I woke up around 7:00 like I usually do, which was perfect since it was my first day back at the Carolina Raptor Center since the middle of August. I ate a quick breakfast (an english muffin and coffee) and headed out the door so I could make it there by 8:00 when my shift starts. There was only one problem:The gates were locked! Apparently while I was on my little hiatus from volunteering, the morning shifts had been altered a bit. They now begin an hour later at 9:00. I live about 30 minutes away from the raptor center so going home was out of the question, as I would have to turn right back around the second I got there. Instead of sleeping in the car, waiting for someone to unlock the gates, I decided to make use of my time and walk around the rest of the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve.
I've been volunteering at the raptor center for over two years and never really explored any other areas of the park. Even on a frigid December morning, it is a beautiful place. I first drove down to the canoe launching area on Gar Creek.
When I arrived the sun had just begun to pierce through the clouds, accenting a light fog hovering over the entire area. The water was as still as could be, allowing all of the surrounding beauty to be duplicated in it's reflection.
Unfortunately, I could only stay in this area for about 5 minutes because I wanted to make sure I had enough time to explore as much of the preserve as possible. I figured the most efficient use of my time was to run from place to place, eliminating the need for a full workout later on. So I ran along the trails to the areas of the park. I stopped at Buzzard Rock and took a breather. Buzzard Rock, on the Mountain Island Lake side of the nature preserve, is equally as pretty as the Gar Creek side. This is where I took my favorite photo of the 25 or 30 I shot.
After running back to the car, I changed clothes and headed to the raptor center to volunteer...FINALLY!!! It was a relatively slow day and a strange feeling being back after taking so long of a break from it. I would say I didn't feel 100% comfortable until I had successfully grabbed a couple birds. After that, everything I knew came back to me and it was fun again. Two of the six or so birds I worked with were CRAZY. One was an especially aggressive juvenile red tail hawk. The other, a very large (998g) and pissed off female barred owl who was not shy about vocalizing how she felt.
I was also able to assist in the initial examination of a new patient: a female American kestrel with a compound fracture near the distal head of her humerus. We cleaned her wound, applied a figure-8 bandage and wrapped her injured right wing to her body. Her prognosis is not very good. Because of the location of the injury, she may not be able to fly or hunt again. I didn't take any pictures because she was already stressed enough, but this is what a female American kestrel looks like:
After I was done putting my 3 hours in at the raptor center, I went grocery shopping and squeezed in a workout at my apartment complex's crappy gym (just to kill time). Then it was off to my parent's house to help Lisa decorate the tree my dad and I had set up the night before...and do a little laundry. When the tree was finished and my laundry folded I went home and watched the Panthers dismantle Brett Favre and the Vikings 26-7 before I went to bed. I definitely on the Matt Moore bandwagon now!
