Falcon vs Raven in Slow Motion - Slo Mo #25 - Earth Unplugged

National Geographic Wildlife Wonders, Owls - The Silent Hunters

I keep remembering other things I learned at the Birds of Prey Class I attended Saturday. (I'm slow but good)
The DNR speaker told us about the most common problem in captive birds of prey is bumblefoot. I won't attempt to quote what he said about that so here's some info and pics about it.





Bumblefoot in Raptors

Bumblefoot remains one of the commonest and most serious diseases of captive birds of prey.

Bumblefoot is an infected lesion affecting the ball of the foot, or one or more of the toes. Bumblefoot is a common disease of large species of raptors (especially longwings) maintained in captivity and tends to become chronic, progressive, invasive and eventually disabling. It is often either unresponsive or recurrent when treated with traditional methods. If the condition does occur in hawks or broadwings, it is usually responsive to simple therapy, whilst in longwings recovery rates are typically much worse. The condition is common in captive bird (wild caught or captive reared) but rare in wild birds.

The Cause

Raptor’s feet are protected by a thick layer of dry hard skin. On the bottom surface is a covering of hard projections (tarsal pads), which help to spread the weight bearing function of the foot.

Bumblefoot arises for one of two reasons. Firstly following any penetration of the foot, caused by a talon, thorn, sharp foreign body, rusty chain link fencing or any other sharp or abrasive object which may simultaneously introduce infection either into the skin or deeper structures of the foot. Secondly, (and far more commonly), captive birds, whether kept tethered on blocks or free in aviaries, may suffer from a pressure sore on the bottoms of their feet. This occurs because either they have been forced to use unsuitable perches, or simply because of periods of inactivity, during which time they are taking excessive weight on their feet. If weight is consistently taken by certain parts of the foot, the blood supply to these areas is compromised, leading to a reduction in the local skin defense system, such that bacteria which are living naturally on the skin, may penetrate these defences and enter the foot. Once the tissues are affected, they tend to swell, making this area of the foot even more prominent, and hence more likely to bear weight when the bird is standing, hence the blood supply to that area is further compromised. As bacteria enter the tissue of the foot, any attempt by the foot to effect a cure, is minimised by the lack of blood. In time bacteria pass deeper into the tissues of the foot causing infection of and damage to deeper structures resulting in severe and crippling bumblefoot.

Within 35 days of initial trauma, it has been shown that a scar tissue surgery, following bacterial sensitivity testing and antibiotics. If surgery has to be performed this should be done at an early stage, whilst the infective material can still be excised cleanly and before the infection has entered the tendons or bones.

In Stage IV, the deeper structures of the foot are affected, and the outlook has traditionally been serious, whilst in Stage V the bone is infected and previously such cases have been considered to be hopeless, with euthanasia being advised.

At the recent 3rd International Raptor Biomedicine Conference held in South Africa, David Remple from Dubai and Neil Forbes from England, presented their findings following a research project using a new technique in the treatment of persistent infections, which have so often previously been the problem with bumblefoot therapy. Remple and Forbes (1998) described the use of antibiotic impregnated bone cement beads in the treatment of bumblefoot. By this method increased local concentrations of antibiotic can be achieved than with injections or tablets administration without relying on blood supply, which is often impaired in such cases. Furthermore drugs which could not normally be used by injection or tablet, (in view of their potential toxic effects) may be safely administered in this local form.

Source: http://falconers.com/bumblefoot

Terms

All birds have apteria, which are places on their bodies where no feathers grow. These places are covered up by feathers growing in adjacent areas. Noticeable apteria occur on the side of the neck, wingpits, and down the middle of the front of their body.

Bill is the official word for all bird "beaks." Beak is normally used to refer to a sharp or pointy bill (you wouldn't say a duck has a "beak" but you would say a robin has a beak.)

Branching happens just before owlets start learning to fly (fledging), and is when they start to move out from the nest and stand on adjacent branches.

Only female owls develop a brood patch. Many of the belly feathers fall out just before the eggs are laid creating this bare patch of skin to provide easy heat transfer to the eggs during incubation. Male owls do not develop a brood patch so are thought not to be capable of true incubation like in hawks, eagles, and falcons.

Brooding is not the same as inclubation. Brooding is the act of keeping the chicks warm by covering them with feathers. Incubation refers to pressing the brood patch against eggs.

Casting a pellet or throwing up a pellet is normally done once a day by Great Horned Owls. The pellets come out of the mouth covered with mucous and they consist of the fur and bones from their previous meal. Other birds also cast pellets (hawks, eagles, falcons, kingfishers, crows, etc.), but owl pellets are different in that they contain bones (owls can't digest bones well.)

A crop is a food storage pouch located before the stomach. It is found in diurnal birds of prey, but not in owls.

A clutch is a full set of eggs laid by a bird. If eggs are removed, sometimes a bird will double clutch (lay another set of eggs.)

The cloaca or vent is the one and only "out door." It's where the poop, urates, eggs, sperm, and everything else comes out. Copulation is sometimes called the cloacal kiss because the male has to wrap his tail around the female's so their cloacae (plural) can touch and the sperm can be transferred.

Copulation or mating are proper terms for the transfer of sperm from the male to female, but bonding is not a proper term. It's OK to have fun and say "tea time" also, since it certainly sounds like that. Rusty lands on Iris' back to copulate and he is the one that emits the high-pitched squealing sound (a screaming chitter.)

Crepuscular means most active at dawn and dusk. Great Horned Owls aren't strictly nocturnal (active at night), they are generally more crepuscular.

The egg tooth is the little white projection on the top of the bill of a hatching/just hatched bird. The egg tooth falls off a young Great Horned Owl around a week after hatching.

Feaking is wiping the bill on a branch or perch after eating to get the food bits off the bill.

When feathers grow in, they develop and eventually emerge from a feather sheath. The sheaths eventually break up and as the feathers emerge. The shafts of the feathers are filled with blood at this time to provide nutrition for the growing feathers. When feathers are primarily still in their sheaths they are called pin feathers.

Feather tracts are the places where feathers grow on a bird's body. Feathers do not grow everywhere on their bodies, leaving unfeathered areas called apteria.

Fledging is when young owlets are beginning to fly. It takes practice, so this process takes time and they are very vunerable.

GHO is a common abbreviation for Great Horned Owl. The technical and proper scientific abbreviation is GHOW.

Gular fluttering or panting are the terms for when an owl opens its mouth and puffs its throat in and out to cool off when hot or stressed.

Hacking is the term that describes releasing a raptor to the wild while still offering food. Our owlets will be "soft hacked," which means I will simply open the door to the outside world and continue to provide food as long as they want to come back and mooch.

Imprinting is the process of a bird developing its identity when its eyes are first focusing. Normally a bird imprints on its parents or siblings. If raised by humans, they imprint on humans, but retain their natural instincts. They use normal behaviors for their species, but directed toward humans most of the time. Some birds of soft imprints, that only kind-of think they are humans. The other extreme is sexual imprints who want to mate with humans (like Alice.) Rusty and Iris are not imprinted on humans.

Incubation is the act of keeping the eggs warm enough for the embryos to develop into chicks. In Great Horned Owls incubation is only done by the females, as males do not develop brood patches.

Mews is the falconry term for an enclosure for a raptor. I usually don't use this term since most people don't know it. I normally opt for pen, aviary, or enclosure. Sometimes I slip up and say "cage", but this is a word that isn't often used in this context.

Molting is replacing feathers each years. In owls, this happens in the spring through fall. In Great Horned and other large owls, not all of the flight feathers (wing and tail feathers) are replaced each year. It may take 3-4 years for all flight feathers to be replaced in a Great Horned Owl.

Mute is the technical term for poop or pooping, but "poop" is a comfortable word for most people to use also. Slice or slicing refers to the poop or the act of pooping by raptors that squirt their poop way out behind them, like hawks and eagles. Falcons and owls poop essentially straight down and don't slice.

The nictitating membrane is also referred to as the third eyelid. It is a milky blue (in Great Horned Owls) translucent membrane that blinks separately from the regular eyelids. It protects and moistens the eye. You may see it when Iris is feeding the owlets or when the owls are eating.

Owlet is the term for a young owl. Owlets can be nestlings (young ones in the nest) or fledglings (ready to leave the nest or having recently left the nest and are learning to fly.) A juvenile is a young owl that hasn't reached adult plumage.

A pip is the first hole a hatching bird pokes in the shell of the egg.

Preening is the act of running the feathers through the bill to maintain them. Sometimes the bird will first get oil from its uropygial gland and smear the oil onto its feathers. The oil basically waterproofs the feathers, and when sunlight strikes the oil on the feathers, the oil is converted to Vitamin D, which the birds ingest the next time they preen.

Primary feathers are the longest and outermost feathers on the wing and attach to the bird's "hand." They are numbered from the inside out, so the leading primary is P10, and the innermost one is P1.

Rictal bristles are modified feathers densely packed around the bill (beak). They look hair-like and function like mouse whiskers by being very sensitive to touch. When an owl is doing something close-up (like eating, feeding a chick, etc.), it closes its eyes (they are far-sighted and don't see well up close) and just goes by feel thanks to the rictal bristles.

Rousing is the term that describes lifting all the feathers then shaking them like a dog, usually finishing with a head shake. This is only done when the bird is comfortable.

Owls have sclerotic rings in their eyes like all birds and reptiles. This is a ring of bones that is inside the outer membrane of the eye. In owls the sclerotic rings are very pronounced, making the eyes somewhat tubular. The skulls of hawks and owls look very similar, but the pronounced sclerotic rings in owls make the eyes face forward and actually give shape to the face. If you look into the ear of an owl, you see the side of the eyeball and the sclerotic ring is just below the outer membrane covering the eye.

Secondary feathers are the feathers on the wing closest to the bird's body, and they attach to the ulna in the forearm of the bird. The number of secondaries varies by species, and the are numbered from S1 as the outermost secondary (next to P1) to the innermost secondary, next to the body.

Talons are the claws on the ends of each toes (four on each foot.) They are the equivalent of toenails and grow continuously, self-sharpening as they get worn and dulled.

The uropygial gland is also called the oil gland. It is located at the base of the tail on top, where the tail attaches to the body. The oil from the gland is smeared onto the feathers with the bill and tongue during preening.

Source: http://www.internationalowlcenter.org

One of the mods at OKC posted this link while I was lurking.

http://www.inquisitr.com/885704/baby-owl-rem-sleep-study/

Grandad Rufus shared this link on Barred Owl feathers.

http://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/feat...BDOW_wing_adult

I learn a lot from Grandad Rufus. He explains complex things in a way that's easy to understand. Thanks GDR!

8:20 Grandad_Rufus: It is interesting to note that a bird’s voice does not originate in the larynx as ours does.
8:20 Grandad_Rufus: Birds have a larynx, but, unlike ours it has no vocal chords. It is used primarily to regulate the amount of air coming into the trachea.
8:21 Grandad_Rufus: Bird sounds are produced in an organ unique to birds called the syrinx. For most birds, the syrinx is located where the trachea joins the bronchi.
8:21 Grandad_Rufus: Some birds including certain species of owls have two syringes located in the bronchi.
8:21 Grandad_Rufus: However, where the syrinx is located doesn’t seem to matter, for the real sound producers are the muscles that surround the syringeal membranes.
8:21 Grandad_Rufus: As air passes over these membranes they begin to vibrate, and while they are vibrating, the surrounding muscles apply controlled tension which results in sounds of varying pitches
8:21 Grandad_Rufus: much like a violinist applying pressure to the vibrating strings of his instrument to create different notes.

Kind of like Coverts....

This is an old article I just ran across and thought I'd share. Pretty amazing!

Dentist builds new beak for bald eagle

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A dentist in Alaska used materials used for human teeth – and a yellow highlighter – to repair a bald eagle’s broken beak.

By: Lesley Ciarula Taylor Staff Reporter, Published on Tue Feb 23 2010

Dentist Kirk Johnson started off with a custom impression on his patient, who could die without dental surgery. The patient watched him, wary, talons just inches from his face.

Attached to those talons was Cyrano, a bald eagle missing a chunk of beak. He’d been brought in wet, lice-ridden and gravely injured to the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage, Alaska.

“Alaska is kind of a small town,” Johnson told the Star in an interview. “People had heard that we do a lot of things dentally.”

Cindy Palmatier, executive director of the centre, hadn’t initially told Johnson the patient was a bald eagle with a six-foot wingspan and talons as thick as a man’s finger.

“He’s a cool bird,” she said of Cyrano, although Johnson, with a cosmetic dental practice as well as a regular practice, is fairly hip himself.

Palmatier and her team had tried some literal kitchen-table surgery at first to mend the bird’s broken beak, apparently damaged by fishing wire. It didn’t take and the risk was growing Cyrano would lose his vital hunting apparatus entirely. They took the problem to Johnson.

“I needed to find something strong, easy to repair, non-toxic and lightweight,” said Johnson. As for any patient, he started with a mould. And Cyrano couldn’t be sedated for the procedure.

“The bird looked at me and seemed to be saying, ‘I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me’.”

A replica of Cyrano’s problem in hand, Johnson scoured journals and articles for a solution. “I woke up in the middle of the night and said, ‘Okay, I get it. This is just a custom thing we do every day for people’s smiles. It’s just a lot larger and a different shape and a different colour.”

Using standard human tooth-building materials, Johnson built Cyrano a new beak. Using “the Alaskan spirit” of resourcefulness, he used blue sticking putty (“non-toxic, easy to remove”) to keep it in place and a yellow highlighter to match it to the rest of the beak.

Throughout the hour-long procedure in December, Cyrano just watched. “My hands were literally in the bird’s mouth and I’m inches from his eyes. I think we have a mutual respect.”

Cyrano, a young male at 6 or 7 years old, will live out his life at the centre and is back eating fish with gusto, Palmatier said.

Do you ever wonder just how big an Eagle talon is? Researchers believe a bald eagle's grasp is at least 10 times stronger than that of an adult human hand and can exert upwards of 400 psi.

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Published on May 21, 2013
In this sequence from Illustra Media's newest documentary FLIGHT: THE GENIUS OF BIRDS you will enter a fertilized egg to witness a bird's embryonic development. Spectacular animation and live action footage document the extraordinary 21-day process of organization and growth from a few cells into a chicken.

This is a good article on owls and delayed incubation.

http://www.godsownclay.com/TawnyOwls/Art...dincubatio.html

Published on Oct 29, 2014 by Epic Montana

Montana is home to 15 of North America's owl species. This short film from Distill Productions uses incredible, never-before-seen footage of Big Sky owls in action and fascinating interviews with biologists to illuminate these beautiful, secretive birds of prey.