Carol Groves, the first interpreter and raptor handler at Patoka Lake, started a journal in the 1980s to record the lives of birds. Dana Reckelhoff, Interpretive Naturalist at Patoka Lake, continues the work. Below are a sampling of entries.
2018
January
3: Tom, Whitney and I trimmed the birds’ beaks and talons today. We started with owl, the hawk and finally eagle. We were able to get weights on them today also. The red-tailed hawk came in at 2 pounds 6 ounces. Owl weighed in at 4.9 ounces. The eagle weighed 11 pounds 10 ounces. We put A&D ointment on both the eagles and hawks feet from jesses to toes. They were looking a little dry since it has been in the lower temperatures lately (5 – 16F). The birds have been eating a decent amount. We are pleased with their appetites. Hawk was given three chicks and two mice today. Owl got one mouse. Eagle received a large carp mid-section.
13: The birds have been eating better this week. They were out last Saturday for Eagle Watch and all maintained their positions on the glove without bating. Today the birds did not receive any vitamins on their meals. Their water bowls have been freezing up in the hawk and eagle mews. Shelters have been sprayed down less due to the outdoor hose being frozen solid.
18: Things are still frozen within the mews. Today I found a second fish frozen to eagle’s stump for the week. One was there yesterday half eaten. Today I came back to find that yesterday’s fish is half eaten and stuck also. Neither Tom nor I are strong enough to pry them off. They will just stay put until we get a warm day later this week. Weather channel is reporting temperatures near 32F this weekend.
28: Assistant Property Manager, Rocky Brown, cared for the birds today. He reported that the eagle is still not eating much within the last week. She had three-fourths of a rat left. He gave her another rat today. She has been leaving behind most of her fish the last few days also. Owl is also not eating much lately. Some nights he is leaving all food untouched within the last week. The hawk is eating well however. We will continue to monitor this pattern. I do not get concerned until it becomes consecutive days of non-eating from a single bird, like we saw with the eagle in Dec. 2014.
February
7: The red-tailed hawk is back to playing with his tennis ball again. Last week on Thursday, Jason Hickman reported that he was playing with it when he went out to feed the birds in the afternoon. This afternoon, I found his ball in his water dish after cleaning the shelters earlier in the day. Eagle has been food aggressive towards leftovers in the last week but she is choosing to eat only half of her food when it is provided. She has gone after the leftovers two times this week while we are cleaning them up.
11: To add a little more stimulation to the eagle and hawk’s lives, I placed their food (mice for hawk and two rats for eagle) inside their hollee roller balls yesterday. Today all three birds had no leftovers, just numerous pellets inside the mews. Calcium and vitahawk were administered via 5 mice for hawk, two mice for owl and 3 smaller fish for eagle.
15: Temperatures reached 60F+ today and are going to be warmer for a few days. I determined that today would be a good day for the birds to fast. Their shelters were cleaned in the morning. Food was not replaced as usual this afternoon. They will be fed tomorrow around 5 p.m. due to a meeting that I have in Indy.
24: The birds all traveled with Whitney and I to the library in Dubois for a program. Their shelters were cleaned in the morning during a heavy rainstorm. While at the library all three birds did well. Eagle cast a very slimy, scale filled pellet while on the drive to the library but did not get carsick. Once we returned, we fed the birds in another heavy rain shower. We also changed the hawk’s jesses since one had torn in the last two days. This relentless rain is causing everything including the jesses to stay damp. Hawk was given a fresh pair but the owl and eagle’s looked in good condition.
March
1: The bald eagle, red-tailed hawk and eastern screech owl fasted yesterday. The weather was favorable at 570F high and 540F low with rain. The day prior (2/27) owl left an entire mouse, eagle left ½ a carp head and hawk left two mouse butts. They all received Vitahawk and calcium today on their portions. Hawk was given five mice. Owl had two mice and eagle was provided with two rats. Despite the warm temperatures it did not appear that anyone took baths although it did rain for a while yesterday.
9: Due to the State Parks Leadership Conference, I have been away from the office all week. Last week I trained Trevor, Patoka Maintenance Technician, to care for the birds in my absence. The birds all responded well to his presence during the training session. Trevor was taught to clean the shelters of food discards and pellets before hosing them down thoroughly. Last he would provide each bird with food. He sent a photo while I was gone to reassure me that things were going well. Eagle appeared to be her normal self as she was standing near the food he provided. It is always a relief to hear that the birds are not causing a newly trained employee difficulty. Trevor took detailed notes this week logging when the birds had taken baths and how quickly they started eating in front of him each day when the food was provided. They ate fairly well and were provided adequate vitamins throughout the week.
13: Hawk and owl went to an offsite visit today at SIPAC (Southern Indiana Purdue Agriculture Center) where the local school Envirothon teams were participating in the regional competition. I was asked to offer a program on habitat needs, predation, and adaptations for hunting. The birds both remained perfectly perched on the glove during their portions in front of the crowd of 134 high schoolers. When I returned, I cleaned the shelters before putting these two back. The eagle, hawk and owl left no food for me to clean up. There were pellets and scales to collect before I hosed the shelters down top to bottom. I returned the hawk and owl to their mews and waited a few hours before returning to feed them all. The birds received vitamin supplements on their food today.
21: Due to a late night eagle program, the birds will be fasting today. The owl has had no leftovers the past two days. Hawk had one mouse left today and nothing the day before. Eagle has left ½ to ¼ of her fish behind each day. Tonight I loaded up the eagle and drove to Jasper to present on bald eagles to the Jasper Deutscher Verein (German Club) at 7:00p.m. The program was set for one hour but the group was so intrigued by the bird that the conversation and questions just kept flowing. We ended up there for an additional hour before inviting the club members to join us with their families at the lake for additional time with her. I got her put away with a volunteer in the dark. Thankfully our mews have lights installed and we were able to safely get her put back before cleaning out her transport box and calling it a night.
23: Whitney was here today so Tom and I decided to trim beaks and talons. While out there we also took their weights. Hawk weighs 2 lbs. 10 oz. Eagle weighed in at 11 lbs and 12 oz. While owl came in at 5 lbs 1oz. Owl was also in need of a jess replacement so we changed those while we had him on the glove. The birds have been eating well over the past week.
27: I walked in on eagle taking a bath this morning. She had just started to flip water up when I opened the door. She immediately spun around and gave me this look. The birds have all been playing in their water dishes over the past three days. This is a variety of enrichment that we provide for the birds. They utilize it pretty frequently. We typically do not get the opportunity to observe owl in his, however, we have come back in to find an extremely wet owl before with water still dripping from his jesses.
April
6: The birds have seen three school groups in the last two days, including one today. Yesterday we saw Dubois and Celestine Elementary 3rd graders for a fieldtrip at the Nature Center. Eagle and hawk were placed in the viewing mews while owl hung out inside his transport box until it was time for him to be on the glove. Today we saw Kindergarteners from Holy Trinity Catholic School at a special offsite visit at Camp Carnes in Jasper. The birds handled well during the visits with all of those excited children. The birds fasted last night in preparation of our travel today making mews a quick clean up. Eagle was given a carp tail section later this afternoon. Hawk was given two mice and two chicks. Owl got two medium mice.
15: The birds have been eating fairly well. Some days nothing is left over and others they are collectively leaving parts behind. Today Erica was cleaning out the shelter in the morning and eagle was not allowing her to get the rake to the back corner under the perch to get three feathers that she had molted. Temperaments among the birds have been good until now. We will continue to monitor eagle to see if this is a seasonal hormonal response or if she is dealing with blood feathers. When she has aching blood feathers it typically puts her in a moody state until they finish development.
22: We held an Earth Day Celebration today and had well over 100 visitors in attendance for the programs. During that time we also had the bald eagle and red-tailed hawk on display in the viewing mews. After programming ended for the day, the birds were moved back into their night mews and provided food. The chicks, mice and small carp were coated in Vitahawk and calcium supplements before being fed to the birds.
28: Today is day 2 of the annual Women’s Wilderness Weekend event. We did not have a specific program set up for the ladies to see the birds but they were given the opportunity during dinner to view them. The birds all remained very calm as the parade of ladies strolled through their area. The ladies were all very excited to see the birds and asked that we host a special program just about them during the event in future years. The birds are always a huge hit among our visitors. People travel from all over the US and other countries to Patoka and ask to see the birds each time they visit. We are still pending their new shelter rebuild project. This month we met with the Department of Natural Resources, Engineering team to discuss the layout of the building, ADA compliance with the concrete and fencing that will be applied around the new shelters to allow visitors to view the birds year-round any day the Nature Center is open. We are patiently awaiting the groundbreaking of this project and hope to see it through yet this year.
May
4: Tonight we traveled with them to the elementary school in Leavenworth for a special after school camp. The birds were seen by 131 people over the course of two hours. They will be fasting tonight due to arriving back at the Nature Center around dark.
10: The birds were seen by back-to-back groups today. The first group came from Jasper Middle School and enjoyed a close up view of the birds in our backyard. The second group was Throop Elementary 2nd grade. This large group was split into two and both sections got to see the birds separately. The birds were seen by 127 people today during the school visits. Today the birds were sprayed with an insect pest preventative to keep the buffalo gnats off of them. During the programs today, the gnats were biting the birds around their eyes, lips and under their chins.
19: Erica checked on the birds this morning and found eagle to be displaying food aggression towards her leftovers. She cleaned the shelters and found that owl and hawk had nothing left behind. Vitamins were not distributed today. Eagle was given a medium carp tail section. Owl was given two mice and hawk was provided one chick and four small mice. While our staff was away for Interpretive Training earlier this week Tom Riley, Reservoir Specialist and Rocky Brown, Assistant Property Manager cared for the birds. They recorded regular feedings and that nothing out of the ordinary happened. Today when Erica checked on the birds, she found a pellet in his water dish along with some sort of round worm. It was unfortunately discarded. We immediately set up and appointment for the birds and turtles and will report back soon with our findings.
22: While getting ready for today’s offsite school visit, we found a second much smaller round worm in hawk’s water dish. He has not lost weight and has continued to eat well. We will monitor the situation until their appointment next Friday.
24: The birds were weighed today. We also trimmed beaks and talons. I got Erica and Whitney involved this time to aid Tom with the beaks. We started with eagle. Tom got her out and she weighed in at 11 lbs 4oz. I trimmed her talons with a dog nail trimmer while she stood on Tom’s glove. Then Erica wrapped her in a towel and held her with the eagle’s back to her chest while Karen held her ankles and kept her talons from crossing. Tom proceeded to trim the excess growth from the eagle’s beak. Then I put her away while Tom got the hawk on the glove. He weighed hawk at 2lbs 8oz. which is 2oz. lighter than he weighed at his last check up in late March. I trimmed his talons while he stood on Tom’s glove. Then Karen wrapped him with a towel and held him to her chest while Tom trimmed the hawk’s beak. Erica held his ankles and kept the talons from crossing. Once he was trimmed, Tom put him away while I got owl on the glove. Erica grabbed the owl from me in a smaller cloth and held his ankles. I trimmed his talons with a human nail trimmer and then Tom proceeded to trim his beak. He weighed 4.6oz. Karen used her fingers to hold back the feathers near his face so that they did not get caught in the dremmel while Tom performed the trim.
Above left to right: Eagle beak trim, eagle talons, hawk talon trim, hawk beak trim and screech owl beak trim.
25: The birds have been seen by 8 groups of middle schoolers this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Whitney and I traveled to Highland Hills Middle School in Georgetown, Indiana for 7 back-to-back programs about birds of prey. We say over 400 people during those programs. Then today we were visited onsite by Holy Trinity Catholic School middle schoolers. We saw another 100 people during this field trip. Earlier in the week our programs lasted from 10:45 -3:30p.m. With each group the owl would bite the glove in an attempt to get me to allow him to go back to sleep in his transport box. On the second day, he performed without biting the glove for the final group and by today’s group with two sessions he was fine. Hawk and eagle did exceptionally well for each group. The birds fasted on the 22nd so that eagle would not get carsick along our drive on the interstate. They were fed again on the 23rd when we got back from the offsite visit. Today the birds were given food without vitamins. Eagle got her favorite, a squirrel. Owl received two mice and hawk was given two chicks and three mice.
June
1: Today we took the birds and young box turtle to the vet. The vet performed annual exams and took fecal samples for all three birds due to finding round worms in hawk’s water dish along with pellets. The lab results were finalized during our appointment. We were relieved to hear that the fecal samples all came back negative for any parasites. This means that the frozen food we are feeding has had worms in it. If it continues to happen, I will be sure to contact the company. I am not overly concerned since all food, even road kills that we pick up are frozen for at least one month prior to being thawed and fed to the birds. This allows time for those parasites to perish.
1: The little turtle who came to us in January was also checked out for eye and shell issues. He was confiscated from people who took him out of the wild unlawfully. He came to us with a severe shell deformity and issues with both eyes. Since then, we have been able to correct some shell deformations through proper diet and nutrition. We believe he might be partially blind in one eye. The vet provided us with new vitamins to administer to him and we have started implementing them immediately to his daily feeding regime.
6: Today we started eagle training with Whitney. She took the glove our and spent time with eagle in the beginning phases of introducing herself as a new handler for this bird. Whitney already handles the hawk and owl however since I will be going on maternity leave, it is crucial that Whitney can take over in my absence this season. Eagle was very receptive to Whitney’s training with glove and bluegill food bites. We will continue training until they are both ready to perform offsite visits and onsite programming without my presence. The birds did not eat well last night so their meals were reduced today.
14: Today Karen cleaned the shelters and found another small round worm in the hawk’s water dish. I called our mouse and chick provider and informed them that this is two separate shipments of food that have contained the worms. They will be looking into the issue. Whitney and I loaded the birds up as Karen cleaned the shelters and Whitney did transport training with the eagle. She walked her around the side yard for a few minutes under my supervision. Whitney put her back in the transport and we headed to the Chrisney Library for a special summer reading program with the birds. When we returned, I put the eagle away and Whitney got the hawk out. When she reached in to get hawk on the glove, he jumped out of the transport before she was ready. She decided it would be a good time to perform re-training with the hawk. He does well at offsite locations and any other time when getting on the glove. However, when he knows we are back at the night mews he tries to leap out of the box. Whitney worked with him until he exited properly. We will continue to work with him on this as we prepare for three group programs scheduled next week. The hawk and eagle did well in the small and crowded library with 98 people in attendance.
14: Owl was supposed to be at this program too, however yesterday we noticed his eye was a little swollen from the high temperature and high heat index. We have not seen this issue with him since 2012 (1 year after his initial accident that took him out of the wild) but the injured left eye has scar tissue that causes him issues in extreme heat conditions. I administered eye drops to reduce swelling and irritation. It seemed to help with his blinking later in the day. However, this morning when I retrieved him from the night mew, his eye was so swollen that it looked deflated. There was clear puss covering the eye so thick that his nictitating membrane (special clear eyelid) was stuck to the middle of his eye and his regular top eyelid was stuck to the membrane. I loaded him into his transport and brought him into the building. He immediately received the swelling and irritation eye drop. Approximately an hour later, Karen and Tom administered an antibiotic drop to that same eye. By the time Whitney and I returned from the program his eye was better. The only portion left enlarged was the patch of scar tissue on the bottom left corner of his eye. We administered one more antibiotic drop before leaving in the late afternoon. We will continue to monitor this situation but for now he will remain in his transport in the building until it cools down outside or his condition improves.
22: The eagle, hawk and owl have been seen by three groups this week. On Wednesday, we had a school visit from Lincoln Hills Headstart group. The birds were seen by 22 kids. On Thursday, we visited with folks at the Ferdinand Library for their summer reading program. There were 99 people in attendance for that even program. Then today we stopped in for the summer reading program at the Orleans Library and saw 33 people. The birds handled well during all programs. Eagle even spoke to the crowd during our time at the Orleans Library. The crowd really enjoyed hearing her call, which is rare for her to do in front of guests. Owl’s eye has been improved. The scar tissue is still enlarged but the eye itself has not been swelling entirely as it was the last week. Owl had been staying in the Nature Center due to extreme heat and humidity in order to help reduce his eye swelling. It has since cooled off and he was moved back outdoors on Wednesday 20th. We have continued to decrease the food offerings for the hawk to reduce his weight as recommended by the vet. The birds will be weighed next week during beak and talon trims.
26: Today Tom came by to help Whitney and I trim the bird’s beaks and talons. Storms were moving in so we had to act quickly. We started with eagle. She was weighed first by Tom and came in at 10 lbs 12 oz. Last weigh in, eagle was 11lbs 4oz. She has not eaten well the past two days and has been dealing with an increased amount of blood feathers on her permanently injured wing. This is a typical response we see when her blood feathers are coming in on that wing. I then trimmed her talons while she remained on Tom’s gauntlet. Then Whitney got her wrapped up. While I held her ankles, Tom trimmed her beak. We finished by adding a little insect repellent spray that is comparable to Frontline used on cats and dogs to keep biting gnats and other parasites from harming the birds. Next I got the owl out and put him on the small digital scale. He came in at 4.5 oz which is just 0.1oz less than his last weigh in. He was sprayed with bug repellent and put back in the mews. Next, Whitney held him so that I could trim his talons. Then Tom trimmed his beak. After completion of his beak, it started to rain heavily.
We moved all of our supplies into our maintenance storage facility at the Nature Center and moved hawk from his mews into the building. We placed the large bird scale on top of the eagle transport and Tom got his weight at 2lbs 6oz which is a 2oz drop from last month. The vet asked us to drop his weight in June 1st so we are getting there slowly but surely. I trimmed the hawk’s feet while he perched on Tom’s gauntlet. I then wrapped him while Whitney grabbed his feet to finalize his beak trim. He was also lightly sprayed for insects before being put back during the downpour. The hawk and owl both had nothing leftover last night. Eagle however, had two headless rats. She was administered a mouse with pain medicine to help with her blood feathers. We also administered a mouse with medicine for her on Sunday morning due to mood changes we saw related to these feathers.
26: 
While trimming hawk, we noticed a worn patch on the pad of the first inner digit toes on each foot. We treated it with A & D ointment and will continue monitoring this for healing or other necessary treatment. We noted that these worn spots were not there during last month’s beak and talon trimming session on July 24th. We are consulting Leslie Grow at Hardy Lake on advice for further treatment of bumblefoot since none of our birds have ever experienced this before.
26: Whitney met Leslie and received Calendula Echinacea Hypericum Cream to apply to his feet. We started today and will continue to apply 2x daily. We also switched out every bit of perching material and added new netting to his window screens so that he can no longer jump into the window sills. Treatment of his feet will continue until they are fully healed.
July
1- 7: This week we have continued treatment for bumblefoot on the hawk. We have noticed great improvements in the healing. The spots are more pink than red and starting to heal over with thicker skin. We changed the eagle’s bouncing perch turf and applied a new layer. This perch imitates a tree branch moving as a bird lands on it and is her preferred location to perch. It was important that we changed that turf for the health of her feet. The eagle had 5 blood feathers in her injured wing on Sunday and was down to just three on Tuesday. She doesn’t appear to be bothered by them at this point. In year’s past, she has shown agitation when those feathers are developing. That is currently not the case but we will continue to monitor her. On Sunday, I went in to check on the owl and when I opened the door he looked at me through tired eyes and made a whooowhoowhoo sound at me when I got him on the gauntlet. We always tell our guests during programs that screech owls are not the typical “hoot” owl because they do not make a hoo hoo sound during their calls but more like the whiny of a horse or a ghost like trill. All I could do was laugh and look at him with the most adoring expression. The appetites of the birds are excellent. They are finishing most of their food daily and leaving very few scraps behind.
8-14: Eagle has been very vocal this week and has grown in two new blood feathers. She has yet to open the other three feathers that are still encased, which is typical for her this time of year. She is showing signs of agitation due to the feathers so we have started administering a pain medication to help her along in hopes that she will preen those feathers herself. She pulled a blood feather out on Friday 13th. She has been eating well. Owl on the other hand is not eating as much. He is reducing his intake to two mouse heads daily or the equivalent of ½ a mouse. Hawk has been eating well and the treatment of bumblefoot continues on successfully. We are medicating his feet twice a day. Today (Saturday 14th) the birds will be fasting. We have an offsite visit tomorrow and it is best to keep eagle from getting car sick. We alter our fasting dates around days like this to best accommodate each of our birds unique needs. Looking back on the week, the birds traveled to the Crawford County Fair on Wednesday. There was a smaller crowd this year of 45 guests who came out to see the birds in a close up program.
15-21: Sunday we were offsite for the Perry County 4-H Fair. We saw 82 people at our hour long program. It was raining a bit during the event but being under roof the birds did not mind. On Wednesday, Karen found three of eagle’s blood feathers on the ground during her morning mews check. Eagle regularly pulls them out when the feathers do not fully develop. These feathers that have issues developing due to her wing injury, rarely grow in correctly. When they do, she preens them and will retain them for the year. Hawk has been cleaning up his meal each day. We have found no parts leftover after each feeding. The vet asked us to cut his diet and we have. He continues to eat ravenously all varieties of food that we provide. Owl on the other hand is leaving headless mice almost daily. Only a couple days this week he finished all his offerings.
22-28: We performed health checks on the birds today. We coped the beaks and talons of the birds. Hawk and eagle talons are trimmed with a dog nail trimmer while owls are trimmed with a human nail clipper. All beaks are coped with a dremmel tool. We relate it to getting a cavity drilled at the dentist office. It is a necessary task to keep the birds beaks from growing closed or left open due to overgrowth of a mandible. Before trimming the birds, each one had a weigh in on our scales. To weigh owl, we use a small battery operated food scale. We add a small stick and zero the scale out. Then have owl perch on the stick and set it back on the scale with him on top. Owl came in at 4.5 oz. To weigh the eagle and owl we use a larger spring loaded food scale equipped with a perch. The hawk weighed in at 2 lbs 9oz. The eagle came in at 10lbs 4oz. It has been really hot this summer with a heat index over 1000F on numerous occasions. The birds are maintaining fair weights for summer conditions.
29-31: Eagle has been eating well. During the past week, she has left nothing but bones and a few intestines behind for each thing she has eaten. She was given carp sections, rats and a squirrel over this past few days. Hawk is also eating everything offered to him. He rarely ever leaves food behind. Owl is leaving portions of food daily. This is typical activity for him.
The 30th was my last day before starting maternity leave. During the months of August and September, all records were reported by Whitney Buechler.
August
1-4: On Saturday, eagle and hawk were out for viewing at the annual Smokey Bear Birthday Bash. Whitney noted that eagle bated numerous times on the way from the night mews to the public viewing area. Once in the shelter, eagle calmed down and maintained her location on the perches. When Whitney walked her back to the night mews later in the day, eagle was back to bating. Her dismount from the gauntlet was favorable. Whitney provided her with a carp head after having nothing left over from her meal yesterday. Hawk performed well on the glove. He was provided a rat after also leaving nothing behind. Owl stayed in the night mew today. He was given two mice.
5-11: On Wednesday, Whitney took my place for the annual State Fair program. Her and Tom traveled with the birds up the Indianapolis for a 4:30p.m. program. It was storming before the program and it sprinkled a bit during the event. Eagle has 6 blood feathers again and was aggressive when Tom and Whitney approached to get her on the gauntlet. They administered pain medicine inside of a mouse. Eagle is a fan of snack sized portions and swallowed the mouse whole. They reported that by the time they reached the state fairgrounds for the program, eagle’s temperament had improved. Since the birds arrived back at the mews after dark, they fasted. On Friday, Whitney cleaned the mews. After filling the bath tub, eagle immediately jumped down into the water before Whitney could even leave the shelter. She was splashing about across the room as Whitney closed the door. Hawk has left no food behind again this week. Owl is leaving parts behind as usual.
12-18: Eagle took a bath immediately again today. As Whitney was filling the tub with water, eagle jumped to the ground and walked over to the tub. She hopped up on the edge next to Whitney and watched the water swirl around as it was being filled. Hawk and owl have been eating everything in sight this week. On Wednesday, I came back to work for the Staff Appreciation Luncheon. I toted along my husband and both children. I took some time to handle the eagle while here. I prefer to not leave for extended amounts of time without putting in time with her. Our relationship is extremely important to me. When I came back from my first maternity leave in 2015 eagle was a little upset with me for a couple days. This was even after I handled her while I was on leave so I knew it was important for me to get in to see her again this time. I had her on the glove for about 30 minutes and did a short program for the seasonal maintenance staff. I checked in on the hawk next. When I opened his door, I immediately noticed his crop was very full. Whitney noted that it was still bulged when she fed the birds at 3:15p.m. By the time she arrived on Thursday, hawk’s crop was empty and the bulge was now a pellet on the ground. She noted that it was extra smelly and had an undigested intestine attached from a mouse. We noticed that something has been biting at the bottom of the owl ladder. It has potential to be the owl himself but looks more like the knowing of a wild mouse. It has been years since we have documented owl capturing his own food inside the mews. Now he allows them to roam about freely. In 2011/2012 after he first came to live here, he was not eating the already dead mice we provided. Instead he was catching wild mice and casting pellets of their natural colors.
19-25: On Sunday, everyone fasted. Monday they were all provided their usually helpings of food. Very little was left over with the exception of bones, scales and a mouse tail. On Tuesday, the hawk and eagle took mid-day baths after the water had been filled in the morning. On Thursday, health checks were provided. Beaks and talons were coped again. Weights were checked and eagle received a new pair of jesses. Hawk came in at one ounce over last month with 2lbs 10 oz. Owl stayed consistent at 4.5oz. Eagle gained 5oz, weighing in at 10lbs 9oz.
26-31: Eagle has not been eating the carp lately. No matter the size, whole or sectioned she wants nothing to do with it. When provided a rat, not even the tail remained. When provided a squirrel the next day, only the fur, skin and the intestines were left behind. She has also been taking a bath every other day. Hawk has been cleaning up everything in sight again. Whether we feed him mice, chicks or a rat he is satisfied with anything we offer. Hawk has also been enjoying the bath this week. Owl has been eating most of his food also. His bath water was reported clean each day.
September
1: The hawk and eagle were out for viewing again. Hawk has been staying out of his viewing windows now that we covered them with mosquito netting. His feet have improved immensely and the bumblefoot issue is almost entirely healed. He is still receiving twice daily foot treatments to combat the problem. Eagle was again very testy when being moved to and from the viewing area today. She bated numerous times and was unwilling to get back on the glove for Whitney.
2-8: Whitney reported that eagle did not touch her food on Saturday evening. Sunday she was given two rats since she has become picky with the fish again. Owl and hawk are leaving nothing or very little behind. Hawk and owl were out for viewing on Sunday. They both did well during their viewing hours and special 1:00p.m. program. The pair was back on display Monday where more guests came to see them for a special up close encounter. Owl took a bath on Monday after his water was refilled in the morning.
9-15: There were no programs with the birds this week. They stayed in the night mews. No baths were reported this week. Very little food was recorded as leftovers for any of the three.
16-22: Health checks were performed on Friday. The hawk maintained his weight of 2lbs 10oz from August. Owl gained 0.1 oz, weighing in at 4.6oz. Eagle came in at 9lbs 13 oz. Eagle has not eaten much over the course of the past three days. Her appetite will continue to be monitored closely. Coping took place on all birds. Talons and beaks were trimmed down to appropriate growth ranges again.
23-29: On Sunday, hawk was given 4 mice in his hollee roller ball. Eagle was given 4 crappie in her larger hollee roller. Owl was given two mice. He refuses to go anywhere near a hollee roller so we simply move his mice around in his shelter when provided to stimulate his life a bit. The hollee rollers are a great enrichment tool that allows the bird to utilize some of their hunting skills to strategize the eating of their food. On Tuesday the birds traveled with Whitney and Rocky to Fort Harrison State Park for an event with 106 guests. They arrived back late and since they are traveling with the birds again tomorrow the eagle fasted. Owl was given a mouse and hawk was given two mice. On Wednesday, the birds saw 9,000 people for a program at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. When they arrived back home to Patoka, they were given food. Owl received two mice. Hawk got three chicks and eagle received a large fox squirrel. The birds all went right to eating once the food was set in place.
30: The birds had a fairly uneventful day. They were provided vitamin supplements of calcium and Vitahawk on their food portions in the afternoon.
October
1-6: On Saturday, Whitney and Tom traveled to Vanderburgh County for a program with the birds. They were on the glove for three hours. They all handled well on the gauntlets. Eagle fasted the night before to prevent her from getting car sick which is regular activity if we do feed her before traveling. The hawk and owl ate as usual since neither of them get sick in the vehicle.
7-13: On Tuesday, Whitney and Tom traveled to the library in French Lick for a 6:30p.m. program. The birds fasted since they arrived back to the mews after dark. On Thursday, I arrived back at work from maternity leave. I checked in on the birds and cleaned shelters immediately after arriving to the Nature Center. All birds reacted as though I had never been gone, which was exactly what I hoped for. Hawk was given three chicks. Owl was provided with a mouse. Eagle had a medium carp head and a small spotted sucker fish. I continued to have positive interactions with eagle all week after arriving back from 10 weeks of maternity leave. I will consider that a huge success!
14-20: On Monday, Tom noted that hawk jumped on the mice and chicks while he was still putting them down on the perch. On Tuesday, not a single shred of food was found in any of the mews. Wednesday, I assessed the birds feet and beaks determining that it was best to trim them very soon. On Thursday, we performed health checks on the birds. Beaks and talons were coped. Weights were checked. Hawk came in at 2lbs 7oz. Eagle weighed in at 10lbs 12oz. Owl maintained 4.6oz from the previous weight check.
21-27: This week was rather uneventful. The birds stayed in their night mews and were provided water tubs and tennis balls for enrichment. They each fasted on Saturday 27th. They have been eating most of the food provided.
28-31: On Monday, hawk took the first mouse that I attempted to lay on his perch directly from my hand. He began eating it immediately. Eagle was noted to have sliced in her water bowl all day. It appeared that she maintained her position on the second ladder rung the entire day. All debris was in a straight line from the perch and into the water bowl. Water was changed twice today. On Wednesday 31st, I found three pellets in the hawk shelter after not finding any the day prior. He once again grabbed the mouse as I was placing it on the perch today. He was given 4 mice. Owl also had no pellets the day before however today I was able to collect four of them. One pellet was substantially larger than the other three. Owl was given two mice today. I collected quite a few feathers and down from the eagle shelter this morning. I gave her two rats later in the day.
November
1-3: On Friday, Whitney reported that the hawk grabbed two chicks at once after she laid them down. He had one chick in each food and was eating off both of them at the same time. He left nothing behind that evening.
4-10: On Wednesday, I reported that the hawk was less food aggressive. He waited until I closed the first door of the mews before jumping over to the food. However, on Thursday I placed the food on the ground perch across the shelter. Before I could even shut the door he jumped down in a dive position to the ground perch, picked up a mouse and carried it back up along the ladder to the high perch. He was given four mice that day and left nothing behind. Friday I performed the fall compound cleanout. I removed all leaf debris from the shelter roofs and raked all leaves from the ground surrounding the outer walls of the mews. The birds remained undisturbed as I used the hose to shoot the leaves off the roof of each room and into the woods surrounding them.
11-17: Tuesday I found a mouse butt in the first entry doorway between the eagle and hawk shelters. A wild mouse must have drug it out there. On Wednesday, Whitney reported that the heated water dishes had a thin layer of ice on them. Hawk also cast a pellet right in front of Whitney while she was cleaning his mew. She was extremely excited as this was the first time that has happened in front of her. On Saturday morning, eagle decided she was not done with her meal from the night before. As Whitney picked up her scraps, eagle jumped to the ground and began eating on the leftover carp head. She later took a bath in the afternoon close to feeding time.
18-24: Eagle was playful as Jason, Patoka Property Manager, checked in on the birds Sunday. She was on the ground playing with her tennis ball. On Monday, we performed health checks. Coping was done on the beaks and talons of all three birds. The following weights were recorded for the birds: eagle 10lbs 14oz, hawk 2lbs 10oz, and owl 5 oz. These weights are all up from the last weigh in. As temperatures cool, the birds gain weight to endure the colder days outdoors. On Thursday, the birds fasted. They ate everything in sight the following day.
25-30: The birds have been eating well this week. Vitamins are being distributed every other day. Vitahawk and calcium are the current vitamins. We are happy to report that eagle has not recently needed pain medicine to help with the blood feathers although they are persistent and have yet to be peeled or removed. She is maintaining 6 of them at this time.
December
1: Eagle broke three blood feathers today when she bated the glove. They did not lose blood but simply dropped to the ground from her wing. She did not eat last night. Hawk and owl are doing well.
2-8: On Friday, Angie Manuel, Chief of Interpretation, came to visit. We took her out to see the birds in their night mews. They handled her visit with ease as they do with all guests to their private mews. We explained the raptor shelter rehab project to her and showed her the layout area for the new location. We are hopeful that this project is in the final fund raising year in 2019 and construction can begin soon after. Jason reported that eagle was very talkative on Saturday when he came to care for the birds.
9-15: On Tuesday, the birds fasted. Wednesday, Jason’s family came to help care for the birds. He reported that the hawk jumped over Coleman’s back as he brought in additional food for the hawk. Eagle was very talkative and owl has been peeking through a half opened sleepy eye when we check on him. Whitney and I looked at the feet of both eagle and hawk on Friday. They are both doing well. Hawk’s issues are almost unrecognizable at this point. We will continue to monitor his feet on a regular basis.
16 - 22: On Wednesday, temperatures reached 56 degrees F. I determined that conditions were right today for the birds to fast. They did eat all of their meals from the night before with not even bones left behind from the mice, chicks and carp tail that was fed. They ate well the rest of the week.
23-31: On Friday 28th, we performed health checks on the birds. They were each weighed, had beaks and talons trimmed and were assessed for needing new jesses. No one needed jesses. Weights were as follows: bald eagle 10lbs. 13oz., eastern screech owl 5.1oz., and red-tailed hawk 2lbs. 10oz. We applied A & D ointment to the ankles of both eagle and hawk to help with dryness. They fasted on Thursday evening. Today eagle was given two rats. Hawk got 5 mice and owl received 2 mice. They have been leaving very little to nothing behind.