Flying High!

It’s been a whirlwind of a week here. Just when it looks like I’ll have a nice relaxing day to spend on little projects or catching up on things in the office, it all turns insane on me! In spite of all the craziness, however, there is always something wonderful and rewarding when you work with live animals.

This week we began exercising the birds. Hayabusa, our peregrine falcon, was the first to try out our brand new, super amazing, perch that our carpenter, Has, built for us. Haya has severe damage to her right wing and she is in our care because she will never be able to fly well enough to return to the wild. That doesn’t mean, however, that she can’t get a little exercise. On her first day she “flew” three times, about three feet each flight. You could see that she thoroughly enjoyed it and she was rewarded with one third of her dinner at each flight. It was a good opportunity to show the volunteers what we had in store for our “flying season.”

The next day I invited the volunteers who were still there in the afternoon to help out. They all did a fantastic job with something completely new to them and we managed to get six hops from Haya. You can see how out of shape she is by the third jump, but she gave it her all.

For the moment we are just working on getting the birds a little exercise. We hope that with increased muscle from the flights, both Hayabusa and Teasdale, the great horned owl, will be able to hold their damaged wings in closer to their bodies in a more natural position. Suli, the turkey vulture, will also begin flying soon, and our goal is to fly her during our summer programs here at the Center. Who wouldn’t love to see a turkey vulture fly?!