Target Training with LA – the beginning.
by Nathan Thoele, Environmental Educator What are you doing? I’m convincing this black vulture that right now, in this moment, in this context, there is nothing in the world more important than touching this ball with her beak. I’m building up my relationship with her by reminding her that, when I’m around with my trusty tennis-ball-on-a-stick,…
How to Rehabilitate – Lesson 1
by Peter GauWildlife Keeper Ever wonder how we get the birds we rehabilitate back to flight ready status? Well the answer might surprise you, maybe you have even experienced it yourself. We put them through physical therapy! That’s right, we work their muscles for them! Now you are probably wondering how you work a bird’s…
The Great Egret
By Lauren Adams Lead Wildlife Keeper Around the rehab center at VINS, winter brings few surprises. Lots of Barred Owls, maybe a few Red-tailed or a Cooper’s Hawks, a scattering of Mourning and Rock Doves, the odd winter songbird. Those are the usuals. So you can imagine our surprise when a very lovely, but very…
CWBR Updates & A Special Release
By Lauren Adams, Lead Wildlife Keeper Ah, winter. The “quiet” season in wildlife rehabilitation. Around here, we call it Barred Owl season. When the cold air creeps in, the mornings are frosty, and nighttime descends in mid-afternoon, this is when New England is up against its toughest test. Barred Owls, unlike many birds that populate our skies…
VINS Says Goodbye to a Beloved Ambassador, Utah the Great Horned Owl
By Lauren Adams,Lead Wildlife Keeper You can hear him even before you get inside the building. Each day he greets us with the characteristic “Hoothoot Hoot Hoot.” “Good morning, Utah,” we reply going about our daily tasks. It is easy to take for granted a friendly conversation with one of the most fearsome predators of…
Peter Guesses “Hooo” Will Be Our 500th Patient!
By Peter GauWildlife Keeper VINS is abuzz with exciting news from the Center for Wild Bird Rehabilitation. With the intake of patient #491 we’re only 9 birds away from treating 500 injured or orphaned wild birds in 2016! We haven’t been so close to this milestone in a few years- this is a big deal!…
Welcome to Northfield, VINS’ newest educator!
By Lauren AdamsLead Wildlife Keeper “Northfield” arrived at VINS on June 26th this year as a nestling hawk. She was found in Northfield Vermont,lying in the middle of the road with her wing drooped out to the side. A passerby recognized that the small broad-winged hawk needed help; she was possibly injured and definitely too young to fend for…
How Different is Different Enough?
By Jordan DaleyScience Outreach Coordinator Photo by Michael Butler Brown At first, I jumped for joy when I read this NY Times Science article the other day: A Quadruple Take on the Giraffe: There are four species, not one? It’s fascinating! It’s exciting! It sounds great: new species! Then I did my own double take, asking what…
A Chorus of Songbirds: A Birdsong App for Everyone
By Jordan DaleyScience Outreach Coordinator Full Disclosure: I’m not a birder. Though I guess you could say that I’m becoming one. When I started working at VINS a little over a year ago, my exposure to the birding world was limited to one good friend, who co-piloted a road trip with me that followed the…
Meet Peter our new Wildlife Keeper
By Peter Gau, Wildlife Keeper I have always loved animals. In college I studied animal rehabilitation. Since then, I’ve held many animal related jobs, working with exotic, domestic animals and wild/native animals. Animals are my passion and luckily they’re also my job. I had been out of the wildlife rehabilitation field for about a year and…
