Tag: baby possums

Driving around in June and July

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The first week in June I had a red shoulder hawk in my car. This beauty had been sick and was rescued and rehabilitated at Moccasin Lake Park and was going back to the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to stay in the flight cage for a few days to build up his wing strength before being released.

Three days later a baby Cooper’s hawk and a sick red tail hawk also made their way to the Raptor Center. Look at those big talons on the red tail hawk!

The next week I had a full car load. I picked up a sick vulture that had been rescued north of where I live and then headed to the Raptor Center to pick up more critters.

A pair of baby doves, a sick blue jay and a young pileated woodpecker all got loaded in my car to make their way to Penny, the rehabber in south St. Pete.

A pouch of juvenile possums also came along.

A few days later a juvenile swallow tail kite was rescued close to my house so I picked it up and drove it over to the Raptor Center. The brown specks on his head and white specks on his wings will go away when he is fully grown. He was also not old enough to have his “swallow” split tail.

I got a call that there was a kestrel with an injured wing on the ground at the Tampa airport. The airport maintenance guys were able to catch it and called the Raptor Center. I was able to meet them at the cell phone parking lot and drive it to the center.  Nancy thinks the wing will be able to heal.

At the end of June I was transporting a hawk, a barred owl and 4 screech owls that had been to a vet and was going back to the Raptor Center. They were having a fundraiser near my house so I met them there at the end of the event to hand off the injured birds. They had brought their ambassador kestrel and great horned owl and had a crowd of people who were curious about the birds.

At the beginning of July I was heading down to south St. Pete to take some critters to Penny, the rehabber and the above peacock also made the trip. The peacock had been found nearby with an injured leg and the Raptor Center was sending it to a peacock expert rehabber in nearby Clearwater. Peacocks roam freely all over the Tampa bay area and get a bad rap. People don’t like them because they are loud and messy so they tend to get “injured” around the area. I recently wrote about them in this post. 

I had to laugh as I was heading down Penny’s street a peacock walked right in front of my car.  I was going slow but it might not have been lucky if someone was speeding through this neighborhood.

This was my cargo that morning. Three baby possums.

A week later I transported 3 screech owls to the Raptor Center that had been rescued.

 

Rescue transports in late May

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

In mid-May a call went out to transport some young critters from the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to a rehabber in south St. Pete. I made the trip to pick up the above juvenile crows and a box of baby possums. The crows made that caw sound almost the entire trip. The Raptor Center takes in all kinds of injured or lost baby critters but since they specialize in raptors they send other critters to rehabbers that are experts in other animals.

The baby possums were put in a pouch and snuggled up together for the ride. They are so cute at that age!

The next day a sick juvenile night heron was rescued and brought to the Raptor Center so I took it to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary that morning. The sanctuary volunteers are experts in rehabbing big water birds.

While I was there I got to go into the bird hospital and meet Meatball. Meatball (the paler one on the right) is a roseate spoonbill and is one of the newest permanent residents. Meatball came into the clinic in April of 2023 and had a fractured wing that had healed incorrectly and he is unable to fly. Meatball was busy meeting another spoonbill that had come in sick but was getting better so he was ignoring me.

As I was standing back watching the two spoonbills and taking pictures a masked bobby walked by. What? It was amazing to see this bird up close. I’ve only seen them out in the wild once and that was in the Keys from a boat. He had been brought to the clinic sick and was doing much better and was about to be released.

The outside of the hospital was getting a cool paint job.

A few days later I got a text asking if I could pick up a puppy coyote and bring it to the Raptor Center. I was on my to the grocery story but thought groceries can wait for a puppy, even a coyote one. It was brought to Moccasin Lake Nature Park early in the morning by a ranger. The rehabber there, Barbara, runs the Moccasin Lake Raptor Sanctuary out of the park and she met me there to give it a feeding and get it into a crate so I could drive it to the Raptor Center.

While she was feeding the coyote I was looking around the hospital and noticed the osprey with a wrapped wing. He had just been to a vet to get his injured wing set. Then I noticed a hawk I had never seen. A lost ferruginous hawk was in the cage. He belongs on the western part of the country. They think it is a falconer’s pet that got out because it was trained. They were working on locating the owner.

The young coyote was loaded into my car. He had some injuries on his chest and they couldn’t find a parent anywhere so he was brought in. Once he got to the Raptor Center he would be tested for ringworm and then placed with a rehabber that had other orphan coyotes to grow up with and eventually be released. Those ears and eyes just stole my heart!

A few days after the coyote trip I was back on the road taking a carload of young critters to Penny in St. Pete. At first we couldn’t tell what this tiny baby bird was but when it started calling for food Penny realized it was a brown thrasher.

A young crow, a baby possom and some baby doves (I didn’t get a picture of them) also made the trip.

The next week I got a call to meet a rescuer in north St. Pete. She had just rescued two baby Cooper’s hawks that were found on the ground with no parents around. The nest was destroyed so the babies couldn’t be renested.

When I got to the Raptor Center Nancy pulled them out and was checking to see how healthy they were. They were starving but should be okay after a few feedings.

my Sunday snapshot

 

 

 

Rescues in March

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

In early March I picked up a bald eagle that had an injured wing from the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and drove it down to a vet in south Sarasota that was going to reset the wing and bandage it up. Luckily his wing was broken in a place that was easy to fix.

A wood stork also came on the trip and after dropping off the eagle I drove out to the beach in Sarasota and took him to Save Our Seabirds. He had an injured leg.

Before heading back to the Tampa area I stopped by the Audubon Celery Fields in south Sarasota. I don’t get down here often since it’s so far away but had my camera in the car and stopped for a quick walk. There is a huge purple martin nest house in the parking lot and it was full of martins.

It was the middle of the day and I didn’t expect to see much but they have bird feeders near the nature center and there were some brown headed cowbirds feeding on the ground under the feeders. I don’t see them often.

There were plenty of grackles as well. It was getting hot so I didn’t stay long.

A few days later I took 2 squirrels to Penny in St. Pete. A baby squirrel and a very shy adult squirrel that had several bot fly bites on him. He would not come out from under the towel and I’m assuming he didn’t feel good. All I could see was his little nose. Penny was able to get the bot fly larva out of him and nurse him back to health.

A sick crow also made the trip.

The next week I drove 9 baby possums from the Raptor Center to Penny in St. Pete. The Mom had been hit by a car and these 9 babies were in her pouch. A good samaritan saw the dead possum, stopped and checked the pouch and brought the babies to the Center.

This young hawk was rescued not too far from my house. I met the rescuer and picked up the hawk and drove it out to the Center. Nancy took his hood off and was checking to see how skinny he was.

Road trip across the state

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In late July I headed out to the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon to transport some critters to a rehabber in St. Pete. Penny lives down in south St. Pete and helps with the over flow of critters. She rehabs and has a team that releases them. In the back of my car I had 4 baby mockingbirds, a baby woodpecker, a box of baby opossums and juvenile osprey.

A week later the call went out for a transport that would be double stops from Brandon to areas near Orlando. One of the critters was a swallow tail kite. He had an injured wing and the best place for him to get better was at the Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka, not quite 2 hours east of Brandon. They have huge flight barns that he could fly around in to build back up his muscles. I never thought I would have a swallow tail kite in my car!

A baby kestrel was also going to the Avian Center.

But first I had to stop in Mt Dora, almost 2 hours northeast of Brandon ( and then 20 minutes to Apopka from there).  A baby racoon and a box of 10 squirrels (all different ages) were going to the Wright Rescue Ranch. There were so many baby squirrels getting separated from their Mom’s that the rescue ranch is taking them in to help them grow up before they are released. We had a heating gel pad in the box to keep them warm on the trip. Many of the babies didn’t have fur yet and get cold quickly. I love the way they all cuddle together.

Since the trip would be a little long, Nancy fed the littlest one before I left. He was so cute holding it with his little feet.

I stopped halfway to swap out the heated gel pad for a hot one and they all woke up. The bigger ones started climbing around so I had to be quick and swap out the pad.

I got to the Avian Reconditioning Center much earlier than my last trip so I took a few minutes and got out and walked around. You can see some of the big flight barns in the back.

The center houses a handful of permanently injured birds and the volunteers were out sitting with them. One of the volunteers was holding a red tailed hawk. It looked like they were having a serious conversation.

There were 2 owls sitting out. The barred owl in front was missing an eye. The great horned owl in back had a wing injury and they both are great surrogate parents to lost babies that come to the center.

I walked around the back of the tree and saw the eagle sitting farther away.

He couldn’t see out of one eye and tilted his head to look at me. I stayed pretty far back and these are all cropped up shots with my phone. It was finally time to make the 2 and half hour trip back home but it was nice to spend some time with these guys.

an image of a red sports car with a lady caricature going at Vroom Vroom high speed, Senior Salon Pit Stop Vroom Vroom Linkup

More baby critter rescues

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

At the end of June I made a transport for Raptor Center of Tampa Bay. Injured or lost baby birds were still coming in and needed to get to a rehabber in St. Pete.  This one was a small load. A baby mockingbird, a sick kestrel and 2 loud baby crows made the trip. Those crows were cawing the entire ride to St. Pete.

The 4th of July was going to be a stay at home and relax kind of day but the call came out for a much needed transport. I left Brett watching sports on the couch and headed to Brandon. Those baby opossums were so cute! She was holding the smallest “runt” of the litter, checking to make sure it was warm enough to make the trip.

Nancy from Raptor Center posted this on the Facebook page with the stories of what happened to these babies.

A week later I was at Moccasin Lake Nature Park waiting to take a baby kestrel to Apopka. The Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka is a great place for lost baby raptors to grow up and get released. They had just received another young one so the one I was taking would get a “sibling” to grow up with. While I was waiting on the kestrel I walked around for a few minutes and checked out some of the permanently injured birds that live there. The eagle was found with a bad wing injury and is not able to be fully flighted. I was surprised to see the swallow tail kite there sitting on the perch at the front of the cage. There were 2 in the exhibit as well as a Mississippi kite (which is a rare bird around here).

The baby kestrel was ready to go and I stepped in the kitchen for a minute and got to see the meals going out to all of the injured birds. Doesn’t that look yummy (don’t look closely at the bowls if you are squeamish)? I looked away from the cart and noticed an adult kestrel sitting on the desk. I’m assuming he got his breakfast first.

This tiny baby kestrel was making the 2 hour trip to Apopka. This was my first trip to the Avian Reconditioning Center. It’s a huge place with big barn size flight cages on the property. I wish I had taken some pictures but it was so hot and they were busy so I dropped of the little one and left.