Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

And so it was sweet sorrow for the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife in Need Center, as Romeo and Juliet, the Barred Owls were released on Sunday, March 14th, after twenty-nine days of hydration, weight gain and flight therapy. A small crowd gathered in Menomonee Falls, as staff, volunteers, neighbors and the homeowners witnessed the owl’s flight to freedom. The release was set for 6:00 p.m., a time when the impending dusk would allow for better camouflaging should there be any potential predators. As the star crossed lovers were released, Romeo flew onto a nearby tree branch, checked his bearings a glided silently out of sight. Juliet though, much to everyone’s surprise, landed on a nearby chimney similar to the one from which she’d been rescued. Juliet’s stay was thankfully brief, when with a great beat of her wings she was off and flying through the densely wooded lot. I quickly scanned the trees, locating her perched in a distant tree. Through my camera lens I could still see her dark haunting eyes. She stopped in the tree only long enough to take one last look at her captors, as if to say in her silent stare, “Thank you”, then she was gone.

Good-night, good-night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
-Juliet, Act II, scene ii

Guest Blogger -KF

Spring Fever

Everyone here is gearing up for this exciting and busy time of year. One of the ways we do that is by hosting a Pancake Breakfast and Baby Shower for all of our friends and neighbors. So, if you want to help us help them and you also want to enjoy some great food, catch-up with friends and staff, visit with our educational ambassadors and more then join us:

Sunday, March 21st, 2010
8AM-1PM
Dousman/Ottawa Lions Club 231 Main Street Dousman (map link)

Nearly every one of us will be looking forward to fall by the end of June, but it’s March and right now everyone’s got baby fever. If you’ve never seen the winsome look of an infant gray squirrel, heard the *peep* of a mallard duckling, or watched young raccoons interact with each other, than you may not fully understand. The hundreds of past, present and future volunteers for the Wildlife In Need Center do though.

From April through September hundreds of orphaned wild animals will find their way to our doors. Our office staff and volunteers try to ensure that each of them gets the chance to be reunited with their families when possible, but even the best intentions aren’t always enough to make a reunion happen so many will still find their way here. One such situation has led us to the earliest admission of an infant gray squirrel to the Center ever recorded! Here’s a brief of the story:

A mother squirrel had found herself a cozy spot in the upper insulation near the ceiling of someone’s basement and when the homeowner went to investigate she ran and hid leaving her just-born litter behind. Volunteers from the Center gathered up the little ones and set a trap for mom. Once she was captured she was reunited with her new family and has been residing in an outdoor enclosure for the past few days. We hope that by the end of the week the homeowners will have been able to repair the area where she had gotten in and we will re-nest her and her family with a new nest-box to call home instead. These are always sensitive cases because if mom is too stressed or scared she won’t be able to properly care for her young and the results could be very sad, but the outlook is good for this little family and we hope to update you with how things go.

Hooos Out There!

In 2009, the Wildlife in Need Center was involved in eleven rescues of baby Great Horned owls, or owlets as they are called. Owlets often have to be rescued when the strong winds of late March and early April blow. Great Horned owls do not build their own nests, but take over old crow and squirrel nests and if those nests are in disrepair, it is very easy for an owlet to tumble out, especially when it is windy. An owlet on the ground is especially vulnerable to predators as they are unable to fly. Crows can often be heard “cawing” when there is an owl in the neighborhood. There is nothing they would like better than to pick on an unsuspecting grounded owlet. Usually if someone from the public is aware of owls in their yard and if a tragedy like this would occur, they will call and notify the Center.

To satisfy my curiosity about owl activity in the area this year, I called many of the rescue locations from the previous year. I’m happy to report, that over half of the contacts to date are reporting a lot of hooting. Several individuals have seen adult owls in trees in their yards. Great Horned owlets have even hatched at some locations. Follow this link to the WE-Energies website http://www.we-energies.com/environmental/protect_wildlife.htm. There you can see two owlets snuggling under the feathers of its mother at 3PM today. At the Center last year, we rescued owlets from late March to late April. In my next blog, I’ll write more about the renesting process. I’ll leave you with this picture, courtesy of a homeowner from one of last year’s re-nesting sites. These two owls are nest mates shown shortly after they fledged last year.

-KF (aka CBL)