The Wonders of Raptors

Everyone is welcome!

The end of 2011 ended on a high note....Golda, our resident Golden Eagle, finally accepted tasty morsels right from my gloved hand. This is the pay off after almost 7 months of slow and gentle trust-building. We have now passed a major training threshold...let the fun begin!

Doolin, our resident rock-star, aka turkey vulture, is totally enjoying this unseasonably warm winter weather, although he still snuggles upon his heated and padded perch each evening.

Great Horned Owl Eoin is busy preparing her nest of soft, dried pine needles. She has tenderly placed her favorite stuffed animal, a pink plush poodle, into the nest and quietly hoots motherly songs to her "baby".

Ned, our Saw Whet Owl, is loving his new home....a newly completed aviary right next door to resident Eastern Screech Owls Arlo and Gilda. The new digs are completely decked out with a variety of perch options, nest boxes and a heated water bowl, which he considers his own personal hot water tub.

Together with Jaeda, Piper, Bella, Pearl and Sage, the WOW raptors wish you a very peace-filled, adventuresome and nature-inspired new year.

in memory of...........

We recently admitted a young bald eagle from Benzie County. This youngster was emaciated and very weak.

Xrays done at Long Lake Animal Hospital revealed that the eagle had been shot. (Note the 2 small light circles in the xray.)

Several lead pellets were embedded in her body. One of the pellets had fractured the ulna bone, which is one of two bones located in the wing, between the wrist and the elbow.

After fracturing the bone the pellet then lodged inside the bone cavity.

Once the young eagle was stable enough, surgery was performed on Dec 28 by Dr. Eric Peck and assistant Julie Januchowski (Northern Michigan Veterinary Hospital).

The 2 1/2 hour surgery was complicated and intense due to the extreme damage done by the lead pellets.

One the injury was cleaned up and the bones aligned, the wing was sutured, a bandage applied and the bird was taken off anesthesia.

Unfortunately, about 20 minutes post surgery,

the young eagle passed away.

This youngster's life was cut short by the idiot who intentionally shot her. Such a tragic situation...and so preventable.

The eagle, while here at Wings of Wonder, showed me that she was curious about life, was very personable, very chatty and extremely appreciative of the free meals she had here.

She and her wonderful spirit will be much missed.

A little holiday humor

A holiday story: by Dave Barry

"Tis the special time of year, the Holiday Retail Purchasing Season, a time when we traditionally print heartwarming human-interest stories designed to make you feel better about running up a level of debt normally associated with Mexico. I have such a heartwarming story, which was published by the The London Times and sent in by alert reader John Nicholls. The story, which I am not making up, concerns a man named Neil from Devon, England, who discovered an owl nesting in his garden. Each night Neil would go outside and hoot to the owl. To his delight, he'd hear a hoot in reply; then he'd hoot some more. This went on night after night, month after month; Neil even kept a log of his conversations with the owl. Then one day, Neil's wife got to talking about this with a neighbor, who said that her husband, whose name is Fred, had also been going out every night to hoot to the owl. At this point, the women realized that their husbands had in fact spent an entire year hooting to each other. The owl was not involved at all. The owl was probably inviting its owl friends over to drink owl beer and listen to these hooting twits and laugh until they fell off the branch."

Holiday card

Greetings,

We are getting ready to send out our holiday card. Golda sends a reminder that if you wish to receive this beautiful raptor card please make sure we have your full mailing address by emailing it to us. Thanks bunches!

eagle release reminder

Just a gentle reminder to all that we are still set to go for the eagle release tomorrow....11am, eagle's meadow (3805 west empire highway) which is just about 6.1 miles east of the village of Empire, on the south side of hwy 72. Weather predictions are for a wonderfully sunny day, temps around 55 degrees...perfect for watching this bald eagle fly free once again. Plan to arrive in plenty of time to park and get comfortable. We will have unique Wings of Wonder note card sets available for purchase as well as our hot-off-the-pressess raptor bumper stickers. We will also be passing the hat to collect donations. Everyone is welcome!

REMINDER: BALD EAGLE RELEASE

Just a gentle reminder about the up coming bald eagle release this coming saturday, november 12, 11AM at Eagle's Meadow located at 3805 West Empire Highway (6.1 miles east of Empire, on the south side of Hwy 72). Please spread the invitation to one and all...everyone is welcome.

Photo taken of the eagle in flight by amazing Dave Dalquist