Woodland Wonders has been busy in September with little squirrels and fawns being admitted- sadly, some have had injuries and have died and happily others are doing quite well and will be released.  November -March is the BIRD OF PREY season with raptors migrating, mating, nesting and hatching young. Sometimes the northern birds and southern fight over territory rights- some birds of prey have been observed to be fighting even in the sky!  If you find an injured bird of prey, you have to be very careful of the talons as they can severly damage your hand nerves and tendons. It is best to call Woodland Wonders 967-3298 - leave message or 838-1223 and leave message- both phones are checked very frequently for messages! If you find a baby bird of prey that is all fluffy looking, it is safe to use gloves and pick up and put in a safe quiet place and call Woodland Wonders or the other number. Please do not look at the baby and take lots of photos,etc. as this can lead to imprinting a baby and then they can not release sucessfully into the wild. The parent bird is unable to bring a baby back up to the nest. Sometimes a parent will attempt to protect and feed the baby on the ground, however, with dogs,etc. it becomes hard and the bird usually does not get fed properly. Woodland Wonders has had 20 years plus of raising baby raptors with many many sucessful releases!!

One osprey rescue was nothing short of a miracle!- the adult bird was dangling from the nest with some type of synthetic “twine” caught in the talon- it was similar to monofilament but not monofilament line. The nest was too high for Woodland Wonders to reach and then the miracle workers arrived- the Fire Dept!!! After instruction on how to handle the bird (they were a little hesitant to be that close to the bird and I was scared of the ladder! - thank goodness rules were such I was not allowed on the ladder!) they used their 102 foot ladder and a fireman went up and rescued the bird! Another adult was observed dropping fish into the nest and after several days in rehab and an exam, the dangling bird was successfully released! THANK YOU Winter Have Fire Department!

On the songbirds: Many have been already released, still have youngsters coming in and frequent feedings!

On the mammals: All of the little ones are growing and doing well!

In the Jan-Feb. update, Woodland Wonders mentioned a baby otter- she came to us with eyes closed and opened them 12 days after admission- a very young otter- well she grew and grew and it was time for her to graduate into bigger water facilities and with other otters- With my heart joyous that she had a place to go and my heart BREAKING, she was taken to a wildlife sanctuary downstate. It is the belief of vets and otter experts that an otter acquired so young does not do well in the wild. Molly captured my heart and will be forever in my heart and memory.

** Readers, this is middle of June and chimney swift season- these little birds are mosquito eaters and nest in the chimney- the mother eats mosquitoes, regurgitates and then puts a dab of pine sap on and feeds the little ones! As you can see, they are very difficult to rehab due to dietary requirements! If a nest or a baby falls into your fireplace, try:

1. Putting back up in the chimney ledge or nest

2. Closing off the room with the fireplace to people and pets and often mommy will fly down and feed- remember they are mosquito eaters so help out the nursery stage!!!

At this time, I want to THANK all of the volunteers who faithfully help Woodland Wonders with errand running, rescues, cleaning, vacation babysitting, etc. You know who you are and you are PRICELESS! If any of you readers want to be trained to do such, please contact us. I want to THANK all of the donors who help support the mission with time, supplies or $$.

Special THANKS goes to Boy Scout Troop 113 for an Eagle Project, Cauldwell Elementary School for a service project and advance thank you to the Campfire for a service project scheduled in August. It is so beautiful to be blessed by such wonderful and talented young people from these groups represented!

Here’s a photograph of the Eagle that Woodland Wonders released in honor of Ken Morrison. This release took place at Bok Tower during Ken Morrison Celebration of Life. 

Woodland Wonders was saddened to hear of the death of Ken Morrison, age 92 on March 4th. He was as  one  article in the Lakeland Ledger described him,”the giant of Audubon”—For 25 years, he was director of the Bok Tower(2nd director there)— he was also ,President Emeritus of the Audubon Society, and served on the boards of Florida Nature Conservancy and Defenders of Wildlife.  He also founded Ridge Audubon Society, Defenders of Crooked Lake, Green Horizon Land Trust and Florida Conservation Foundation. He was the leading founder of Tiger Creek Perserve, Kissimissee State Park and  other natural lands that many people today enjoy.   In addition, he wrote two published books on environmental issues.

 We were personal friends with Ken and Helen his wife and I can only say every conversation we had with them was delightful.They were/are very intelligent on so many things and of course environmental issues were their passion. In my early years of rehab, it was Ken and Helen whom helped me with an owl and was present for my first owl release !! This release was in the Tiger Creek Preserve.

 Ken Morrison left a legacy of children and family very active and supportive with environmental issues, a community that has beautiful natural lands to visit and an awareness of the environment and a lesson in being a good steward to the Earth. Ken, you will be missed and your legacy will live forever in the hearts of those who knew you, the young will learn of you and our precious wildlife will continue to have natural lands to live in and your spirit will be forever etched in the Earth’s land.

Ken Morrison’s celebration of Life will be held at 3Pm at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida on April 2, 2011.