TreeHouse Wishlist

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Administrator

Wish List — August 2011

TreeHouse Wildlife Center
Dow, Illinois
(618) 466-2990

www.treehousewildlifecenter.com

As we are currently building large cages at our new facility in Dow, Illinois, we are in need of tools and various construction materials. If you are able to donate any of the following items, we would be greatly appreciative!

Gift cards to Home Depot and Lowes are always welcomed
Gas gift cards
Paper towels
33 gallon trash bags
Sponges
Dryer sheets
Dry dog food

Large items needed
Refrigerator
Mini-van
Bobcat (the mechanical kind)

Thanks so much!

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Oreo the Osprey

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Administrator


On April 27, 2010 we admitted an Osprey. These state-endangered birds feed almost exclusively on fish, by plunging into the water much as an eagle does.

This bird was found on the ground in a yard in Olney, Illinois, and a little girl in the neighborhood named it “Oreo”. It had no broken bones, but had severe bruising on its side, probably the result of some type of collision.
For rehabilitators, Osprey are challenging, to say the least, because of their unwillingness to eat in captivity. I tried the obvious – live
fish. Nothing. Deciding after a couple days that I wasn’t going to let the bird starve itself to death, I began force feeding it chopped up
pieces of fish. Surprisingly it was tolerant – it even seemed to look forward to it. I tried live fish again and you guessed it, it went after
them! This was huge because it was the first time I had been able to get an Osprey to eat on its own.
On June 20, Oreo was released at East Fork Lake in Olney, not far from where it was found. This was the seventh Osprey ever admitted to TreeHouse, but the first to be released.

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A Tiny Morsel

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Administrator

A Saw-whet Owl passed through our center after colliding with a window. Fortunately he was uninjured, and was released after a brief period of observation and release training.
Saw-whets are smaller than Screech Owls, and are an uncommon to rare migrant and winter resident in Illinois.
In 30 years, TreeHouse has admitted a total of six Saw-whets, in 1981, 84, 87, 88, 95 and 2009. The owl we received in 1987 arrived in July as an injured juvenile. Saw-whets eat small rodents and birds.
An injured Saw whet Owl inspired one of my mentors to put pen to paper and write about the perils wildlife face in our world today:
“A Saw-whet Owl is such a tiny morsel (just 65 grams) he is a sobering reminder of the thousands of wild lives, their brief beauty unseen, their perfection of form and function obliterated in a moment along our highways and against our towers, masts and high wires.
In the sadness of holding the broken bodies and of admitting the lost and bewildered wild things, trying to live by ancestral rules that don’t work anymore, in a world gone mad, I find myself asking the unanswerable question:
How long can wildlife populations sustain this attrition?”
Katherine McKeever
The Owl Foundation News, January 2002

Posted in Small Miracles | 2 Comments

An Unlikely Catch

Posted on December 25, 2010 by Administrator

Last Spring, I was out in my backyard, when I heard what I thought was the sound of ducks, quacking and honking as they returned home from their long winter vacation down South. Quickly realizing that it was not coming from the sky, but from the ground, I looked around to see a mother duck with 11 ducklings following behind her, waddling through the alley just behind my house.

It also didn’t take long to realize that she had probably been laden-heavy with eggs, was forced to land, lay the eggs and stay put until they were hatched. Now she was trying to get them to water. “So, what was the problem?”, you might ask. Well, you see, there was ‘no water’ to be found, as she was in the middle of town! With town traffic and numerous cats and dogs in the neighborhood, who would probably have LOVED a duckling meal, I thought I’d better find a way to help them reach their destination safely and quickly. I made the decision to try and catch the mother duck and the ducklings and relocate them to a pond on the outskirts of town, where they would be more safe.

That’s where the fun began…

My husband and I got a couple of boxes and fishing nets and set out to catch the young brood. (We weren’t very organized as we had never before attempted to catch wild ducks.) He went to their left and I to their right, in order to keep them from ‘scattering’ as we approached, but scatter they did. I never realized, until that moment, just how fast a duckling can run!

Mother Duck countered with a straight-ahead, low-swoop across the street and feigned injury, flopping on the ground and quacking frantic instructions to her duckling soldiers. The 11 ducklings ran in frenzied circles and zig-zags as we ran after them, scooping them up as fast as we could and putting them in our shirts for safe keeping. We had dropped our boxes while in hot-pursuit, so our shirts seemed like the best alternative to a box…under the circumstances.

Finally, were were able to catch them all, except for Mother Duck. She had flown off during the chase, which had extended over several blocks through neighbors’ yards, down alleyways and into bushes and thickets. I can only imagine what the neighbors thought…..

We brought the ducklings back to our yard for safekeeping, but then started wondering how the mother duck would know where to find them. How silly could we have been? Now, we had 11 ‘orphan’ ducklings in our possession! Surely, they would die and we would be to blame. We HAD to catch that mother duck! But how???

Ah ha! I had an idea!

I knew that if she could hear her ducklings vocalizing, she would find them, so we set the box in the middle of the yard, stayed out of sight and waited. Within 3 minutes, we saw her circling overhead. She landed in a tree nearby and began ‘talking’ to her babies. Then, she began circling overhead again, this time landing on the ground several feet from the box.

She started pacing tighter and tighter circles around the box while she and her babies talked back and forth. Cautiously, and very slowly, she eventually got right next to the box, but she seemed confused and suspicious. She could hear them, but she couldn’t ‘see’ them! We had placed a towel over the top of the box, so once again, we had a slight dilemma on our hands. How could we get her into the box with the ducklings, if she couldn’t see them, and without causing her to fly away again?

I tried approaching her, moving ever so slowly, with a net in one hand, but she noticed me and flew up into a tree. My husband, being the genius that he is, suggested that we move the box into the garage and leave the door open. So, we gently slid the box over to the side door on our garage, making sure to leave it open enough, so that she could hear her babies inside the garage and waddle-in for a closer look. I hid behind the door with a net and my husband hid inside the garage where he had a clear view of the scene.

Within minutes, the mother duck flew down and landed a few feet from the door. He signaled me that she was close. She very slowly and cautiously walked up to the box. “Wait for it… wait for it”, I kept telling myself, “If I move too soon, she’ll fly away and it’ll be over.” Tense moments passed and soon, she was actually inside the garage walking around the backside of the box, talking and chattering, still looking for her babies. Wham! I closed the door behind her!

She flew around the garage, but we were able to corner her and throw a towel over her to make the catch. She seemed to calm down, suddenly. Maybe she realized where we were taking her. We put her in the box. Mother and all 11 babies were finally reunited. We could hear her gently cooing to her babies.

We loaded the box in the back of the station wagon and drove about 3 miles out of town to a nice, quiet pond on undeveloped land. She seemed to be headed in that direction and it’s possible her mate was there waiting for her – at least that’s what we hoped. We took the towel off the top of the box, gently tipped it over on the side and out they went, straight to the water. Mother Duck took flight immediately to the oppostie side of the pond while her babies made a mad dash for the nearest side, among the thicket.

My husband and I climbed back up the slope and watched from the car as Mother Duck lept into the water and glided her way to the middle of the pond toward her ducklings, who were making their way toward Mommy.

It was a highly unlikely catch…

Posted in Wild and True | 2 Comments

Persistence by Judy Neiman

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Administrator

There are some birds we just dread getting at the center. Most birds eat readily on their own, but others such as Nighthawks, Swifts and Cuckoos will simply sit and starve to death if not hand fed.

So when an adult Yellow-billed Cuckoo came in, I was not thrilled. It had been struck by a car but luckily the injuries were not serious. He had a slight break near the tip of the wing. Bird bones usually heal in about two weeks, so I diligently forcefed him meal worms every few hours. To my frustration he would often spit them back out. I tried tubing him with Ensure, but he would choke and spit that out.

I did not want to give up as his injuries weren’t life-threatening.

There were times during the two-week period that I wanted to strangle him myself. Finally the swelling subsided and the bone healed. He soon began to fly. I put him in a flight cage for about a week, force-feeding him the whole time.

I was never so glad to see a bird get released. All the frustration now seemed worth it as I watched him fly into the woods.

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Small Miracles by Judy Nieman

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Administrator

Author and TreeHouse Volunteer, Judy Nieman, with an injured pelican.

Miracle Duckling

I received a call from a local humane society who had taken in two baby ducks. I could not get there until that evening. Unfortunately, I neglected to tell them not to give the ducklings a bowl of water.
When I arrived later to pick them up, the lady brought out a box and opened it up.

There were two totally drenched day old Wood Ducks. They were lying on their sides, ice cold and barely able to raise their little heads.
I asked the lady to microwave a towel and I wrapped them in the warm towel.

When I got to the car Jack turned on the heater, even though it was about 85 degrees out. We opened all the windows and I held the ducklings under the heat all the way home. They began to dry out but one died in my hands. The other one made it home alive, but I didn’t have much hope. I put him in a very warm environment, gave him an injection of dextrose and went to bed.

I arose the next morning and went into the room, expecting the worst. But there sat an alert, wide-eyed duckling. He had eaten all his food and was ready to take on the world.

He grew up big and strong and was released eight weeks later…a true miracle recovery.

Posted in Small Miracles, TreeHouse Wildlife Center Update | 3 Comments

SMALL MIRACLES by Judy Neiman

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Administrator

Gremlin- Eastern Red Screech Owl

Miracle Mom

Back in 1988, when I first went to work at Treehouse, I was in awe of
just about everything that happened there. I remember my first spring, the first baby squirrels I got to feed, the first small fox kits, the first Great-horned and Barred Owl babies, and the first day old fawn. Just amazing!

But there is one event that has etched itself in my memory. At that time we had an unreleasable Screech Owl that we used as a foster mother. One Tuesday a tiny ball of fuzz, otherwise known as a baby Screech Owl, was received at the center. Adele asked me to put him in with the foster mother because it is extremely important that
these birds imprint on their own species and not people.

I took the ball of fuzz and set him in the cage with the foster mom. He looked at her, she looked at him. She raised her wing and he immediately ran to her and huddled under her wing against her warm body. They were both totally content. Instinct is truly a miracle.

Find more interesting articles at www.treehousewildlifecenter.com

Posted in TreeHouse Wildlife Center Update | 10 Comments

SHORT TAILS by Judy Neiman

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Administrator

WE TRY HARD
I attended the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association conference last spring. It‟s good to meet with other people who have had the same successes and disappointments that we‟ve had. It is also really wonderful how many vets are getting involved in saving wildlife — it has changed a lot since I started in 1988. Our own vet, Dr. Myer from Hawthorne Animal Hospital, has been a godsend, as he cares for all animals from the majestic eagle to my friends, the ducks. He says “Ducks are God‟s creatures too.”

We don‟t know why terrible things happen to helpless wildlife, but we try our best to rehabilitate all animals we take in. However, it is not always a success. So many animals have endure insurmountable injuries. I know it is frustrating for those who, filled with hope, bring us injured animals only to hear us say we cannot save them. We wish more than anyone that we could perform miracles and save each and every one of them.

Still, after all these years it is a very hard part of our job when we have to humanely put these animals down and it does take a toll on everyone here. As much as we hate it, we are not allowed to — nor could we afford to — keep all unreleaseable wildlife.

We have had many dedicated animal lovers over the years who have helped us do our best and we want to thank all of our supporters who trust us to do what is best for the animal.

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The Owlet From Green Acres Road

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Administrator
  
Text and pictures by Lynn Schreiber, TreeHouse President 
 
On a warm spring morning in April, I received a call from a woman who had found an owlet at the base of her tree. I drove to the property just north of where I live, to Green Acres Road, just a few doors down from the property that TreeHouse was considering. There I found the Barred Owlet, covered in down, and too young to fly. The bird had fallen from an open cavity, high up in a dead trunk of an enormous tree, and the woman explained that many generations of owls had come from this same nest year after year. An adult Barred Owl could be seen poking up out the top of the cavity, and she spread her wings out over the remaining cavity not covered by her breadth, presumably to provide shade to the owlets still beneath her.
We raised a ladder and I tried to climb up to put the baby back in the cavity, but the ladder was too short, and because the rotted trunk wavered from the weight of it, the attempt to replace the owl was abandoned. With several predators known to live in the vicinity, the decision was made to take the owlet to TreeHouse.
The owlet had to spend the night with me before I could get it to TreeHouse. I had been so preoccupied with the property acquisition that I had not been out to the center in several weeks, so having the owlet to observe for a brief time was welcome therapy, and proved to have greater personal significance as well.

For months I had anguished over the realization that TreeHouse might be closing, and in recent weeks, had begun to distance myself emotionally from the animals and the center, trying to prepare myself for the inevitable end that appeared to be coming. Yet, there sat this little owlet from Green Acres Road, a helpless bundle of fluff, and as I watched him look about, I began to reflect, and remember the reasons why we do the work that we do.

  It reminded me of the importance of wildlife rehabilitation as it relates to the greater environmental community.  Many wonder why we save one animal, or why we save a particular species. By saving these creatures, there are greater lessons to be learned that have wide ranging implications affecting everyone. All of these animals have significance. It is why their circumstances bring them to us, and they stand testament to the challenges and fragile complexities of the environment. The animals that come to us would not survive without our help.
History and experience have taught us that we can accomplish much more, in the greater scheme of things, by modeling compassion, tolerance, and understanding. We learn from these animals as they fulfill their role within the natural cycle, and the ultimate question becomes easy to answer: What lessons do we teach to future generations by helping an animal? What lessons do we teach, if we don’t?
 

 

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Education Director Appointed

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Administrator
Welcome to our new TreeHouse staff member, Sherry Droste, who is joining us as our first official Education Director. Sherry comes with 28 years of nature education experience and is also a certified teacher. She was with The Nature Institute in Godfrey for 28 years.

During her long tenure with TNI, she served as a charter member of the Discovery Summer Camp staff and was the camp director for six years, and also filled the role of Education Director. Over the years, Sherry has developed and facilitated education programs for the US Army Corps of Engineers Riverlands office in West Alton, MO, the McCully Heritage Project in Kampsville, IL, and Regional Office of Education #40.

Prior to her years as an outdoor educator, she was a classroom teacher in Jerseyville and Alton.

“This opportunity to work with TreeHouse is thrilling,” she says. “Having been a friend of TreeHouse since the early 1980s, I have had the good fortune to become familiar with the invaluable services they provide to wildlife.  Marrying a full-blown education program with the rehabilitation work they do is only logical,” says Droste.  “Our kids are our future leaders and decision-makers. Unfortunately, so many of them have a limited concept of the interdependent relationship between nature and people. They don’t have the comfortable connection to the outdoors that I did as a child –playing in the creek, hiking in the woods and observing wildlife up close and personal. We need to do all we can to cultivate that relationship.”

Beginning this fall, TreeHouse will be able to provide educational programming at its new location in Dow. With woods, a pond, a meadow, a nature center – and most importantly – real, live wildlife – to share with schools and the general public, Droste says it couldn’t be a better situation. Programs will also be available at school sites and for scout and youth organizations and church and civic groups.

If you are interested in learning more, or scheduling a program, call Sherry at our Dow habitat at 618.466.2990. Watch for more detailed information on our web site as well. 
www.treehousewildlifecenter.com

 

 

 

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