After nearly two months, two of our baby hummingbirds were ready to be released back into the wild last Saturday. We’ve watched them learn how to hover, figure out how to drink nectar from flowers, and practice catching fruit flies out of the air. These skills seemed hard-wired into them and it took very little coaxing on our part to get them to stop gaping and learn how to feed themselves.

The last thing to do before releasing these birds was to show them how to ’stand their ground’ at the hummingbird feeder. Normally I made sure that they had a variety of food sources (such as classic hummingbird feeders, live flowers, and small syringes filled with nectar and fake flower tips on the ends) but a few days before release, I removed all but one feeder. The purpose of this was to let the birds practice ‘fighting’ over the feeder so that they would not become intimidated if another hummingbird were to come along. Being competitive and solitary birds who like to defend their territories, this is very important!

The release went beautifully, you can watch it here on our YouTube Channel. We watched both birds leave their cage and begin to explore their new surroundings. They drank from some flowers before darting off into the sky, and eventually…to Central America!

While every day at WRC is rewarding and filled with moments of deep satisfaction, yesterday was a very special day.

Two juvenile river otters, which we’ve raised for the past eight weeks, were released at the Rapids Lake area of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refugee near Carver.  Releases are usually intriguing, often unpredictable and sometimes exciting; yesterday’s release was that and more.  The otters were certainly ready to be free.  They were snarly and aggressive when we captured them for the trip to freedom.

In addition to US Fish and Wildlife officials, our staff and some of our summer interns, KARE11 joined us to film the release and aired it on last night’s news.  Here’s a full-page display of the news video.

River Otters are a difficult species to raise.  They get very stressed during handling, their diet is challenging and requires introducing a variety of foods, including live prey (such as the crayfish you’ve seen in an earlier post).  As they grow older they require significant space and high water quality.  Their aggressive nature makes it difficult to monitor their progress. They are also social and seldom do well alone.

We (and the otters) were fortunate in this case.  We rarely see otters, yet these two came to us just five days apart – on June 10 and June 15.  And the later arrival came from Belle Plain, near the release site. 

We’re very grateful to the US Fish and Wildlife staff for finding an appropriate site at the National Wildlife Refugee and for giving us permission to do the release.  USFW staff have seen otters all along the Minnesota River Valley.  This release is a celebration of our success in raising these otters and is also symbolically important since the presence of otters is an indicator of improving river habitat on the Minnesota River. 

Here’s more information on River Otters.

If cuteness factor went to 11, our young River Otters would easily achieve that rating.  Today, Nurseries Director Lynnette Scott, invited me to film the otters’ first experience with live crayfish.  It didn’t take them long to figure out these were tasty little morsels (even though one otter carried around a tenacious crayfish that latched onto its belly before the other otter discovered and promptly devoured it).

The wooden platform that you see in the photo and video is actually the otters’ favorite place to hang out.  They also have plenty of tree limbs and branches and a large pool in their room.  We’re planning on moving them to outdoor caging in the next couple days, then releasing them in approximately 2 weeks.

You’ll have to check out the video of them playing with, and finally eating, the crayfish.

What a perfect day for a duck release.  Today several volunteers and staff rounded up more than 40 ducks from our outdoor caging at Carpenter Nature Center for release.

Before transporting the ducks to their new home they were each checked for body and feather condition and fitted with federal ID bands.  Thanks to Jim Fitzpatrick, licensed bird bander, and his banding crew, all the mallards released today were banded.

Having birds banded before release is important because band reports provide vital information about wild populations.  We once had a band report on a Canada Goose that was raised in our nursery seven years after its release.

The mallards were released in Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park.  It was apparent by the flapping, diving, and preening that these ducks approved of their new home.

Yesterday was an exciting day for the Waterfowl Nursery: Ashley and I released the first wood ducks of the season!

Historically, Wood Ducks have been a difficult species to raise in captivity (because they’re so high stress), but this year things look great. We moved 30 more Wood Ducks to the outdoor caging facility we have where the little ducks will get acclimated to being outside, have access to larger pools, learn how to hide in the plants, as well as learn how to fly.

In approximately 2 weeks this new bunch will be ready to go as well! The Wood Ducks that we released yesterday put on quite a show for us. They immediately took to the water and started bathing, eating, and trying out their wings!

Yesterday one of the hummingbirds ventured out of the nest! The other will soon follow.  Hummingbirds only lay two eggs and begin incubating right away, so one chick hatches first and is always a day ahead of the other. Today we will introduce miniature hummingbird feeders to the pair, however we will still hand feed them for a while as they get used to the idea of eating on their own. It is hard to believe that these little birds will make the long journey to Central America, non-stop over the Gulf of Mexico, when summer comes to a close!

The lump you can see on the neck in the top picture is the bird’s “crop” (a place in their esophagus where they store their food after they eat it and before they digest it.)

The hummingbirds at 16 days old…starting to get feathers!  Watch them feeding on our YouTube Channel.

Two days ago, just before we closed for the night, the WRC received two of our smallest admits of the year - infant Ruby-throated Hummingbirds! They had fallen from their nest and amazingly, someone spotted them on the ground. It is always best to replace baby birds into their nest, but the rescuer was unable to locate the nest so did the next best thing and brought the birds to us.

Baby hummingbirds need to be fed every 15 minutes for 14 hours a day. These two are about 10 days old, and have only just recently opened their eyes. We are currently feeding them a juvenile hummingbird formula with some insects added for extra protein, which is important for feather development in infants. We’ve also ordered some special hand-feeding formula to be shipped overnight from a rehabilitator in California who specializes in hummingbirds. It is the same food that the San Diego zoo uses for all their exotic hummingbirds and is due to arrive sometime today. (What a kind donation!) I’m happy to report that these little babies are doing very well.

If you refer back to the post on May 12th, 2010, entitled “Mystery in the Waterfowl Nursery,” you will find a picture of one of our three blond ducklings.  Now, almost 2 months later, they are ready to be released!

As mentioned in the May 12th post, they are not albino because their eyes are pigmented normally (although the red eye reduction feature on the camera apparently was not effective in this shot!).  A more plausible explanation is a condition called Leukism.  Leukism is an abnormal plumage condition caused by a genetic mutation that prevents melanin, a pigment, from being properly depositted on a bird’s feathers.  The appearance of a leukistic bird can range from white spots (also called pied or piebald) to pale plumage or even pure white.  Our birds’ overall plumage looks pale or diluted, but normal mallard marking patterns are still faintly visible.

Our blondies were taken to Carpenter Nature Center on June 28th to get accustomed to being in a more natural setting.  They will be released into the wild in the next week or two.

We currently have 3 baby Green Herons in our Avian Nursery. They are all doing very well and love to eat their fish! The photo above is of the one that was admitted today!

You can watch part of its admit exam on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niNou4msY7g

On June 15th, the waterfowl nursery admitted its first (and most likely only) cygnet of the year!  Cygnet is the proper term for the young of Trumpeter Swans.  Our cygnet weighed .218 kilograms when it first arrived, but will grow to be approximately 28 pounds as an adult, making the Trumpeter Swan the largest waterfowl in North America.  We prefer to house birds together in the nursery, so we have introduced the cygnet to a small Canada gosling.  They are getting along very well so far.

The return of the Trumpeter Swan to Minnesota is a wildlife conservation success story.   According to the Minnesota DNR, Trumpeter Swans were once nearly extinct due to the popularity of their feathers for ladies’ hats, among other reasons, but they have been slowly building up their numbers.  To aid their population growth, wildlife managers collected the eggs of Trumpeter Swans in Alaska (the only state with a stable population in the 1900s) and hatched them in Minnesota.  Currently, there are approximately 900 Trumpeter Swans, including more than 75 nesting pairs.  The DNR, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, perform yearly swan counts in Minnesota to keep track of the population.