Learning!

While school continued as usual and I continued my online volunteering for Africam and Ustream.tv, I also continued to volunteer for HAWK Center. I have been volunteering there now for nearly a year. And in this time I have absolutely fallen in love with helping birds...From the smallest hatchling to the largest owl and hawk (those are the smallest and largest I've seen so far). One thing that blows my mind is how when they are brought in and it isn't a car related accident or they aren't merely sick or dehydrated they have been shot. I just don't get why someone would want to shoot them. And if the bird wasn't killed outright from the shot they could die a horrible long drawn out painful death from lead poisoning which would then poison what ever animal came across them and consumed them. Or they would be wounded and unable to survive, starve  to death which again is a painful process all the while being in pain from the gunshot.. only if they don't get caught by another animal while down. HAWK received an amazing red-tailed hawk dubbed Pulaski, the county he was found in, who at first they thought was DOA. He was shot in the head, and his chance of surviving this was really low. This bird had such a will to live he managed to survive tho he will never be able to be released again due to his injuries. He is now impaired in one eye and possibly impaired in the other. Because of his story he will make an impressionable ambassador for his species to educate people about red-tailed hawks and show them their beauty and what happens to them when man decides to shoot at them. This picture is Pulaski a few days or so after he arrived at the Center I believe. The picture is the property of HAWK Center.

you can see the exit wound on top of his head. He will always  have feathers sticking up there now,  a hawkish cowlick. He is now rooming with Kate HAWK Center's long time Red-tail hawk ambassador in the picture on the left. Not my best picture but maybe I can get a better one of her soon. 

 HAWK also has 2 owl ambassadors, a barn owl named Tito on right  and a red phased screech owl named Otis on bottom. Otis is a former patient of HAWK, he came in last year missing a wing and an eye punctured. It is assumed he was hit by a cars antenna and severed his wing. He is a lovely boy. Tito has been with the Center since he was young. Over the past year the Center had dealt with hundreds of emergencies and many many more calls. The biggest and most widely known emergency HAWK dealt with this year alone was the Mayflower oil spill. We were the first responders for the critters who were covered in the thick sticky tar sands oil. I have NEVER seen anything like it.. Some of those birds came in so covered in tar sands oil they were literally dripping. HAWK only received 11-12 birds and a muskrat before Exxon's people came in and took over but they received HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of calls... and still to this day they get a call here and there because some animals who are a little oiled but still able to fly are flying away and landing in other waters but still getting sick. This has been the most impacting experience. Here you can find our local paper's story with a slideshow of about 20 pictures or so. Google would give you loads. HAWK Center has an amazing Director and a wonderful set of volunteers and a great group of people that step up and help when the need arises. When March rolled around I went to Basic Rehab training in Murray, KY. It was another awesome experience! Another volunteer and myself went to the class. 3 days of learning, testing, homework (after reading learning the book for a couple of months) Then the 'wet' lab and the big test. I have my Basic Rehab Certificate... now reading a LOT of books and maybe will feel brave enough to take the advanced courses later. But right now I'm happy to learn by watching, learn by doing as I'm told.. There are a lot of sad stories at HAWK..., but it is the Happy ones that makes it all worth it. And in the mean time I'm still learning!! So until next time...