April 10, 2009

Ava-4/9/09-Volunteers for Wildlife

Today we visited to Volunteers for Wildlife (as well as the Audubon Society—see next post). It is an organization that is like The Raptor Trust, except it rehabilitates more than just raptors. We interviewed a guy who works there, named Jason. Also one of the owls is there that was involved in the screech owl releasing into Central Park. This owl was released with the others, and then found in the park somewhere, not looking too healthy. He was taken somewhere in the park to be rehabilitated there. After being released a second time, he was found again, looking thin and without much food. Since they figured the owl couldn’t survive on his own, Volunteers for Wildlife took him in permanently, to live in captivity. Jason told us that an owl’s life span is about twice as long in captivity than in the wild, because being captive is having the “ideal” lifestyle. Also, an owl’s diet is more varied in the wild. In the wild, screech owls live to about thirteen years old.According to Jason, six owls were first released in Central Park in 1998, and none were to be found. This indicated that these owls were struggling too. However, he believes that Central Park is a good habitat for owls and other wildlife to live. These are the other things we learned:

Jason believes that the reasons for the initial disappearance of the screech owls in Central Park are habitat loss (said many times), development, and pesticides in the prey. He explained that there used to be screech owls all around the city, but then it started getting developed, and the owls were confined to one area—Central Park (and they still are).
Around every Christmas, there is a “Christmas Bird Count.” The amount of birds, including owls, is counted in different parts of the country, Central Park being one of the places. This is to keep track of the population. Shulian brought up a potential concern—counting the same bird twice. Jason said that people look in separate directions, and real birders would know the difference between two individual birds. Even if one bird were counted twice, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
Screech owls weigh about 180 grams. Females weigh more than males because they have to carry the eggs. They are also 2/3 bigger in size.
Owls can change the size they appear to be, according to their emotions. They puff out when they feel threatened and get thin when they are hiding.
“Banding” is to keep track of individual birds. This is when metal bands are put on their feet. There is no radio transmission, so you have to look at the band manually, to see the location of the bird. Each band-size has its own number, according to the size of the bird’s foot (screech owls are given #5 bands).
Jason believes that the bird-calling machines aren’t terrible, but should be used in moderation. He said the machines could increase owls’ stress and interrupt hunting. However, he doesn’t think it’s a significant reason of the owls disappearing the park. It’s hard to keep track of who plays the recording in Central Park, and how often.

Also, there was an interesting article that Shulian sent me that was totally contradicting Bob DeCandido about his bird-calling machines. It says how he does it too much, and it’s very inconsiderate. Between others’ opinions and this article, I have to disagree with how often Bob uses the recordings. He should use it in moderation.

Jason brought up how bird feeders are another interference with wildlife. Birds eat from them, causing them not to migrate as quickly. When anything in the natural world is thrown off like that, it’s bound to cause problems having to do with the food chain (other species) and the living conditions of the bird itself. Jason suggested for people to not put out birdfeeders, but natural food sources, like trees with fruit on them. That way, like the birds, the fruit will naturally disappear in the winter.

However, Jason didn’t think this interference would be enough to make the owls disappear either.

Educating the public is a really popular answer to the question, “How can the public help maintain the screech owls in Central Park?” Also, Jason said people could actively keep educating themselves by doing research about screech owls, and the project in Central Park. He said people could petition against pesticides being used along the borders of the park.

After interviewing Jason, a lady named Lauren brought out the screech owl that was part of the project. He was so cute! She had him on her arm for a long time while we were talking with her. All our interviewees are right—seeing the owls, and how adorable they are really motivates you to keep helping, or in some people’s case, to start helping. Then, Jason took us out to all the rehabilitation cages, with different raptors. It reminded me of The Raptor Trust. It was such a beautiful day out, and I loved seeing the birds! This visit was both fun and productive. The screech owl in his traveling tree stump. Screech owl!!!The metal band used for tracking screech owls. The cages of the raptors.