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Bird Brain

by | Feb 22, 2023 | Blog Posts

Bird Brain

by Sierra Pederson, February 2023

Before coming to Snowdon, I had yet to have the pleasure of working with ambassador raptors. Early in my tenure, the Board of Directors tasked me with the seemingly impossible job of retraining Merlin, the great horned owl. Our 14-year-old education bird had grown fond of his enclosure after an extended event hiatus during the sad times. Though Merlin was a challenge to win over (the topic of our first website blog), it only took about a month for us to start touring Valley County on a 30-presentation-long circuit. I continue to work with Merlin almost daily, and he has proven to be a very tolerant and stoic education bird once again.

            There is a steep and challenging learning curve to animal training. The key to working with any animal, or person for that matter, is patience and consistency. I had the pleasure of building on these skills with a local falconer, Isaac Pottenger, while training a non-releasable fledgling red-tailed hawk we received over the summer. This 3-month-old youngster flew into a truck near Council soon after leaving the nest. The altercation left him with two compound fractures in his right wing, which usually results in the need for euthanasia. Instead of immediately putting this bird down, the Board and I agreed to see if he had a curious and food-motivated disposition. Though life in captivity is a challenging transition for most adult wild animals, juveniles can often adapt to this new set of stimuli. Isaac told me the number one way to earn a bird’s trust was exposure, so I moved some pillows and my laptop into the loft of our raptor enclosure. A week after doing all my computer work in my new nook, I could feed this wild fledge by hand.

            Because we can’t tell our feathered friends we are only trying to help, we rely on our body language to communicate and earn their trust. If you are consistently calm during training sessions, they will associate you with the positive parts of their day. Once I started feeding the red-tail by hand, I began introducing him to the glove. Getting a bird to “step up” means you are asking them to perch on your arm, which is often unsteady, and to voluntarily exist within your space. It might seem like a small request, but it is a massive ask for a wild animal. The hawk was understandably hesitant at first. He was getting used to my company in his enclosure and took the time to shred the mice and quail bits I handed him. He no longer displayed stressed behaviors when I entered the enclosure. In fact, he started preening while I typed and would choose to perch as close to me as possible. It took me another week before he decided to hop onto my glove to take the food I was offering. I was shocked. I sat stock-still while he ripped the head off the mouse I had in my hand. I was 100% certain he would hop off the second the food was gone, but he chose to sit there and stare at me with no intention of moving away. I gave him another piece of food every few minutes to encourage this behavior. I eventually ran out of mice and chicken, but he still chose to stay on my glove. I hung out until his 1300 g grew heavy. Then, I turned my wrist and moved him toward one of his perches, gesturing for him to step off. He did what I asked of him but quickly moved closer to me, watching me curiously to see if I happened to have any food left. That was when I knew this hawk would make one heck of an ambassador.

            I sent Isaac a picture of my new buddy on the glove and asked if he could come out to the sanctuary to help me put jesses on him. The following week, we went through Snowdon’s falconry equipment and picked out anklets that would comfortably fit his legs and jesses that would be the proper length for a raptor his size. Thankfully, Isaac had a hood we could borrow that would cover the hawk’s eyes while we handled him. Isaac put the new bling (anklets and jesses) on our hawk while I held him against my chest. Though the red-tail wasn’t entirely sure of what we attached to his legs, he didn’t bother pulling at his jesses or picking at the anklets. For the next few weeks, he and I worked together every day. I always looked forward to training him because of our rapid progress. One week after stepping up, he started jumping down to me from the rafters. Soon he was jumping to the scale to weigh himself and allowing me to touch his feet and chest while on the glove. He won me over in the first week, but I was starting to think he was coming around to me as well.

            When I started working with this fledgling, I wasn’t sure if we would be keeping him. For this reason, I thought of him as a rehabilitation animal and wasn’t ready to give him a name. However, I started brainstorming once Isaac and I put jesses on him. I let Snowdon’s Board of Directors know I wanted to apply for a new education permit. Erin, the wife of Board member Jeff, immediately offered the name Qáya for our new ambassador. Qáya is the name for red-tailed hawk in Nimipuut’imt, The People’s Language (Nez Perce). The Nez Perce Tribe had hosted a feast for the entire town of McCall a few years back, giving the entire fund-raising proceeds to Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary. In addition, Snowdon’s founder built an enclosure over 20 years ago to house a pack of gray wolves that needed sanctuary in collaboration with the Nez Perce Tribe’s work to re-establish native wolves in Idaho. Snowdon wanted to recognize this partnership by naming our newest ambassador Qáya! Our crew fell in love with the name and decided we would give him the nickname Kai for short. Now that he had a name and I was working on his fifteen-page permit, I knew we were keeping him for good.

            We said very little to the public about Kai while we waited for federal approval. It was difficult for me, Macy, Alex, and Allison to keep him on the down low because we have had so much fun working with him. We are all excited to announce his addition to our ambassador team this month! Macy helped me train Kai throughout the fall and early winter. He spent most days in the house with us while we developed education programs, researched best animal care practices, and wrote new content for Snowdon’s website. We loved watching his overly elaborate preening rituals and unique behaviors. Over the summer, he continued to make rapid progress as we challenged him to learn novel behaviors. Soon he was jumping 4 feet up to the glove from the ground, running across the room to his “spot,” and returning to his perch, all with exclusively verbal commands. We were so proud of our favorite little murder bird!

            Anytime people would come out to the sanctuary to volunteer, drop off donations, or transport animals; I made sure they had the opportunity to meet Kai. I was so enamored with this bird that I needed other people to get to know him too. This also helped socialize him while I waited for permission to take him out for education programs. I finally scheduled Kai’s first-ever presentation for mid-February at McCall-Donnelly High School, and I couldn’t wait. I worked with Kai for seven months, hoping to take him to an event someday. I was ecstatic when his permit finally came through! As I expected, Kai performed wonderfully in the science classes at our local high school. He puffed out his feathers, preened, and tilted his head while checking out the students in the room. My heart soared while I answered the kids’ inquisitive and thoughtful questions. It took longer than I thought it would, but I finally got to present with Kai!

            The average red-tailed hawk will live 20+ years in captivity. Because Kai is not even a year old yet, he will give hundreds of presentations for Snowdon in his lifetime. Training this wild little guy into a curious and lovable ambassador was an absolute pleasure. Watching people light up when they see him is even better. I can only hope Kai’s story will inspire the people who meet him to be a little kinder to our wild neighbors. The human population in Valley County is multiplying, which has impacted Snowdon via an equally rapid increase in rehabilitation animal intakes. Unfortunately, more people in a predominantly rural area often leads to more human-wildlife conflict. Increasing our education efforts during this time of growth can mitigate many of these unintentional issues. I genuinely believe the best rehabilitation strategy is preventing animals from needing our intervention. As Snowdon continues to expand as an organization, I look forward to seeing the impact it can have on environmental stewardship in this area. We can all learn something about how to be better members of this beautiful Valley County ecosystem.

 

It Takes a Village

by | Dec 19, 2022 | Blog Posts

It Takes a village

by Macy Sonius,  December 20, 2022

My name is Macy, and I’m Snowdon’s one and only 2022 fall intern. While earning my undergraduate degree, I spent 8+ hours every other week volunteering to care for wolves and wolf dogs at a sanctuary near Fort Collins. After graduating with my B.S. in wildlife biology from Colorado State University, I accepted a position with USGS surveying Boreal toads in Rocky Mountain National Park. Though I enjoyed backpacking for a living and studying this unique endangered species, I wanted my next job to offer me more animal handling experience. When I found Snowdon’s post on Conservation Job Board, I wrote my cover letter and kept my fingers crossed. Thankfully, Sierra was impressed with my application, and our interview went great! I packed up my SUV to move outside of Colorado for the first time in my life, giddy with the prospect of rescuing wild animals. As my time at Snowdon is quickly coming to a close, I can confidently add animal handling, raptor training, primary veterinary care, and content creation to my resume. However, this internship has taught me so much beyond syringe feeding and wrapping broken wings.

            I arrived the first week of September to a frenzy of baby animals, weaned and restless, ready for release. Within two weeks of my arrival, the sanctuary buzz reduced to a quiet hum in the absence of skunks, foxes, a raccoon, a Swainson’s hawk, and a fawn. Despite our much lighter animal care load, we somehow got busier. With our open house event rapidly approaching, we hurried to make the property visitor ready. I weed-whacked until the blades dulled and painted our brand-new brushes down to stubs. Hundreds of hours of manual labor later, I took a step back to acknowledge the property looked incredible.

            On the big day, Sierra forced me out of my comfort zone and put me in charge of the education table. While maintaining the excitement and engagement for five hours was exhausting, I was shocked that it came naturally. Children and adults alike were interested in hearing about the skulls and pelts on display. Sometimes in the natural resource field, you forget what the general population considers “common knowledge.” Watching people’s faces light up with genuine curiosity while interacting with one of our artifacts made me realize how much people truly love animals. Visitors eagerly shared their critter stories with me in exchange for my impromptu wildlife lessons.

            While cleaning up after everyone left, Sierra and I struggled to comprehend how the day flew by so fast. I mulled over the thoughtful questions and good conversations and weighed each smile and curious look to find the event a massive success. Our month of chaos preparing the property and the twelve-hour workday was well worth it. Snowdon made valuable connections with the community of McCall that day, thanks to our hard work. The following weekend, I had the opportunity to engage with the community again at Oktoberfest. Once again, Sierra put me in charge of outreach. Much more confident this time, I actively engaged people as they walked by with their German beers in hand. Like at our open house, people were excited to learn about native species and support Snowdon’s mission. At this point, I had only been in Idaho for a month, and I already began recognizing faces among the renaissance dresses and suspenders. I started becoming part of this small town and its natural resource community.

            After a month of shadowing Sierra, I began answering the phone more and running errands independently. Everywhere I went, I was recognized and approached by people. One young girl saw me at the grocery store and asked how her friend Merlin was doing. A couple at the brewery sat at my table to inquire about the health of our newest cub. But, my most unique interaction was with an older gentleman at the auto shop. While I was picking up our work truck, he pulled off the highway to ask me for directions. When I asked why he wanted my advice, he told me he knew he could trust someone who worked for Snowdon. It quickly became apparent how well-known our organization is in Valley County.

            Rehab itself is complex and often emotionally exhausting, but these brief interactions showed me the positive impact we are making. Once our big fundraising events were behind us, Sierra and I began visiting schools to teach students about owls, bears, and animal adaptations. Together, we carved pumpkins for cubs with the after-school program, educated preschoolers at Roots about squirrel rehabilitation, and hosted sixty first-graders for a scavenger hunt at the sanctuary. All these programs ended up being controlled chaos, but man, we had the best time. Will the students specifically remember why black bear claws are more hooked than a grizzly’s or the details of a raptor’s diet? Of course not. But I could see in their little faces that we had successfully planted a seed. They will grow up and remember when a cub tore open their jack-o-lantern or how they used a compass to locate a “skunk” in our forest. These experiences could be what motivates them to protect their environment! We are creating future stewards of wildlife; in 10 or 15 years, they could be out in the field with me, working to conserve the same fragile ecosystems I’ve dedicated my career to protecting.

            Not only does Snowdon support the community, but the community also supports us. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the public’s generosity to keep our doors open. These donations come in the form of monetary giving, animal transportation, and volunteer hours. Recently, we have established relationships with several generous vets and vet techs who offer us their expertise to increase the quality of care that all our animals receive. For example, Dr. Mark Drew drove from Boise to complete a critical surgery for a red-tailed hawk at no cost to our organization. Thanks to him, that hawk will live a long and happy life. Last month, Dr. Linda Donerkiel and Jaime Hill-Schriker removed our ambassador great-horned owl’s eye in the surgery suite at MCPAWS’s veterinary hospital. All parties involved donated their time and resources to help Merlin. What a testament to how much people care about our animal’s quality of life. I’m incredibly grateful for Dr. Donerkiel’s willingness to pick up the phone whenever we need her help. Occasionally, Sierra is unavailable when we receive a new intake (hard to believe, I know). Linda has driven to the sanctuary with very little notice more than once to help me with initial exams. Though we appreciate all of our volunteers, I wanted to extend a special thank you to our unpaid veterinary “staff.” These three individuals invested a large amount of money in their careers, yet they chose to volunteer with us because they care about our mission.

            Another incredible example of the community showing up to support us was the epic rescue of Murray, the bear cub. The full recount of this three-day adventure earned the front page in our holiday newsletter. So, for now, I will highlight the kindness our community showed us when we needed them the most. During our initial rescue attempt, it quickly became evident that we lacked the necessary vehicle to get us to Murray. On day one, a stranger offered his lifted truck and afternoon to transport us up the mountain. The second day, Idaho Fish and Game loaned us one of their work trucks and two sets of chains so we could try again. We were only able to make our last attempt because the people that reported the cub lent us their snowmobiles as rescue vehicles. It took a village to save this cub, and we couldn’t be more grateful for everyone’s help.

            So this is more of a story about people than animals; probably not what you expected. I am dedicating this blog to all of our supporters. Their ceaseless acts of generosity and gratitude surprise me daily. I arrived at Snowdon expecting to be isolated from the rest of McCall because of our “off-the-grid” location and irregular work schedule. Coming out of the backcountry at my last job, I expected to chat with the animals while I completed my daily to-do list. Instead, the way I have been able to interact with the public has been a wonderful surprise. I now realize I had no idea what I was getting into when I accepted this internship!

            While earning my undergrad, I learned how humanity had failed our environment. Our classes studied unsolved natural resource issues involving stakeholders whose hatred of the opposing side drove their biased arguments. Professors gave endless examples to drill mistakes made by society into our brains. This internship has given me a refreshing look at humanity. The majority of people want to defend animals and mitigate human-wildlife conflict. These community members are willing to share their time, money, and resources with our cause. As I continue my career as a wildlife biologist, I will take with me the practical skills from this job and the inspiring attitudes of the people who make rehab possible here at Snowdon.