Category: Volunteering

Outdoor Learning Center · Raptors

Basalt… ‘Bee’ for short

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One of the most joyous things for a raptor volunteer at the Outdoor Learning Center is to get to meet a new bird. It’s somewhat bittersweet, because we all understand that this is not the natural order of things, and it would be better for everyone if the bird were able to be released.

But by the time the birds get to us, the option to be released has been taken off the table by people who are in a position to know what’s possible: the bird’s rehabilitator and the bird’s veterinarian. When release is no longer an option, places like the Outdoor Learning Center become an option (if space is available).

Saw-whet owl Basalt (recovered from Basalt Rd. in Spokane, WA) injured one of his shoulders in a window strike. His flight is compromised (he cannot gain altitude), and there is some speculation that he may have some mild neurological damage (though it does not manifest in his appearance or movement). He has been in care with his vet for the last several months while we waited for our federal permits and transfers to go through. We welcomed him to the OLC two weeks ago.

We’re in the process of getting used to each other. This morning, for the first time since he arrived, I was able to get into the enclosure to clean his house and add a piece of outdoor carpet to the top of it (he spends a lot of time perching there, so it needs to be cleaned often). He watched me quietly from another platform — no panic, just a desire to not be where I was.

And when I was done working on his house, he headed right back up there.

Basalt, no doubt wishing I would put the phone away and leave.

Lack of panic at my presence, and a quick return to a perch that has been altered — those are good signs with new birds. He recognizes that the enclosure is his space, and even though he was wary of my presence, he seemed to be reasonably sure that I was only there to clean. When I removed myself, he immediately went back to the place where’s he’s comfortable, even though something about it had changed.

Saw-whet Owls are tiny — Basalt weighed 74g when he was transferred to us. For the sake of comparison, Arden (female red-tail) weighed 1,310g this morning.

We haven’t had a long-term resident “pocket owl” since Tilt (screech owl) died a few years ago, so we’re excited to get to know, and work with, Basalt.

Lucy the Pup · Outdoor Learning Center

I’m whipped.

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This was my “office” on Friday:

Stan (the Harris’s Hawk) waiting for the kids to show up.

Stan and I went to Deer Lake with six other OLC folks (teachers and interns) to spend the day with the Deer Park School District’s fifth graders. They spent the day rotating through seven stations of science-based activities.

I’m just a volunteer, and I have to say, I do not know how “real” teachers do this every day. Give these folks a raise. For real. Between the teaching and the driving (~100 miles, round trip from my house), it was an exhausting day.

Fifth graders are, on the whole, amazing people. They’re smart, curious, and observant, and they ask great questions. (I suspect fifth grade is just before most of the massive social pressure kicks in.) I have a prepared presentation, but if I’m with a group on a field trip (in other words, no curriculum requirements have to be met), and they want to talk about something else related to the bird I’m using, I’m all in for that. Those are some great conversations. Yeah, ok, sure, the kids can be all over the place, but geez, if they’re out at a lake on a beautiful Friday around the end of the school year? Entirely understandable.

Stan was, as always, completely charming. Harris’s Hawks are more social than other birds of prey, and Stan (a retired falconer’s bird with a significant (healed) wing injury) seems to like being the center of attention… so long as everybody keeps their distance. He spent the day preening, and rousing, and jumping onto the ground to foot something, sometimes stopping to watch the kids watch him.

Being outdoors means there are lots of distractions, but there’s also some really great stuff going on! In the morning, there were crows looking (and sounding) like they were getting set to mob Stan (and me), so it was a relief when the kids got there. There was a bumblebee wandering around the space we were in — I suspect we were near the bee’s nest, so the kids and I got to talk about bumblebee life cycles, and how to respect a bumble when they look like they’re wandering around near the ground. A pair of local bald eagles made an appearance around lunchtime. I got there a little bit early, and saw a great blue heron hunting at the lake’s edge (and later some red-winged blackbirds mobbing the heron as they flew across the lake).

It was a great — and exhausting day. And then yesterday, Lucy (the menace like Dennis) “graduated” from puppy kindergarten, part 2. We’re laying a foundation for recall, and waiting/staying (yesterday I learned that those are two very different ideas), and learning how to greet people without knocking them over (work in progress, but improving!). She loves training — the interaction, and the treats — and I’m starting to be able to use a short session of whatever we’re working on to redirect her when her short-circuiting puppy brain gets all wound up.

Lu was so wary when she came to us almost four months ago, I was concerned that she was going to be afraid of other people or dogs. So far it does not look like that’s the case, although she needs a minute to warm up to new people or situations. I’m not sure she’ll be a dog who will tolerate random strangers walking up to her for pets — she has to observe and assess the situation in a way and place she feels safe in — so we’ll have to advocate for her in those instances.* Once she’s determined that everything is OK, she’s all in. (She starts wiggling and whining if she just hears Allie, one of our puppy-K teachers.)

Lucy this morning, just before she came inside, counter-surfed my journal, and chewed up the back cover… sigh. (I’m bummed, but it was my fault. I had to go to the bathroom and I left my journal within reach on the dining room table.)

The thing about puppy school is that it’s work for everybody. Lucy is almost seven months old. Her attention span is short. Trying to pay attention to the wonderful, can’t recommend them enough trainers and keep track of Lucy for an hour and a half is… something. So a session of puppy school, after a long teaching day… I’m going to need a minute.

(One of the things I’m excited to work on is teaching Lucy how to give hugs, so she can have the experience of an intimate greeting in a gentle and orderly way. That’s going to take some work, but it will be worth it.)

* On IG, MyBoyRudder’s person Maddie said something I’ve been thinking about a lot: everyone would be better off if we assume that no one wants anything to do with our dogs. We’re working with Lucy so that she will be attentive to us when we’re out in the world — we want her to notice, and be aware of, other people and other dogs, but to turn her attention back to us. Our goal is to work with her so we can act calmly in tandem, even when other people or dogs can’t. If someone wants Lucy’s attention, they can proactively ask for it and we can mediate the interaction in a way that’s safe for them and for her. We have a long way to go to get there (we’re starting by asking her to sit and look at us when she hears the phrase “can I pet your dog?”)… we will work on it.

Raptors · Thoughts about Stuff

Maxime’s Minion

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A couple of days ago, The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota announced that one of their bald eagles, Maxime, had passed away. She had been at The Raptor Center for more than 20 years. In her later years, she developed severe arthritis that interfered with her quality of life. On May 19, she was humanely euthanized.

In 2016, I had the opportunity to visit The Raptor Center to take a week-long workshop on the care and maintenance of captive raptors. Some of Minnesota’s birds are like ours at the Outdoor Learning Center. That is to say, at least a few of them came into care from the wild, and have ongoing concerns resulting from injuries sustained in the world.

I’ve only ever worked with one bald eagle, and only for a few minutes, and it was at The Raptor Center. It was Maxime.

Maxime and Me, 2016

First thing, bald eagles get heavy in that position. I had her on my hip for stability for almost the entire time I worked with her. I was closely supervised by two of her handlers. They were very patient with me, and so was she.

By the time I went to that workshop, I had worked with the OLC’s birds for about 3.5 years, so I had experience working with great horned owls, a barn owl, a barred owl, a screech owl, and American kestrel, a Harris’s hawk, a rough-legged hawk, and a red-tailed hawk. I knew how to keep myself, and the birds, safe during our handling and husbandry sessions.

I knew that raptors aren’t props, pets, or toys. I knew that most raptors aren’t social (unless they’re migrating or nesting), and that “friendship” between our species just isn’t a thing. I knew how to tie a falconer’s knot. The OLC’s facilities are much smaller and less sophisticated than The Raptor Center’s, but we had checked in with other rehabbers and vets, and Fish & Wildlife, to make sure they’re good for the birds. I understood that our goals at the OLC were (and are) habituation, and tolerance.

The most profound thing I learned at The Raptor Center was how to incorporate cooperation into the relationship. The birds are sentient individuals who have preferences, and personalities, and it’s important for those of us who get to work with them to honor those preferences when we can. It’s not always possible, but to the extent that it is possible, it’s our responsibility to try.

These thoughts are still front-of-mind today:

Do not lie to the bird.

Do not try to conceal what’s going on, especially in situations where you know that bird isn’t going to enjoy it (like restraint for medical procedures).

Project what’s going to happen.

Be safe.

Be efficient.

Let the bird recover quietly, without interference from you.

If you’re going to be involved in activities the bird doesn’t enjoy, and you want to be a regular handler of the bird, you have to put in extra time, so time spent trimming beaks and talons isn’t the only time you’re handling the bird.

It’s 2023, and I’m still working on this stuff, with our birds (many of them new since 2016) and other volunteers. It’s aspirational, particularly if a bird came into care as an adult. But I think about it often, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to learn it from The Raptor Center, with Maxime.

At the workshop, we broke into groups for some games, and my group was named Maxime’s Minions.

Outdoor Learning Center · Volunteering

Coffee with Raptors

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In February of 2020, the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center raised a bunch of money to replace the windows in our raptor sanctuary.

You know what happened next.

Spring and summer of 2020 were… affected… by the pandemic.

In 2021, the school district replaced the parking lot of the school next door (and the OLC), and it was really, really hot that summer, so working in the heat would not have been easy.

Not sure what the hold up was in 2022, but whatever happened, we couldn’t schedule the window replacement.

Doing this kind of work over winter isn’t feasible. It’s cold, there’s not a lot of daylight, and everything freezes.

So here we are in spring of 2023. The windows are being put in as I write this. I got here to move the birds at 6:45a. The workers from the district got here at about 7:45a, and, as I write this at 10:40a, they’re going strong… yay!

When that kind of construction happens on the building, we move all of the birds out and away from the structure. (Marcus, the Great Horned Owl, lives in an outdoor mew and is staying put.) When it’s warm enough, the birds hang out in the small meadow outside of the director’s office. Right now, because I’m here and I have work to do, they’re in one of the classrooms with me.

The set up this morning. Stan (right), and Arden in front, Oroville and Pants behind screens (the tables), and Ruby in her crate in the bathroom (where it’s dark and quiet).

There are no kids here today, and the teachers are leading a field trip, so it’s just me and three hawks and two owls.

Oroville, in his little “room.” He feels most secure when nobody can sneak up on him.
Arden, who is afraid of nothing, but annoyed by everything, looking non-plussed about being in the classroom and having to stare at Stan all day.
Stan, who would like to be the center of attention all the time, thank you very much, not bothered at all hanging out in the shadow of a black bear.

There are two classrooms, but the OLC’s 75-lb tortoise is roaming in the other one. It’s not fair to him to make him stay in his small enclosure (where he would kick up a fuss and make a lot of noise anyway), or to the birds (who can’t get away from him if he’s wandering, because they’re tethered), to try to make them occupy the same space for the day. (It’s warm enough that we could let the tortoise outside, but he likes to wander where the district folks are working with their power tools, so…)

The new windows (and framed bars that allow us to open them up to clean the windows) are amazing, and I’m glad this is finally happening.

Also today: hanging plastic strips inside Marcus’s mew so that he can’t get a wild hare and fly out when we open the door!

That should slow him down a little bit!

He hasn’t shown any interest in sharing space with any of us for any length of time, and that’s what would be required for him to get out of the mew. But now we have an actual physical barrier, and I think that makes all of us feel a little more comfortable with the situation.

Right after we finished putting it up, he settled back on his perch across from the door, so he apparently isn’t too bothered by the new accessory. Let’s just hope he doesn’t chew on the strips…

Outdoor Learning Center

Craft Project

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And sometimes, I spend part of the afternoon making jesses…

Stan broke one of his jesses this morning (they’re leather, so they eventually get brittle, and he’s been wearing his current pair for more than a year), so I made these this afternoon and will install them tomorrow.

We use kangaroo leather. These might be a little bit too heavy duty, but it’s the leather I had, so…