What I've been up to

Retro-fitting a mew for Priscilla, our Barred Owl.

BEFORE:

Since she is non-flighted, she needed a mew with lower perches. She tends to be a bit jumpy and had bruised her wing, and we have kept her in a different cage until I could go in and finesse her regular mew. I went in with a hammer and a drill and whipped that mew into shape.
For perspective, the back perch is about 6 feet high.

AFTER:
(Lower perches and different angles...plus a platform perch, 'cause she likes them)


It was fun tearing the old perches out. I couldn't get the old rusty screws out of the wall, so I just beat the crap out of them and pulled real hard. Very satisfying.
Sturdy branches for her to hop up and down on, and I even added a little floor perch next to her water bowl....so our fluffy Princess could sit and preen after baths.

:)


Covering every cage we have on the South side of the yard (where the little birds are) with hardware cloth...and that includes the roof.


After playing at CSI for awhile, we came to the conclusion that it wasn't a mink that got in to kill our Angel. It was a raccoon. It climbed the outside of the cage and reached in and grabbed her off a perch.
NEVER EVEN GOT INTO THE MEW. (We found feathers outside the cage, and found scat near one of the traps. Dammit.)

Covered.

Peeking under the RAPTOR barn:

The barn that RAPTOR leases from the Hamilton County Parks is over 100 years old. And there are the coolest nooks and crannies to explore....well, there were, until someone mortared it up today.
No one currently goes under the barn for any reason. I wonder how long that bottle has laid there? And what was in it?

Meeting a new bird:


This red morph screech owl has been with us since he/she was a nestling. (Eye injury)
Since the loss of Angel has created a space on our permit, we will be adding this cute, fierce thing to our education roster.
While meeting him/her, someone asked "which screech owl" we were talking about. Cindy said, "Thirteen", as in the thirteenth screech owl that had been admitted this year.
Turns out to be the perfect name. Everyone meet Thirteen. It works for some reason, doesn't it?
:)