Most of my releases are pretty routine. I pick up songbirds from our Care Facility after they have graduated through the various feeding stages, and Debbie Beam, the Facility Manager, informs me that they are weaned and picking up food. Then they go into one of my three large flight cages for about two weeks while they learn socialization skills, learn to look for food, and strengthen their wings. Those who haven’t quite learned their lessons during this two week period are held back, and the release panels are opened for the others. For several more days they are allowed to fly back and forth while food is provided near the aviary. Finally, however, the panels are closed, and they are on their own. These releases are known as "soft releases".

Although I usually try to take only birds which are found in the Lakeside area, I occasionally take mountain dwellers like Stellar’s Jays and Mountain Bluebirds. These are taken to our small cabin on Palomar Mountain to be released. Unfortunately, these are "hard releases". I usually have an uneasy feeling about these releases and wonder if they really have the skills to survive on their own. On a recent weekend, however, we had a wonderful release which did a lot to dispel some of these worries.

We had two Stellar’s Jays ready for release. We got to Mount Palomar early in the afternoon and set the cage on the deck for a couple of hours in order to allow the jays to become accustomed to the sounds and visual surroundings. When the door was opened, one of the jays left immediately and flew to a tall oak tree above the cage where it called and coaxed its cage mate out. It, too, flew to the same oak tree. I sat there for the longest time watching them fly from limb to limb, never leaving the tree and constantly calling to each other.

Early the next morning I heard one of the jays calling and saw it flying through low branches as though looking for its friend. "Oh no," I thought. Then I happened to notice the jay fly to a water station we keep filled for the wildlife. It drank, and my spirits were buoyed a little with the knowledge that it knew where to find water. The jay was soon joined by the second one, and they flew to the feeders Ron had filled with seed. It was then that I truly felt they had been given a second chance and would survive. It was glorious!

Nancy Anderson
Aviary Team Leader & Board Member

Meet Our President

Patty Thorpe is the president of the Project Wildlife Board of Directors. She and her husband Mike have been volunteers with Project Wildlife for over twenty years.

Their Campo home which includes nearly nine acres may not look like Noah’s Ark, but to hundreds (if not thousands) of wild birds and mammals in distress, it has provided just such a refuge. Patty has cared for everything from coyotes to owls, along with an assortment of songbirds, pigeons, doves, raptors, skunks, opossums, and other creatures. Comfortable in their customized cages, they receive competent and loving care before they are released to the wild.

Patty and Mike share their home with their friend Jennifer and their pets, a menagerie that includes dogs, cats, parrots, frogs, pot-bellied pigs, horses, tarantulas, turtles, chickens, ducks, geese, and more. Caring for animals comes naturally to Patty. "I always seemed to pick up and care for hurt little birds and mammals, even as a child," she says. She became involved with Project Wildlife after hearing about the volunteer organization from a friend (Jo Cuban, long-time Project Wildlife volunteer).

Her dedication runs deep. It is not unusual to see her setting off for work in the morning to her dog grooming shop in South San Diego with a few of the needier babies accompanying her for care between her business duties. Though it keeps her very busy, Patty enjoys the time she spends with wildlife. "If you love animals and can give a little commitment, it’s very rewarding work," she said. For Patty, release day makes all of her hard work worthwhile. "Sometimes on a particularly busy morning, I’ll ask myself why I’m doing all this, but deep inside I know it’s for the satisfaction. The ultimate thing is when you release an animal back into the wild."

What are the education raptors all about? What takes them from their world on the wing high in the sky to the world of humans on the ground? Hit by a car? Illegally shot? Sick or poisoned? Fence or window strike? A baby prematurely falling from the nest? All of these things. Their lives in the wild end abruptly. For the education raptors, the time in captivity is not temporary. It’s for the rest of their lives.

A bird can’t fly with a crippled wing, can’t hunt with a crippled foot or with damaged vision. A raptor cannot even function as the species nature intended it to be if it imprinted on humans as a baby. Imprinting is a mental handicap, an identity crisis if you will, which is as devastating as a permanent physical handicap.

It is important for an education bird to have the proper temperament and a handicap that enables it to have a good quality of life in captivity. When non-releasable birds have been found to be suitable for education, they have been placed on Project Wildlife’s federal and state permits. Their lives as ambassadors for their species begin.

Western Screech Owls
The Feathered Wildcats

This article will focus on two of the Western Screech Owls on the education permits, WOODY and BLINKIN. They are both females and have been housed together since being put on the permit in 1989. My husband and I are privileged to be their caretakers.

Western Screech Owls are found west of the Rocky Mountains from Alaska down to Mexico. There are nineteen species of owls in North America - 10 are quite small. Western Screech Owls average only 8-9" tall. There are actually several other owl species in North America smaller than this, including the smallest owl in the world, the Elf Owl, which is barely larger than a sparrow. Western Screech Owls are non-migratory. They are also one of the most strictly nocturnal of owls.

Owls are not nest builders. For example, the Great Horned Owl doesn’t build a nest. It steals (or using a nicer word, "usurps") the used nests of ravens and hawks and sometimes evicts existing tenants who usually know better than to stick around and argue. Screech Owls and the other small owls, with the exception of the ground-dwelling Burrowing Owl, are cavity nesters - natural cavities or cavities created by woodpeckers. They will also take to nest boxes if they are in a suitable location and the right size. Cavities provide safe homes and protection from larger owls and other predators.

Screech Owls favor areas dense with trees but in the Sonoran desert, they will make their homes in the huge saguaro cactus. In San Diego County, they prefer oaks, sycamores and dead pines. They can be found in forests, wooded canyons, orchards, streamside groves, and even backyards with lots of trees.

As for the education owls, Woody was found by the side of the road in the high desert area of northeastern San Diego County in the spring of 1989. She received emergency care for severe head trauma at the Living Desert Museum in Palm Springs. Thereafter, she was transferred to Project Wildlife. An eye specialist determined that she was nearly totally blind and that it was irreversible. She can see only shadows. She was probably struck by a car. The bird was named Woody but when she laid eggs a few years later, it was realized that Woody was a female. Oops.

Blinkin was found on the ground at a campground in the mountains, also in the spring of 1989. She had suffered a blow to the head and other injuries. Her injuries healed with the exception of one eye. She is blind in her left eye.

Both owls were placed together, watched and evaluated. Blinkin helped Woody locate food, water, and perching. Woody adjusted and does very well now despite her handicap. Blinkin and Woody have been companions and "roommates" ever since. They engage in mutual grooming and duets, and often perch very close to each other. They also have occasional spats but no relationship is perfect. They have certainly enhanced each other’s quality of life.

Woody and Blinkin eat mice which Project Wildlife provides, and occasionally insects. They expel a pellet each day which contains the undigestible portions of their meals - fur, bones, teeth, insect wings. Dissecting owl pellets helps researchers verify the diets of wild owls.

An interesting thing about Woody and Blinkin is that their ages are unknown siince both were adults when they were put on Project Wildlife’s permit ten years ago. I’ve read that the oldest wild Screech Owl reported was a 13 year old banded bird found in Pasadena.

Woody and Blinkin always elicit oohs and aahs from everyone. This is usually followed by the question, "Are they babies?" No, actually they’re old ladies! Sometimes cranky ones at that. Their small size fools people. It is hard to appreciate their grayish brown coloration without seeing them in a natural environment. When they are outdoors near pine or oak trees, their camouflage called "cryptic coloration" is apparent. They blend in with the trees and it’s no wonder that they are not easily seen in the wild.

Blinkin must have been one heck of a mother in the wild. She still attempts it annually in captivity. She lays 3-4 eggs each spring (infertile of course), often more than once and always in the time period from March to May. Screech owls in the wild incubate each egg as it is laid. This means that the eggs will hatch in sequence and the young within the brood vary widely in size and age. Blinkin is at her most aggressive during this time of "raging hormones". She will attack intruders, even us, and we leave her alone as much as possible. I have to laugh at times when I think of all the people who assume she is so docile and sweet. Appearances can be deceiving!

Screech owls may look adorable with their big yellow eyes and diminutive size, but they have a reputation as being fierce and highly aggressive little scrappers. Put it this way - I wouldn’t want to be a mouse, frog, moth, beetle, vole, scorpion, lizard, cricket, fish, worm, snail, spider or small bird with one of them around. Screech owls routinely attack, kill and eat birds larger than they are and they will eat anything they can kill. They are not picky eaters. As stated in Bent’s Life Histories of Birds of Prey, "If the Great Horned Owl can rightly be called a feathered tiger, the screech owl deserves to be called a feathered wildcat."

In Bent, there is a story about a screech owl that accidentally flew down a chimney into a home. While there, it caught and ate the pet canary that it pulled right through the bars of a cage. Ornithologists have reported being unexpectedly attacked on the head by screech owls hard enough to draw blood. Their aggressive behavior is necessary for survival when defending the nest or hunting, but I have also seen a gentle disposition in the screech owl.

I don’t know why screech owls are called screech owls. They don’t screech. Barn owls screech (they also hiss, bark, scream, squeak and chitter). Screech owls have a beautiful voice which has been described as a tremulous whistle, a soft mournful whinny, and a bouncy trill (the rhythm of a small ball bouncing to a standstill). I’m sure many people have heard screech owls calling in the woods at night but didn’t realize they were hearing an owl. When Woody and Blinkin duet together as they often do, it is truly a treat to listen to.

People always ask if owls can spin their heads all the way around. No they can’t. Only Linda Blair in the movie "The Exorcist" could do that. They can turn their heads 270 degrees which is quite impressive. This unusual degree of rotation is due to the fact that owls have 14 neck vertebrae (we have 7) and a swivelling bone structure at the base of the neck. An owl’s body can face forward while the head is facing directly behind. Owls can’t move their eyes the way people can. We can see from side to side and move our eyes without turning our heads. Owls can’t - their eyes are fixed in the sockets so they must move their heads.

We all know that owls have superb ability to see in low light conditions. The only animals close to having the ability of owls are cats. At night, it is not color that an owl needs to see. It needs light gathering efficiently and that’s what it has. In some larger owls, their eyes are larger than their brains, with all due respect to the large owls.

The hearing of owls is also among the most unique in the animal kingdom. The stiff facial disk of feathers funnels sound to their asymmetrical ears which allows them to precisely locate their prey in total darkness! This spectacular hearing sensitivity in some owls is believed to be 10 times greater than our own but not all owls have the same degree of talent. The barn owl is believed to be the hearing champion of all animals. Can you imagine being able to hear a rodent moving underneath snow or hearing the tiniest muffled noise of a mouse moving through the grass? I’ve tried to sneak up on Woody and Blinkin to observe them many times. It simply can’t be done. They always hear the approach and swivel their heads in greeting even when I think I’m not making a sound.

Screech owls have feather tufts on their heads sometimes referred to as ear tufts or horns; however, they have absolutely nothing to do with hearing. It is believed that the feather tufts are signals to other owls, visual clues as to their whereabouts. The raising of the feather tufts also tends to break up their silhouettes in the trees. Other owls can see them at night - we can’t.

Owls, many of which are nocturnal, also have a unique adaptation on the leading edge of their flight feathers - tiny barbs. Think of the teeth on a comb but soft. This fringe of feathers cuts turbulence thus muffling noise in flight and allowing the owl to fly through the night unheard by their prey. Owl feathers are soft and fluffy in contrast to the feathers of a penguin which are stiff almost like scales.

Another interesting tidbit about screech owls is their Jekyll and Hyde personality. Sometimes when handled, they seem to play ‘possum, go into a trancelike state and stay perfectly still. Head stroking and scratching can induce this calm state also. This trick comes in very handy when we are jessing them for an education program. The problem is you never know when they will bounce back into action and start bill clacking, biting or grabbing with their needle sharp talons.

Woody and Blinkin have been part of Project Wildlife’s Education Department longer than most of its human members. They have thrilled and taught literally thousands of people and have accompanied Education Department members to hundreds of public talks and booths.

Blinkin and Woody have also assisted over the years in the training of new raptor team members in proper handling techniques.

It is a priority to make their quality of life the best it can possibly be. As for making a difference, there is no doubt that these birds have an impact on everyone who sees them. When Project Wildlife educators participate at a booth, our booth is always the most popular. Why? Are we more witty and interesting than other booth participants? No, as much as we would like to think so, it’s not us. It’s the presence of live animals. They attract people like magnets. The rest is up to us.

Leslie Polinsky, Raptor Team & Education Department

Saving the Sea Swallows

Sea swallow, little striker, silver ternlet, pretty names for an elegant graceful bird that we in the United States know as a Least Tern. In Europe and other parts of the world, the official name is little tern, a grey, white and black-headed seabird smaller than a mockingbird. Many people know that Least Terns are one of the endangered species found in San Diego, a county with the dubious honor of having the greatest number of endangered species of plants and animals in the continental United States. Although not the smallest bird species on the endangered list, when seen up close this tiny tern looks too fragile to be flying to Mexico, Brazil and Peru each fall let alone returning in spring to lay its tiny eggs and raise its 6 gram chicks on San Diego beaches.

Least Terns don’t always return to exactly where they hatched out, San Diego birds may try nesting in Oceanside or Huntington Beach, but they only return to that nest if they raise young successfully. If an area is protected, their numbers increase year after year. Since a tern can live to be eighteen years (from banding records) the Endangered Species Act, implemented in the early 1970's has resulted in the increase of the Least Terns from 600 pairs in the state to several thousand. A thousand pairs nested at Camp Pendleton alone in 1999, and San Diego County has more than 50% of the State’s population because of the active local efforts of the state and federal agencies, along with the Navy on whose lands many of the terns nest. Project Wildlife became active in those efforts several years ago, not only through taking in a few chicks and some of the injured adults for rehabilitation, but also through the efforts of the late Donna Barron and the raptor team in holding over some of the captured birds of prey that unfortunately find the chicks and adults easy pickings.

Tern chicks in San Diego County are banded at nest sites at Tijuana Estuary, Silver Strand, North Island, Mariner’s Point, and the FAA island on Mission Bay. A few stalwarts occasionally give the runways at Lindberg Field a try (much to the horror of the airport authorities!). If it’s flat, unvegetated and preferably sandy (terns have delicate feet), terns may try to nest. Unfortunately, most sites that terns find suitable have predators of one kind or another nearby ready to take advantage of an easy food source.

Least Tern Chicks are difficult to raise and release from captivity. Their delicate feet are easily damaged even on fine sand, their food fish have to be tiny, and their feathers maintained in pristine condition. Project Wildlife volunteers have released rehabilitated older fledglings and some adults, but the chicks are best raised by their natural parents. Our main efforts are concentrated on helping to protect the nest sites by holding the trapped raptors, trying to rehabilitate the injured juvenile and adult least terns, and transferring terns found dead at the sites to official agencies for autopsy if the cause of death is in doubt.

Everything loves Least Tern chicks. Brian Foster, a biologist involved in their protection, thinks it’s because they have a delicious, oily, fishy taste and have small delicate bones. Humans in different parts of the world have eaten young seabirds - in Scotland it used to be popular to eat fulmar chicks (but, hey, these are the folks that eat stuffed sheep stomachs!) While in New Zealand they ate shearwater chicks (called Mutton Birds by the locals). However, humans (like other species) will eat almost anything if they’re hungry enough! From Cooper’s hawks to kestrels, from weasels to skunks, from foxes to cats, everything eats Least Terns. In 1999 (one of the worst breeding years – probably only 100 chicks fledged successfully in the whole county); a coyote destroyed over 300 nests at one Navy site, and a Burrowing Owl killed 18 terns at another. In past years, pigeons, starlings and meadowlarks (I kid you not) have picked open and eaten eggs! Loggerhead shrikes take the chicks for food for their own babies.

Least Terns are smart enough to know that they are no match for a hawk, gull or mammal. When a Peregrine Falcon flies in for a meal, the adults rise as a flock, their keen eyesight spotting the predator minutes before the human observers see the bird arrive. When a Great Blue Heron decides to try for a few tasty mouthfuls all the adult terns can do is fly overhead and defecate on the intruder! (Maybe it works - it’s hard to see chicks with guano in your eyes!) The tiny chicks cower down on the sand their only hope their camouflage of mottled cream, grey and buff. As the hawk or heron arrives, their only hope is their stillness. With mammalian predators, their hope is that one of their brethren will get eaten and that they may live yet another day. If they survive for three weeks, they fly with their parents, and by early September the terns are on their way south. After reading that a leg band was returned from a Guatemalan food market, I hope the San Diego birds avoid that part of South America!

During the summer months while the terns are nesting, Project Wildlife houses and feeds the birds of prey captured at the tern sites. 1999 proved to be one of the busiest seasons for trapped raptors, and fortunately because of the grant support from the U.S. Navy, the nearly 100 or so hawks and owls (comprising a quarter to a third of the birds of prey we take in each year) were well fed, housed and cared for. The few shrikes (held by songbird team members) are banded and released in San Diego (in good habitat away from the tern sites). Donna’s additional efforts years ago to contact interested parties in Santa Barbara results in the yearly trip north to landowners, ranch managers, and vineyard owners who wait with eagerness for their beautiful biological controls. No need for pesticides and chemical residues when you release a hawk or owl!

Meryl A. Faulkner, PW Board of Directors
Seabird & Shorebird Team Leader
Skunk Team Leader

P.S. If you would be interested in being a part of the magnificent raptor release each fall, call Patty at 619-478-2470 or Lyn at (858) 866-0555.

A PRAYER FOR ANIMALS BY ALBERT SCHWEITZER

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends, the animals. Especially for animals who are suffering; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death.

We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity. And for those who deal with them, we ask a heart of compassion, gentle and kindly words.

Make us true friends of the animals and so to share the blessings of the merciful.

Flowers For Wildlife

Your flower and plant gifts to loved ones benefit Project Wildlife when you order through Floral Alliance, a worldwide "800" floral wire service. Every order sent through Floral Alliance by our members and friends entitles us to a full 10% donation. Just give them our code number NP1012 when placing an order. There is no additional cost to you. You can send orders anywhere in the U.S. and almost anywhere in the world, and every order will benefit the birds and mammals cared for by Project Wildlife volunteers. Call the toll free number 1-800-423-5803.

Robin Mindlin
Beatrice & Jack Harman

Project Wildlife Volunteer Anne Baumhofer
Sue Young
Ada Young
Kathy Pedroza

Ernie Happel
Rose B. Hoskin
Jo & Charlie Cobb
Mary Mac Gillis
Jane Hautman
Barbara Stienstra

In Honor of Leslie & Mark Polinsky
Jeannine & Dan McCollum
Ed & Debbie Pollitt

In Honor of Sue Sorrento
Gloria & Bob Fellerman

In Honor of Cindy, Richard, Amanda & Dana Cash
Sherry Cash

In Honor of Mark Evans
His Brother

In Honor of Ethel Cramer, Nina Schmidt, Grace & Roy Seifert, Dennis & Rhonda Chapman, Tom & Patti Weller, and Janet & Don Robbins
Martin Seifert & Lyn Lacye Seifert

 Special Thanks To:

• All of our vets & vet techs
• All of our Volunteers
• San Diego City Attorney’s Office
• Raymond Clark
• Dan Porter
• Eagle Scout Brendon Woodworth
• Costco
• Padre Printers & Publishers in Poway for donating the printing of this newsletter.  Special thanks to Grant and Fran Thiem and Donna DiSesa

Newsletter Archive

Ways to Give:
Endowment Program
United Way Donations
Flowers for Wildlife

Programs:
Recycle for Wildlife
Education Department and Programs