds of Prey

Roscoe Report

"Whoo! Whoo!"

'ello! Greetings from the night!
In this entry we'll be updating you on Roscoe, our Great Horned Owl. Remember him?

We thought Roscoe was well on his way to being released. We therefore put him into a flight pen. He was having some problems with strength and endurance, but that was to be expected after the condition he was in when we received him; severely underweight and parasitic. While in the flight pen we suspect he was attacked by a mating/nesting pair of Great Horned Owls that live nearby. Unfortunately he suffered severe trauma to the eye from impacting against the flight pen. His cere (the skin at the top of the beak, but before the feathers) was damaged, and there was a deep yet clean puncture wound under the right side of his beak as if from a talon.Thanks to Merlora, who watches the birds in the flight pen as if she has hawk vision herself, she noticed the eye injuries immediately. After the discovery we pulled Roscoe, and took him to UT.  His entire left eye was opaque. The craters that came from an impact were so deep that his eye filled with fluid giving it the opaqueness. Roscoe went to UT on February 20th, and according to Dr. Jones we should be getting him back some time the week of March 11th, 2013. We will start with him in a mew, then graduate to a larger enclosure, and then move our way to release. Anytime we have these birds in a kennel for treatment they are maintaining body weight, but they are losing muscle strength, and thus require more flight conditioning prior to release.

Even though Roscoe has had a set back, it doesn't seem to be getting him down. We will continue to diligently work with him to get him back into this natural habitat - the wild! 

Thanks to everyone who has been visiting our blog! Again, should questions or comments arise please feel free to drop us a comment here, or send us an email privately. 

In Need:
If anyone has access to live "dark" (wild mice are not pure white) mice, and would like to donate them for "mouse school" please email us your contact information to natalie@upstatebirdsofprey.org  Re: Live Mice. 
Thanks so very much in advance to anyone who can help! 

Diligent,
Upstate Birds of Prey

Ricky

Fair the well Upstate fans!

It's a rainy day here in the Appalachians. The rain is a very fitting mood for this particular entry. Though with all things in life there must be balance. How can one appreciate the sun without the rain?

Sadly on Wednesday February 27th Ricky, the Barred Owl that was rescued from being wrapped in a barbed wire fence, died suddenly. It just had a full physical the week before, and no signs of distress were noted. Up until the day before he was eating well, and as feisty as ever. Dr. Jones at UT is having a complete necropsy done on the Barred Owl due to the sudden, and somewhat unexplained death. Initial findings were that Ricky's body was in good condition muscularly, had good weight (body mass), and satisfactory body fat. The wound was healing well, with no necrosis (dead tissue), and the surrounding skin was pink and supple. 

Here are the initial findings by UT:

The owl was in great physical condition with a significant amount of abdominal fat. The initial necropsy findings are of visceral gout...which can occur secondary to dehydration, various kidney diseases, toxins (drugs such as meloxicam can affect the kidneys, or bacterial/fungal toxins), other environmental stressors.  The results are preliminary, so once we get the final diagnoses we can investigate further into the reason the owl died.  

Life is all about balance, and with life must come death. Though we may try with all our might to save all the creatures to which come into our care the truth is we cannot. Ricky was indeed a trooper, and he fought till the end. His departure will bring more joy to those we are blessed with getting to see released. 

A note from Natalie:

To my volunteers, Kathryn Cottrell, Dr.Vicki Teubner, Dr. Jones, and Dr. Hill:

Thank you for being there for me that day.  Upstate Birds of Prey has been very blessed in that its first two Screech Owls with broken coracoids and ulnar fractures both healed well, and were released. We are also getting ready to release Lucy next weekend, but the reality is that when we get any bird it is because it is injured, and while some injuries are detectable, some are not. We have no way of knowing a wild birds history. We do our very best with each raptor, and learn from each release and each loss.

One of the first things Mathias Engelmann ever taught me was that I will NEVER know it all, and will have NEVER seen it all in the world of raptors.

Keep well,

Upstate Birds of Prey

The grave itself is but a covered bridge,

Leading from light to light, through a brief darkness!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Legend