Burrowing Owls

June, it's June already and the 4th of July is creeping up fast on us!  I'm going to take a backseat to my good friend Marty for this blog post and let him try his hand at writing the blog (I know, I know no one is as good as I am), but he has a really cool program to tell you all about.

Hi everyone, Marty here.    Make sure you read all the way to the bottom, I have something REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT to tell you about!  I've been with Wild At Heart since June of 2011.  I was rescued from Cesar Chavez park in Phoenix after suffering an injury to my head.  I'm sometimes called the pirate owl because I only have one good eye (but hey I'm cool with that).  I'm really a pretty easygoing kind of guy.  I've been doing Educational Programs (maybe you've seen me) for the last couple of years.  I like going out on programs because I get to tell so many people about me and about Wild At Heart's Burrowing Owl Program. What's a Burrowing Owl you ask?  I'm glad you did.  Western Burrowing Owls (like me) are native to Arizona and we can be found all around the west from Canada down to South America!  We are really rather fun, cool little owls.  We only get to be about 10 inches tall and weigh about 6 ounces.  Our small size comes in handy for finding our homes.  Unlike most owls we choose to live in burrows underground.  Yup that's right, underground.  We are however too cool to dig our own homes and so will just appropriate empty burrows left by other animals, cracks in the sidewalks, drain pipes, anything we can fit into.

     We love our little underground burrows, so nice and cool on hot summer days.  Unfortunately though our burrows are frequently in the way of construction projects.  It's kind of hard to say no to a bulldozer...  That's where Wild At Heart steps in to save the day.  Bob Fox (co founder of Wild At Heart) works in partnership with the construction companies to get us moved out of the danger zone and into a safe new home.  How does this happen?  Well Bob just flys in (super hero cape and all) and whisks us out of danger.  No, you're right it doesn't really work that way.  The reality is that Bob spends hours and hours patiently surveying the area and locating all of our burrows.  He then sets out traps (the good kind, where we don't get hurt and there's always good mice in there to eat) and waits patiently for us to enter the trap.  Sometimes this can take hours and hours as we are too smart to just walk into something.  Some of my friends here at Wild At Heart have sat for three or four hours right in front of the trap before flying away.  Bob never loses his patience though and just like a bounty hunter he always gets his bird.   Bob then brings us back to Wild At Heart where we will remain for at least the next 90 days (60 days at Wild At Heart to break our bond to our old homes and 30 days supervised by Wild At Heart in our new homes).

"You don't think I'm going in there do you?"

Hangin' out and makin' new friends at Wild At Heart.

     While we are busy hanging out and enjoying the easy life at Wild At Heart (who's gonna say no to sleeping in and having room service every night, huh?)  Bob's right hand Burrowing Owl man Greg Clark (with his right hand man Kevin Kreigel) steps in and makes sure that our new home will be ready for us.  This requires a lot of work and effort on the part of Greg, Kevin and all the volunteers who come out to help build our homes.  As of 2014 (21 years into this program) Wild At Heart has built over 6500 new artificial burrows (in land that has been set aside for us all around the state) and released more than 2500 Burrowing Owls into these new homes.  

Digging our burrows

Putting up the release tent so we are safe for our first 30 days in our new home.

    Greg Clark is an instrumental part of the Wild At Heart Burrowing Owl Program.  Without him, well I don't know where our new homes would be, but it sure wouldn't be as nice.  He has been nominated for the prestigious Cox Conserves Heroes Award.  This is a big honor for Greg, and we Burrowing Owls couldn't be happier.  The award recognizes local environmental volunteers (yup Greg volunteers for this duty) who are making a difference in their communities.  The winner receives $10,000 dollars for their non-profit (that's a lot of mice!)  Greg is one of only three finalists and he will be featured on the Cox website and in local media.  That's where you can help.  The winner will be determined by public voting to take place in July.  Please help us out then and vote for Greg.

     If you would like any further information about our Burrowing Owl program or want to volunteer to help out send us an email at Sam@wildatheartowls.org.

Foster Parents

Bedtime Poem

     I was listening in on a conversation (how else is a Kestrel going to keep up with current events) between two volunteers the other day all about the bedtime poem her granddaughter's stepfather says with her every night.  It reminded me that you don't have to have a blood tie to make a family.
     In fact, right here at Wild At Heart we have many families that share no blood tie.  I'm talking about our raptor Foster Parents and all of their fabulous foster children.  The raptor foster parent program was started way, way back in 1990 (that's over 20 years ago)!

Harris Hawk DeGoo with his first foster child Cochise - Spring 2014

     The first foster parent raptor at Wild At Heart was a Barn Owl named Chia.  Chia was brought in as a nestling to the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center where Sam and Bob were both volunteers.  Chia was severely ill with permanent wing and leg injuries that would render him unreleasable.  Sam had just been reading a wonderful book "A Place for Owls" by Kay McKeever (I don't know why she wasn't writing about Kestrels...).  This book was all about rehabilitating owls, and her experiment using a spotted owl as a foster parent.  Sam took this information to the higher ups at Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center and was given permission to try Chia as a foster parent - if he survived his injuries.  Sam and Bob showered him with care and survive he did.  Chia went on to raise hundreds of orphaned Barn Owls with his mate Tyta.

Barn Owl Foster Parents - Aspen, Nicole and foster children - spring 2014

     What started as an experiment has been very successful, and today Wild At Heart is home to a number of foster parent owls, hawks and falcons.  Each of our foster parent raptors raise a new family, sometimes two or more families every year. Our foster raptors always have at least two and sometimes ten or more foster children at a time (I don't know how they do it; I can barely keep myself looking good!) 

Great Horned Owls Foster Parents - Chitter and Moogley with their foster children - spring 2014

     Why do we have foster parents?  The foster parent raptors play a vital role in our rehabilitation program (Not more important than me of course).  They are responsible for teaching our young orphaned nestlings and fledglings how to be owls, hawks or falcons.  They teach them the mechanics of flying and how to hunt.  The foster parent program allows us to release the orphans back into the wild as fully functioning adults.

Super Screech Owl mom - Mama Webster with a few of her ten foster children

Our foster parents need all the help and support they can get.  To be a part of our foster family - click on the link below to donate (please and thank you).

Wild At Heart