Fire victim photo

Here is a picture of the cottontail rabbit who is a patient at the hospital because of the fires in Palm Bay last month. He is recovering well, but still has some more healing to do before he can be released.

Least tern babies are also starting to arrive in large numbers. Their parents nest on flat gravel roofs of large building because there is so little undisturbed beach area left. If there isn't something around the edge of the roof to keep them safe, sometimes they run right off the edge.

Florida Wildlife Hospital has already admitted over 1,800 patients this year! We still have several months of baby season and fall migration to go! With so many patients, I hear the food bills (for all kinds of strange and unusual stuff) are huge! That's why Florida Wildlife Hospital has several fund raising events each year. Our next event, which I always attend, is the 6th annual "Born To Be Wild" Poker Run on August 17th. More information is available on the website at: http://www.floridawildlifehospital.org/ under events.

I'm back!

Wow, has it been a busy month! Lots of baby screech owls have been admitted to Florida Wildlife Hospital and needed my help. My first batch of baby screech owls have graduated to an outside cage and are doing well. I'm still currently watching over 15 screech owls that range from white & fuzzy to almost ready for flight training.

The otters are also in an outside cage, and I hear they spend most of their time in the pool. There are also 3 red-shouldered hawks and 2 American kestrels in our outdoor flight cages. Here is a photo of the kestrels before they were moved to the flight cage.

We had 4 small fawns, but they have been transferred to another wildlife rehabilitation facility so we can start construction on our new 100-foot flight cage! That sounds awfully big to me, but I know the eagles, ospreys, hawks and larger owls will really benefit from additional space for flight practice before they are released. It's very exciting to have this project, which has been in the planning stages for several years, finally starting.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to all! For our small part in saving the planet, we released 2 brown pelicans and an eastern screech owl (like me!) back into the wild. My buddy Owliver went to the Earth Day event at Midwest Research Institute and met my friends Valorie and Pam and lots of the employees. They put up a purple martin nesting site and planted trees for Earth Day. If you didn't do anything special today, there's always tomorrow - every day can be Earth Day!

More babies!

It just keeps getting busier and busier! Here are 2 more babies that were recently admitted.

This is one of two baby river otters drinking a special formula from a bottle. But as you can see, he has a lot of teeth and will soon be eating. His favorite food will be fish, lots and lots of fish.

This is a very young red-shouldered hawk. When babies this young come in, they usually try to put them back in their nest, or in a substitute nest, for the parents to raise. Baby raptors are a lot of work, and have a better chance of survival if they are raised by their parents. Check back with me soon, I just know there will be more interesting babies this year!

It's baby season!

It's baby season here at Florida Wildlife Hospital, and all kinds of interesting babies are being admitted. We currently have mockingbirds, grackles, opossums, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, a black vulture, a great blue heron, and my favorite, a juvenile screech owl. That baby's cage is right next to mine so I can help mentor him. Soon there will be more baby screech owls, I helped raise 17 of them last year. Here's a photo of a funny little guy, it's hard to believe that something this small will grow up to be a great blue heron.

Florida Wildlife Hospital's other educational ambassadors

I thought I would introduce you to my friends and fellow educational ambassadors. Eleanor is a barred owl, and has been doing educational events for over 7 years. She had a broken wing that healed improperly in the wild before she was found and taken to a wildlife rehabilitator.

Kona is also a barred owl, and came to the hospital when she was very young. She was found with a fishing hook in her wing, and monofilament fishing line wrapped around her wing. This caused nerve and tendon damage, and she was never able to fly.

Owliver is a great horned owl, and he is just about 1 year old. He was found with a wing injury that prevented him from flying. He had such a good temperament that the staff at Florida Wildlife Hospital added him to our educational team.

The four of us do educational programs for civic groups, scouts, and schools. We also appear at environmental events and at Florida Wildlife Hospital's special events. We hope that you may be able to attend an event soon so we can meet you!

Greetings from Gonzo

Hi, I'm Gonzo! I'm an Eastern screech owl, and an educational ambassador for Florida Wildlife Hospital. Because of an injury that occurred when I was just a baby, I cannot be released back into the wild. In my job as an educational ambassador, I meet lots of people. I try to teach them about how they can help wildlife, and about what goes on at Florida Wildlife Hospital. This blog will be about patients at the wildlife hospital and events where my fellow ambassadors and I will be appearing. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures, and about the patients who are recovering at the wildlife hospital. Thanks for reading my blog!