The other week I was in charge of all Avian and Mammal care because of a shortness in staffing. I have only had limited training with the birds so it is a bit of a learning curve in some ways. Most of the birds currently are birds of prey so special precautions must be taken when handling them. Thankfully a few of the birds have been either placed with other facilities or released so not too many remain. One of my favorite birds to deal with are the vultures. They are large and lumbering and cute in a big, featherly, death smelling sort of way. The only thing that deters me in my like for them is that as a defence mechanism they will vomit. Think about how that will smell for a moment....they eat dead, often rotting food, partially digest it then vomit directly at you....great! *gag* I'll forgive them simply because they are amusing.
The woodpecker tried to escape and reflexively I grabbed for him and only got the ends of his tail feathers. It felt like a cartoon for a moment because for all purposes he was flying, just couldn't get anywhere in the process. I just twisted my hand a bit so he faced the cage and back in he flew when I let go with all feathers intact. I call that a success.
For another interesting fact....eye protection MUST be worn when handling Heron. One of the first things they aim for in hopes of being let go it going for the eyes with those beautiful bill of theirs. Yikes.
One of the funniest birds to deal with is a barn owl. He will grab the leather glove with his talons and essentially shrink wrap the glove to my hand them sink that beautiful beak in to it. He will fold on to the glove for upwards of ten minutes AFTER returning him to his cage. He also screams. He has a great fear of humans and IF his wing ever heals he will be a good candidate for release since he has not gotten even slightly used to humans or being handled.
BEAUTIFUL birds
Then they scream
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