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Wednesday, December 28, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
The sky is falling
— again!
Over the last few years a
very interesting bird phenom-
enon has been taking place
throughout Sisters Country:
waterbirds falling out of the
sky in mid-winter.
Western and eared grebes,
cute-as-a-bug’s-ear ruddy
ducks, as well as some coots
and a large and very vocal
common loon have invaded
our air space and litter the
ground.
Elise Wolf, a local rehab-
ber, ends up caring for these
unfortunate victims of winter.
She says it is not only OK to
pick up these storm-strays but
vital to do so for their health
and welfare.
BUT (and a very big
BUT!) do so very carefully.
The western grebe is quite
capable of spearing you with
that three-inch, very sharp
bill, and the loon, with its
even-longer and bigger bill,
can do serious damage to
your body.
Drape or throw a big
towel over the bird, and if one
doesn’t do it, use another to
get the wings and bill covered
and the bird immobilized.
Then place it in a box with a
thick towel in the bottom and
call Elise Wolf at 541-728-
8208 or contact her through
www.nativebirdcare.org.
I’ve never had the occa-
sion to deactivate a loon
with a towel, but I have used
large bath towels to cap-
ture grounded and injured
eagles. Back in the mid-’70s
I received a phone call that
started out this way: “If you
promise not to call the cops,
I’ll let you have this giant
golden eagle I have in my
garage.”
I asked the caller how he
came to have a golden eagle
in his garage, and his reply
hit me like a cowboy gettin’
bucked off in a rodeo: “I’m
a bobcat trapper and I caught
the eagle in my trap set. I
couldn’t shoot it and bury it
like the other guys do. It’s
so big and beautiful, so I just
brought it home.”
I used two big bath towels
to safely get my hands around
the eagle without either of us
getting damaged. The caller
was right on: it turned out to
be a big, beautiful adult and
healthy female, but with a
mangled foot and talons.
I took her to the local
vet who amputated her foot,
placed a special bandage and
cast over the stub and said,
“Well, that’s all I can do for
her, Jim. If infection doesn’t
set in that cast will eventually
fall off and if she knows how
to get along on one foot she’ll
live.”
So, I banded her with a
USGS No. 9 eagle band and
let her go back to the wild.
Eight years later the banding
lab informed me the eagle
had been found dead under
a power pole in Northern
California, where she’d been
shot.
Those waterbirds that fell
out of the sky recently are
now being cared for at the
Wolf’s home. Because of
their specialized biology, not
one of the Wolf’s patients
can handle the hard surface
on the stiff bottom of a hold-
ing pen for very long. They
are waterbirds, and as Elise
says, “Waterbirds need water
to survive!”
The holding pens in which
she keeps the waterbirds must
have a padded bottom to keep
the bird’s keels from dam-
age. Towels and more towels
come into play with a netted
bottom so the grebes — who
can’t walk very well on land
— can settle down on the soft
surface, which also means
a washer-full of towels has
to be processed every day.
It’s painstaking work to
keep water in the huge hold-
ing tanks the Wolfs made in
a sterile condition. They cre-
ated a heated pond in one
of the outdoor pens that is
designed to filter out feces
and have the correct habi-
tat for the grebes, who must
have water to be in for physi-
cal and emotional health.
There are so many things
that birds need in captivity,
and one of the most fascinat-
ing is to watch grebes that
splash around in their pool
washing their feathers, and at
the same time, making them-
selves water-proof through
applications from their oiling
glands.
Waterbirds, such as ruddy
ducks and grebes, feed on
Th ank you for
a wonderful
year!
RENEW & REFINISH
Granite | Cabinet | Wood | Floors
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We look forward
to serving you in 2017!
541-588-6611
220 W. Cascade Ave.
Come in, Relax, Enjoy!
PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON
Elise Wolf and her husband, Whitney, inspect a western grebe, one of the
several waterbirds that fell out of the sky during the last snowstorm.
aquatic invertebrates in the
wild, so rehabbers must pur-
chase or raise the required
food. Elise and Whitney put
out a lot of their personal
funds to buy boxes of meal-
worms, bloodworms, wax-
worms, krill, and smelt at
around $80 a box. Then it has
to be chopped and offered
to her patients in a way they
can absorb the necessary
nutrients to stay alive during
convalescence.
And this goes on twice
a day, day after day, week
after week, or as is the case
of Hope the trumpeter swan,
month after month. Which
is difficult enough, but must
be carried out in relative
silence, to keep the birds
from imprinting on humans
for food and safety.
When migrating grebes
are kept in captivity while
recovering from crashing in
a winter storm, they must get
their digestive system going
again, and the food they
consume has to be nutrition-
ally correct to replace the
energy spent. Before being
released back into the wild
they must have the right
amount of fat and time to shut
down again to continue on to
the wintering area.
This specialized talent
and requirements for wild-
life rehabbers — who have
taken on the role of Citizen
Scientists — puts a great
many burdens on their life-
style and personal needs. It
would be almost impossible
for them to continue what
they do without the financial
help they receive from the
general public and private
and business foundations.
To volunteer or to help
Elise and Whitney keep their
heads above water will be
appreciated, and will support
their dedication in putting
waterbirds back in the water
and song birds back into the
air. Their website is www.
nativebirdcare.org.
Happy
New Year!
Under New
Ownership!
Special
Appetizers &
Drinks
Spend New Year’s In
Our Latigo Lounge!
Live Music at 9 p.m. to close
Mark Conklin &
Got Whiskey
Latigo | 370 E Cascade Ave. | 732-998-1253