Monday,October 27th, 2008 An odd visit to Yacolt Washington. Update on the Quakers.

It was a warm 64 degree day on the way to Yacolt.Today Mrs. Dorothy Krout, a supporter of our rescue efforts, accompanied me to Yacolt.

As we arrived in town, we stopped at one of the local apple trees where the Quakers had been feeding.
We discovered that the tree had been pruned back and that the apples on the ground showed no sign of the Quakers feeding at this location.
We arrived at the corner of Hubbard and Twin Falls Roads, the location of the primary roosting nest of the Quakers. We notice that the Quakers apparently have not attempted to rebuild on the power pole.

(Click on image to enlarge)
We did notice some changes to Yacolt Parrot Preservation’s nest platform. It appears that they are preparing to add a support apparatus.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Looking closer we noticed that Y.A.P.P.A. added some 2x4 boards to stabilize the platform from the high winter winds.

(Click on image to enlarge)
Here's a full view of this platform.


Dorothy makes a comment on the good work YAPPA has done on their platform.

Pulling up to N.W.B.R.’S nest platform #1 we get a glance at the nest box from the street.
(Click on image to enlarge)

We arrive at Glenn Welker’s home just as he arrives back from a California trip.


In Glenn’s back yard, he points out sticks the Quakers placed on the platform while he was away.
(Click on image to enlarge)

Glenn asked me to step under the platform for a picture showing the nestbox that had been a proven breeding nest for over seven baby Quakers this year.

Across the street from Glenn’s house is NWBR’s platform #2.
We have heard reports that the Quaker babies have been seen exploring this nestbox.

Driving on to the green belt the view was beautiful.
Unfortunately, we did not see any Quakers there.

At this location, we inspected the pole.

Inside the home of Joanne Carras, the proud resident of the location where platform #2 is located, Dorothy sits for a warm cup of tea. At this time, Dorothy also announces that her 90th Birthday is coming up December 12th.

While calling the other locations in town we were informed that there have been numerous sighting of four Quakers exploring the nest platform at Cyril Young’s home.

It was reported that the new baby birds, four to six at a time have been seen arriving in the early morning hours the past week. This new flock has been entering the nest platform and playing for about an hour a day.

We traveled down the street two blocks to nest platform #4, located at the Peterson’s home on Jones Street. Due to an illness in the family the past few weeks the Petersons were unable to give an accurate report of the Quaker’s activities.

As we left town that evening, we passed by the town hall and realized that we didn’t learn much...
...other than we know we will be back to report more.

For now, we know the count is at least 13 surviving Yacolt Quakers.

New Quaker Babies Exit Nest Today In Yacolt ! ! !

Monday, October 20, 2008 ~ Congratulations Yacolt! Washington. ~~~~~~ New babies exit OUR nest TODAY!

Today we received a report from Yacolt resident Lisa Welker, the proud homeowner and Godparent of the only nest platform with a proven pair Quakers producing babies from their nest.

Below you’ll see the first baby viewing the exterior of it’s new home for the first time. Then her second sibling exits. Next they take their first flght to a neighboring tree.

Finally, the third Quaker baby exits the nest and joins his siblings.

~This baby we have named "Bashful". ~
If you look close, you’ll notice one parent still feeding him to insure that he is safe.
Now you'll see why we've named him ~"Bashful."~

As the two more confident babies fly back to the nest, Bashful waits a moment to pose, as if to say...

“I think I’m going to like it here in Yacolt.

Life is going to be good."As of today we have an official count of 13 Quakers,
now dubbed the

"Yacolt Baker's Dozen of 2008."

These Photos taken by Lisa Welker.

Friday September 26th, 2008 Great Horned Owl Rescue call

Friday September 26th, 2008 Great Horned Owl Rescue call.

Friday evening at 5:38 pm, We received a call from a Good Samaritan who while jogging saw this owl seemingly resting beside the road as she jogged by.

(Click on any image to enlarge) On her return jog back home she looked over at where she had seen the owl. Sure enough, it was still there. It hadn’t moved an inch. It seemed to be struggling in the foliage. It tried to fly but seemed exhausted or injured.

Although this owl seemed like it was well camouflaged in the brush,the Good Samaritan could tell something was wrong.

She ran home and had no luck finding any emergency services that were willing to help. She stumbled across our phone number and was able to get thru to us. We made calls to local Fish and Wildlife officers but no return calls.
It was now past 6:30pm and this Good Samaritan could not bear the thought that the owl would fall prey to coyotes or the possibility of it climbing up onto the road, so she called us again and begged us to pick it up.
When I first examined the bird, it was obvious that it had suffered a head injury. If you look closely in a later pitcure you’ll notice the right eye is closed.
I believed it to be a female juvenile Great Horned Owl that flew that into the bushes full of stickers at least 24 hours prior. She was struggling to get out of the sticker patch, but may have run out of energy to free herself.
Upon further examination I noticed that the owl had over two dozen briar stickers about 1 inch long, completely covering her body. And...she had an obvious head injury.
(Click on image and look closely at the left eye).
I also removed eleven stickers from between the wings and the body of the bird. This seemed to be the main problem at first. The stickers acted like Velcro tape preventing this bird from opening its wings.
In addition she was very tired, weak, dehydrated and seemed very hungry.
If you look closely below, you will notice one of the owl’s eyes is extremely dilated. From my experience, her eyes showed that she had apparently suffered a head injury.
It took over 30 minutes to separate the thick stickers, grass and branches that held her wings to her body. Then she was able to stretch her wings.
Then after a brief rest…
... and the removal of most of the stickers, she was immediately hydrated.

(Click on image to enlarge)

I removed the remaining stickers
and she took a rest.

Then she took a short nap before being transported to her new restaurant.

Now she was happy to see a familiar face.
"A field mouse!"
She instantly gobbled it down.

Then another one.
Then a third mouse was, going, going, Gone…

Ahaaaaw.. Fresh warm chicken liver, followed by chicken hearts.

At one A.M she was happy to gobble up everything new on the menu.

This was followed by yet another familiar face...
a fresh warm mouse to top off the meal.

And another...

At three a.m. she was happy to have supper delivered.

At five a.m. room service was right on time.

At 8:00am I received a return call from a wildlife veterinarian who concurred with my diet and treatment. We arranged to have this female owl delivered to their facility on Sunday morning, after it could regain enough strength for traveling.

8:00pm - this two-hour feeding ritual started again.

Midnight's menu was of a combination of chicken hearts and fresh mice.

This menu was continued from 8p.m. 10p.m. midnight then 2am, 4am, 6am and 8am.

Larger portions this night...

It seemed like she winked at me...

At 8:00 am Sunday morning the owl was transported to the doctor’s office. At 10:00 pm I received the diagnosis that it was obvioust to the doctor that this owl was a victim of a recent fire. The doctor discovered that the bird had numerus burnt feathers and smelled of smoke. This explains why the bird appeared to be a juvenile.

In addition, this bird’s eye injury was at least a year old.

It will take some time in rehabilitation until this fair feathered friend can fly again.
If you look close at this photo, you will notice that this owl is missing its right horn feathers from the fire.
(Their ears are used for hunting & hearing prey).
Many thanks to the alert jogger, rescue volunteers and a dedicated vet. This is another life saved.Farewell my courageous and trusting fair- feathered friend....

Saturday September 11th 2008 ~ UPDATE ON Yacolt Quakers

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