It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a... raptor?!?

A raptor, you say?  You mean, one of those prehistoric dinosaurs?

He he he - well, not exactly.

A raptor is a bird of prey.  You know - hawks, eagles, owls, falcons - things of that ilk?

Let me give you some examples.

[caption id="attachment_405" align="aligncenter" width="308" caption="Barred Owl"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_409" align="aligncenter" width="303" caption="Red-tailed Hawk"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_406" align="aligncenter" width="308" caption="American Kestrel"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_407" align="aligncenter" width="312" caption="Barn Owl"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_408" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="Red-shouldered Hawk"][/caption]

I am a birder.  The Random House Dictionary defines this as:

birder  bird·er

noun   bird watcher.

(and then-)

bird watcher

noun    a person who identifies and observes birds in their natural habitat as a recreation.

I have a life list of a little over 600 birds.  Respectable, but nothing to brag about.  My husband and I watched The Big Year last night.  I mean, I hardly compare to the bigwigs.  But, I enjoy it.  My dad is a birder.  He has birded my whole life.  I have always loved animals and nature, but didn't really identify myself as a birder until my senior year of college, when I took ornithology and began to keep a life list.  Then, it slowly became somewhat of an obsession.

However, my freshman year of college I began volunteering at the Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center (now known as the Southeastern Raptor Center), affiliated with Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine.  Although it was volunteer, I'll always consider it the best job I ever had.

I jumped in with both feet, thinking this was the coolest opportunity ever.  I mean - how many people got to cut, skin, weigh and measure dead mice and scrub bird poop out of water dishes each day?  Okay - so maybe THAT part doesn't sound the coolest...  but soon I was assisting with medical exams of incoming injured birds, and training a Harris's Hawk to fly on command for our education programs.  Now, THAT was cool.

After a while I was given the title Director of Internal Education and Volunteer Affairs.  It was my job to recruit, train and mentor new volunteers. With the exception of one paid employee, the center was entirely volunteer run.  And run it we did!  Those of us who were involved were really involved, spending every spare second at that place.  During our tenure a new center was built, and we moved from a small delapidated barn tucked behind the vet school to a new state of the art facility on a parcel of land all to ourselves.  It was fantastic.  We had a modest collection of permanent education birds, nonreleasable for one reason or another, that we regularly used to give programs to the public.  And we took in injured and orphaned raptors which we rehabilitated for the purpose of release.  As volunteers we were on call to pick up injured animals, we did initial assessments upon their arrival and administered emergency care if necessary, we gave medicines, wrapped wings, tube-fed, radiographed, toted animals to the vet school to see various specialists (eye, bone, etc.), and ran anesthesia during surgeries.  We performed necropsies when a bird didn't make it or had to be euthanized - oh, and we did that too.  We fed birds and exercised birds on creance lines to condition them for release.  We did it all - and it. was. awesome.

Then there was some drama, as the center moved to take over the housing, care and training of Tiger, the Golden Eagle flown at the football games, from a fraternity.  We successfully gained control of the eagle, and she was moved to the center.  So, now we were also in charge of flying her before all of the Auburn home football games (and Auburn fans are fanatical about their football...).



I was promoted to Director of Rehabilitation.  I loved it.  I was responsible for taking over the care of every rehabilitated bird once it was deemed releasable, and preparing it for release.  This meant managing its diet and conditioning it via flight cage time and a creance line in order to build its endurance.  And finally, once I concluded the bird was ready, actually releasing it back to the wild - the coolest part of all.

At some point the center underwent some internal turmoil, which resulted in a large percentage of the volunteer force, including myself, leaving, and ultimately the paid director being fired.  It was a chapter in my life I will always cherish, as I have such fond memories.

Anyway - this is quite a random post, and you're probably wondering why I may think you're interested in all of this, but 1) today is my birthday so I wanted to blog about something I loved, and 2) this is the precursor to two posts that will soon follow:

1) animal rehabilitation

and

2) falconry (the current director of the raptor center was my sponsor and also officiated my wedding!)

So - hopefully you enjoyed reading about these magnificent animals, nonetheless, and perhaps you'll find more relevance in these posts, which will be out soon...

War Damn Tide/Roll Damn Eagle

Two nights ago, as my husband was participating in his nightly ritual of ESPN devouring on the couch, I actually became interested in the show (for once.  In my life.)

They were portraying the rivalry between Auburn University (my alma mater) and the University of Alabama (demon elephant lovers) and suggesting it was absurdly out of control.  What?  What do these people know?  It's good old fashioned football rivalry fun, that's all!  They obviously aren't from the south and don't know how fun tailgating on the lawn five, four, three, two, one day before the game is, sipping ice cold beers under the warm (okay, scorching) Alabama sun, waving to all those go-getter youngsters, eager to earn their Auburn degree in order to go out and change the world, as they walk to class, weaving between Winnebagos and fifth wheels, making their journey to animal physiology lab three times as long.  I mean, come one, what else could you possibly have to do between the days of Wednesday and Sunday during the months of September, October and November?  Sheesh - these people just don't KNOW.



Enter Mr. Harvey Updyke, Jr.  Die-hard, obsessed, over-the-top Alabama fan, who (and this is no joke) named his children Bear and Crimson Tyde.  He was so raging mad lunatic over the fact that someone put a "Scam Newton" football jersey on his beloved Bear Bryant statue that he decided he'd show those Auburn fans once and for good.



Oh yes sir-ree, he was going to kill those damn trees on Toomer's Corner - ya know, those ones they roll with dat der toilet paper after winnin' a game?  Yes, the delightfully fond (albeit environmentally unfriendly) tradition Auburn fans have of rolling the Live Oak trees outside of Toomer's Drug Store after a big win with toilet paper was destined to be a thing of the past, by golly.  I mean, how dare they defame the almighty Bear Bryant by slipping a - gasp - removable football jersey over him in jest?  It was only fair that the century-old trees were killed - for good - in retaliation.



And then do you know what the stupid SOB did?  He bragged about it.  It wasn't good enough to gain satisfaction from knowing he'd ended a decades old tradition that many Auburn fans probably cried their eyes out over, he wanted everyone to know he'd done it.  And not just his drinking buddies, his cousins, his best friend.  Oh no - EVERYONE.  He called into the Paul Finebaum Radio Network and bragged about it.



Then, do you know what?  He got arrested for it.  And then he denied doing it.  And then the trees started dying.  Hmmmm - odd coincidence.  The verdict is still out over what will become of Mr. Harvey Updyke, Jr., or whether the trees will survive the dose of pesticides that has now leaked over 20 feet in diameter around their base.  But, he did call into Mr. Finebaum's show again - to "apologize".  "I just want to tell the Auburn people that I'm truly sorry for all the damage I've done," he said in the call. "I'm not asking for sympathy. All I'm asking is forgiveness. I want the people that's Christians to understand I've done a lot of good in my life. I've never intentionally hurt anybody ... until this."  (Mind you, he is NOT apologizing for poisoning the trees.  Oh no, that he still denies.  He is sorry that he's become an overnight sensation that people hate and loathe and hold up as the epitome of stupid.  He's embarrassed, is what it is.)  And then, before hanging up, he had to get in one final quip: "I know this is going to make a lot of people mad, but I just have to say it.  Roll Damn Tide."  Seriously, Mr. Updyke?  You are one - classy - gentleman.



The ESPN show then veered off into the arena of the April 2011 tornadoes that killed nearly 250 Alabamians and devastated the town of Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama.  It indicated there may be some hope for this hopelessly insane rivalry, as Auburn fans traveled to help their fellow statesmen in need.  But don't get too hopeful - old habits die hard.  The show's recap indicated Updyke could get up to 20 years in prison for his actions.

"That poor old guy" my husband said.  "Twenty years over poisoning some trees.  Seriously?"

Seriously.  I hope he does.  Because I am an Auburn fan and loved those trees?  No.  I am an Auburn fan.  I do love trees.  I think it's a shame this happened.  Because - "You can't fix stupid."  Because this guy is as big an idiot as they come.  Because he has no impulse control.  Because if he can get so smokin' mad over a prank as stupid as a shirt on a statue that he can't contain himself and acts out like that, what else is he capable of?  Because - just because you were born and raised in the south, grew up thinkin' watchin' football was the best way to spend your Saturdays (or five days out of every week for three months of every year), and are DESTINED to attend either Auburn or Alabama, depending on your family's legacy, and you better not even THINK about stepping toe in the other (or any other college for that matter - Samford?  Oh, the horror!), does not give you the right to act like a complete utter moron idiot, and make everyone else from the south appear to the same to the rest of the world.

Get a life.

Oh - War Damn Eagle.  :)



This photograph was taken of a rehabilitated Bald Eagle just before he was released.  Auburn University houses a raptor rehabilitation facility which holds a near and dear spot in my heart.  This link will soon be home to a post about that.