Got boots?

I just received an e-mail that I will post in its entirety here. I think you'll be interested.

Hi, Susannah

I’ve been reading your blog and I thought that you and your followers would be interested in this charity campaign that will raise money for local wildlife. It won’t cost them a penny and will only take up a few minutes of their time.

The Wildlife Rescue Association of BC is one of the recipients of the Keen Canada campaign Boots Give Back. For every photo of boots uploaded to its website at www.keencanada.ca/BootsGiveBack/Donations.aspx, the outdoor shoe specialist will donate $5 to one of the four listed charities, including the Wildlife Rescue Association based at Burnaby Lake.

The promotion runs until October 31, 2010, and with WRA as the only BC-based charity recipient, the more photos your followers upload, the more money the WRA will get to carry out its vital work.

The WRA has been carrying out wildlife rescue and rehab since 1979. Last year the organization cared for more than 3,000 injured, orphaned and pollution damaged animals, the majority of them birds.

Each person can upload a photo of their boots in action as many times as they want. Keen only ask that participants upload just one photo a day and use a new photo every time. You don’t even have to be wearing Keen footwear. Any brand of boot, shoe, sneakers, clogs and even flip-flops will do.

As well as raising money for the WRA, participants stand a chance of winning free prize packs which include boots, bags and socks.

For more information about the WRA, go to www.wildliferescue.ca

Upload your photos at: www.keencanada.ca/BootsGiveBack/Donations.aspx

Thank you for your support.

Yolanda Brooks

Communications Coordinator

Wildlife Rescue Association of BC

I went to their site, www.wildliferescue.ca , and "toured" their facilities. It is very similar to O.W.L., except that they rescue animals and small birds as well as raptors. I recognize the old house they use as an office; drove in there once, years ago, I can't remember why now. But someone there was talking about ducklings; it seems that people bring them in, thinking they're abandoned, not realizing that the parents know where they are. And sure enough, they still have special housing for baby ducklings!

Now, I'm off to look for shoe and boot pics.

*Update: Found one: with a car ahead of me in the lineup at Bull Canyon, waiting for the escort car to lead us through the fire zone.

Note the socks drying on the door handles. Looks like fishing tackle in the car.

A visit to O.W.L.

Sarah, the barn owl, would greet visitors to her home, if only she weren't so drowsy. While we stood in an admiring circle around her, she opened her eyes briefly, then nodded off again.  An owl needs her beauty sleep!

Sarah, off duty. She is an educator, working with children in the schoolroom.

We, Laurie and I and a couple with a young son, were in the office of O.W.L., the Orphaned WildLife Rehabilitation Society. Our guide, Rob, explained the operation of the society while Sarah slept on her perch by the window. Staff members and volunteers came and went, discussing schedules and the needs of their charges. A chart on the wall keeps track.

I counted 107 raptors presently on the site. The chart divides them into groups; 4 severely injured birds at present in Intensive Care,  some in interim cages, training cages, flight cages. There are flight training sessions in store for red-tailed hawks and a pair of great horned owls. Another section lists the birds soon to be released. The last column names the permanent residents; some are educators, trained for visits to schools and other field trips; the others are unable to be released because of some severe disability. These last are the ones we would be visiting.

Rusty, rough-legged hawk. He was hit by a car and has a broken wing.

O.W.L. takes in injured raptors, mostly from the Lower Mainland, up to 200 per year. It has full medical facilities and a variety of recovery and training cages, and is building a pool cage, where eagles and osprey can recover their fishing skills before release.

One of the outdoor cages, housing three short-eared owls. On hot, sunny days, the birds sit far back in the shade, making photography difficult.

Gunther, Ariel, and Willow. Peregrine falcons. One has been shot; another has had part of a wing amputated.

Sampson and Delilah. Great grey owls. Both hit by cars. Delilah has a blind eye.

Demon. A barred owl. Hit a window in a high-rise building. Brain damaged.

He was called Demon because when he is upset, he flies at you with his head upside down, due to his lack of muscle control, a direct result of his injury. A lot of times he sits with his head at a kind of an odd angle and he has been known to fall off his perch because his lack of balance after falling asleep. We have to put his food on the same perch all the time or he cannot find it.

That makes me worry about the occasional sparrow or chickadee that hits my windows.

Mirage, a Gyr-Peregrine falcon cross. Bred for a falconer's bird, broke her wing and never recovered.

Mirage again.

Either Kermit or Piggy, Snowy Owl. Both birds were hit by planes. I never saw a bird smile before!

Turkey vulture, one of three, Pepe, Precious, and Chuck.

It is a daytime bird with a very keen sense of smell, sight and hearing which enables them to find food by sight and also smell food (parts per trillion) from great distances. Its digestive system has the unique ability to kill any virus or bacteria it ingests. This is apparent in its droppings as there is no sign of any type of disease.

I was glad to see the turkey vultures so close, but they moved around all the time, and we couldn't get a clear photo. Rob told us to notice their nostrils; the holes in the upper part of the beak. Unlike all other birds, these nostrils have no central "wall"; from the right angle, we could see daylight on the far side. This allows a better capture of the smell of rotting meat.

He also explained the bald head; the vulture often buries his head in the rotten carcass he's found. (On the road, as we saw up the Sunshine Coast, maybe.) If he had feathers, they would come out carrying a load of bacteria and maggots. The bald head dries quickly and sheds the offending critters.

Turkey vulture, acting shy.

On our way out, in response to a question from the other couple, Rob mentioned that the BC government has cancelled their annual grant; O.W.L. is just one more of the environmental agencies that the provincial government has defunded, in their misguided "austerity" measures. They may have to shut down operations, after 25 years of caring for these beautiful birds.

"What will happen to the birds?" I asked. They will try to find adoptive homes for as many as possible, Rob says. Some will be released, as they are now when they are ready. And some, not able to survive on their own, will probably have to be euthanized.

But first, the society is trying to raise money from private individuals. There's a button on their home page for donations; if you can help, please do.

Wooden owl, guarding the entrance to the cages.

*Update: Larry, at the Birder's Report, has a post about a rehabilitation centre in California. Great photos, and more details about the operation of these organizations. Check it out.