- Good afternoon. Welcome to the Bloomington Rotary Club's weekly celebration on service. I'm Steve Wicks,
- and I'm honored to serve as your president this year. Please silence your electronic devices. At the
- center of each table is a thank you note. Those arrived in the mail yesterday. I think we have a packet
- with about 25 of them. No return address. I think it's a school class somewhere in the area.
- Lots of thanking us for supplies, so I assume it's something to do with Teachers Warehouse, but I got
- a real kick out of seeing those. So last week during the Mystery Rotarian, I mentioned club member Bill
- Murphy's family relation to the Wright brothers. On this day in history, September 9th, 1908, Orville
- Wright made the first flight lasting over one hour.
- He flew for 62 minutes and 15 seconds in Fort Myer, Virginia. And now Hank Myer will share his reflection.
- Hank Walter will share his reflection. Excuse me. Somehow I
- ended up with the guests and the reflection today. So I'm going to go out of order a little bit and
- want to welcome all our guests, both here and online. And as we recognize you, if you would stand up
- to be appreciated, that would be great. Ellen Strohman, Visiting Rotarian from Wisconsin is with us.
- Speaking of visiting Rotarians, Jeffrey Berger, Assistant District Governor from Evansville. A guest
- of Sandy Keller, Matt Molina, with two men in a truck. A guest of Joy Harder, Jean Schick. It wouldn't
- be a Rotary meeting without a guest of Jim Brights.
- Randy Saunders. Jemerson Ingenue from IU. And then we have three guests who are here with me. And that
- relates to what I'm going to speak about as well. Nikki Bell from the Student Involvement and Leadership
- Center in the IMU.
- Sonia Rogers from IU Public Art and Cultural Heritage. And Katie Chattin, also from IU Public Art and
- Cultural Heritage. You might, you might recognize, oh, I should, before I forget. Do we have any guests
- online? Yes. Yes, we have one guest. It's Haoxi Wing, that is a potential
- applying to be a Rotarian and is in the process. Great. Welcome, Halsey. You might have recognized Katie
- because a little over a year ago, with a little help from me, Katie presented to this group on the IMU
- Art Collection at Sally Gaskell's request. Though I might say yes to almost anything Sally asks of me,
- I'm always happy to talk about the art collection and I wanted to take today's reflection time to give
- you a brief update of some things with the collection since Katie and I last spoke to you. When I came
- here a decade ago, I believed that the art collection was one of the things that made the IMU special.
- Our collection brings art into the everyday life of the campus and exposes students, whether they come
- from rural Indiana, Gary in the region, or Delhi, or anywhere in the globe. It exposes them to art when
- they might never choose to set foot in the museum down the street. I like that the collection focuses
- on Indiana art, and I've been told that we may have the largest collection of Indiana art outside of
- the state museum.
- union board started the collection in the 1920s before this building was even built and it began with
- the purchase of several tc steels and purchases continued regularly until sometime in the 1970s and
- then for some reasons i can only speculate about regular regular purchases stopped under winston shindel
- who you all
- There were several new pieces purchased and several more that were accepted as gifts. And Winston also
- started the IMU Art Restoration Fund, which provides for the care and upkeep of the collection and has
- allowed us to reframe just about the whole collection with special plexiglass that best preserves the artwork.
- Many of you have been coming to the IMU for Rotary meetings for a decade or two or three or more. And
- you've probably noticed that the majority of our art was oil paintings of landscapes and portraits of
- old men. And since I'm rapidly approaching that description, I've got nothing against old men, but we
- don't always captivate the interest of today's college students. My son will attest to that.
- As you can imagine, budgets are tighter than ever these days, but we started a new IMU Art Fund a few
- years ago, and with the help of three small grants and a few donors, a couple of whom are in this room,
- we've been able to add 19 pieces to the collection the last few years, or we will when the last couple
- pieces arrive. All of the art has been selected by students, and the purchases have been organized by
- students on Union Board. They are picking art that speaks to them
- And as the campus population has grown more diverse in many ways, it's not a surprise that the new art
- reflects that. Our goal is to be able to add art to the collection every year. And can I say that if
- you would like to help us do that, just let me know. Three of the newest purchases are on display in
- the back of the room. Chroma by Jamie Locke is the large colorful circular piece. Wee by Amaya Mims
- is also large and colorful.
- It's the one with two hands clasping. One looks to me like a young child's hand and one an adult's.
- And then See Me by Amy Maycheck is the back of someone's head and torso. Looking at that always gets
- me thinking, is that a man or a woman? Who is that? How much do we actually just assume or fill in the
- blanks from just a little view of a person?
- But for one of our new pieces, we have the artist with us today. A few months ago, I'm sure you also
- remember when our own club member Caleb Poor presented on a public art project he had led in Bloomington.
- Caleb's public art has now extended to the IMU because the students picked out one of his works named
- Stroll for addition to the IMU collection. And Caleb has agreed to say a few words about it.
- Thank you, Hank. So I'll briefly tell you all about this piece. It's titled Strolled, and it comes from
- a series that I've been working on for a couple years called Between Us. And Between Us explores the
- themes of male bonding and male love, which often is hidden because of the social and safety risks there
- for showing it publicly. Strolled depicts a very small gesture, just
- holding someone's finger while you're on a walk together. And funnily enough, I've done that a few times
- in the union. So it feels like it's the right place for it to live. I really couldn't think of a better
- piece for them to select. And I'm very grateful to have my work on display. And it's very meaningful
- to me as an IU alumni and also my familial connection through Winston. So thank you very much.
- And Steve, I'll turn it back over to you. Thank you, Hank, and congratulations, Caleb. Rotary birthdays,
- we have a few to celebrate. Tomorrow, the 10th, Jimmy Torrey. The 11th, Vivian Bridges. Alann Barker
- and Betsy Trotsky on the 12th. And then also on the 12th, we have birthday for our oldest active club member,
- I think, Wendell St. John. We have no rotary anniversaries to celebrate this week. Announcements. So
- as many of you know, we are co-sponsoring the IU Law School's Constitution Day Luncheon program on Wednesday,
- September 17, separate event
- from our normal weekly meeting on the 16th, which we'll have upstairs in the Georgian room. So our obligation
- as a sponsor for the law school event, we need to show up, we need to eat pizza, and we need to enjoy
- the program. And it's free. What isn't free is that you'll have to pay for parking in the Henderson
- Street garage, which is only a block away. Or you can try to find something on the street.
- We have a huge club members who have a driver driver can drop you off on the north side of the building
- And then you can get down the hall up an elevator and down another hall to the meeting room So far 34
- attendees have registered most of them are members of our club If you haven't yet registered and you'd
- like to attend see me after the meeting or send me an email and I'll tell you how to register
- IU Rotorack Club has invited members of our club to join them for their meeting tonight, September 9th at 7 p.m.
- in Woodburn Hall. Peace Building Committee had scheduled a meeting for after this meeting. It's been
- delayed one week. Jonas Chang, who isn't here today, has volunteered to coordinate our club's involvement
- in the October 4th Hoosiers Outrun Cancer Event.
- And so I'm really happy Jonas is one of our newer members and very happy that he stepped up to coordinate
- that for us. I will be out of town starting tomorrow through next Tuesday. Be available much of the
- time by email and phone. Might be a little bit slower than usual to respond. Our president-elect Sam
- Udak sitting over there will run the meeting. And we still need a volunteer to introduce guests next week.
- Spirit of September being Rotary Literacy Month, Constellation's stage and screen needs volunteers to
- read scripts. They are down to 17 readers, and they'd like to have over 30. Susan Jones, the literary
- manager at Constellation, is the person to contact. And also club member Diana Hoffman, who's sitting
- right there, can also provide details. Several club members have recently
- battled COVID, it's back. So just please be careful and be cautious. Sign-up sheet is out for the next
- quarter. Ocnof Dis, Rotary Second Quarter sign-ups to do things like greet guests, volunteer. So please
- sign up if you haven't done so already. Last week, I mentioned that our technical assistant Tyler is
- job hunting. And then we talked afterwards, and some members talked to him.
- We didn't communicate what it is that he does, so I'll just give you a little bit of background of Tyler.
- Past May, Tyler completed two master's degrees, master of music and French horn, and an MA
- in arts administration from the O'Neill School. While a student at Jacobs, Tyler spent a year as assistant
- coordinator for the school's pre-college and extension program, known as Jacobs Academy. He also served
- as Professor Dale Clevenger's graduate assistant,
- served as co-chair of the school's student representative committee, a role that include full voting
- positions on the school's faculty council, as well as the academic fairness and administrative review
- committees. Tyler's currently looking for work in the nonprofit sector, preferably arts related, or
- higher education with the eventual goal of working for IU, either at Jacobs or in a campus level office.
- He's particularly interested in positions related to fundraising, operations, event management, academic
- advising, or as an administrative executive assistant. However, given the current job market, he is
- open to anything that will help him fill out his resume with transferable skills. I can tell you from
- a club standpoint, Tyler
- is quietly competent, and he does a great job for us, and I think he would do a good job for his next
- employer. So keep Tyler in mind. So now it's time for the Mystery Rotarium. Tyler so enjoyed the last
- segment that he was kind of lost focus.
- OK. So Monroe County native, this Rotarian earned an IUBA in English, studio art, and art history before
- going to work for the IU credit union. You know the answer? Put up your hand. OK. If you're online,
- electronically put up your hand, but don't shout anything out. OK.
- Next clue, a Paul Harris fellow, this Rotarian has served our club in various roles, including treasurer
- and point person for the annual future cast. If you know, put up your hand. Third clue, this Rotarian
- was just named interim director for the IU Center for Rural Engagement.
- Yeah, we have a whole lot more. And it's Kyla Cox-Dekard. So Kyla is one of several members whose spouse
- is also a club member. Kyla and Trent occasionally bring their daughter Lucy to club meetings. It's
- always a welcome addition.
- has been very active in the community, recently serving as President, Treasurer of the Community Kitchen
- of Monroe County, Board Member of the Community Foundation, and President of the City of Bloomington
- Board of Public Works. So thank you, Kyla. So I think I saw Diana Hoffman and Jim Cachu put up their
- hands at the same time. Did you both get it right?
- OK, excellent. And did anyone get it online? Maybe they've tuned out. Rotary International, this is
- Basic Education and Literacy Month. Tyler's going to cue up a short video for us.
- Education is a bridge to opportunity. That's why Rotary remains committed to ensuring inclusive, quality
- education for all. From cutting dropout rates, to supporting literacy programs, to empowering teachers,
- Rotary's initiatives build bright futures and create lasting change. Learn more, find your cause, and
- take action at Rotary.org.
- And we have a minute or two for happy dollars. Let's start online. Do we have anyone who's happy about
- anything today? If anybody wants to do happy dollars, go ahead and unmute yourself.
- I have 10 happy dollars, actually 20 happy dollars because I visited with Charlotte and she is looking
- good, sounding good, and so excited to see her doing well. I'm giving $20 in honor of my husband.
- You mentioned earlier about this being an anniversary relating to the Ripeweathers. And he has completed
- building a plane, a four passenger plane, has completed all his flying restrictions and can take anybody
- anywhere. So it was a very, very long process. Really proud of him.
- Yes. Um, I'd like to, uh, give $30 happy dollars because happily I have been at IU working at IU for
- 30 years. Uh, 20 bucks for it's been a while and had a lot happen since turned 40 10th wedding anniversary
- trip to Africa and seven year old. Now I was president when he was
- Brand new. So seven years now. So glad to be back. OK. Art Omec will introduce our speaker today.
- need to get to the mic. I grew up with a father who was hard of hearing, so I could project my voice
- through this room without a mic. I would like to extend a heartfelt rotary welcome to Lola Nicholson,
- the CEO and owner of Raptors Rise Rehabilitation. Lola retired from a career as an officer in law enforcement
- in 2020. Law enforcement. Lola, did you write me a speeding ticket in Bedford a few years ago? That
- wasn't you? OK. Where was I?
- Hadn't retired, she wanted to continue to serve her community. Helping animals in need has always been
- her passion. Therefore, operating a rehabilitation center was a perfect fit. After four years of being
- an apprentice at another rehabilitation center, Lola decided to open her own facility in Lawrence County.
- Here, they are today averaging 125 birds yearly, with an amazing release rate of 80 to 85%. They are
- extremely proud of the fine work they do,
- and all of her funding is purely by donations. Please welcome Lola Richardson. Hello, and thank you
- for having us today. I brought my husband, Rick, and he is going to be my Van of White today, and he's
- going to be showing the birds to you. He doesn't actually call himself my husband anymore. He calls
- himself my wingman.
- He is a dad and you can tell it. So like Art said, we have opened our own facility and we've done pretty
- well, averaging 125 birds a year. And our release rate is phenomenal. It doesn't look like it's gonna
- be quite as phenomenal this year. We've had really a rough late summer and
- early fall we've lost a lot of birds they sometimes we just can't save them they come in you know busted
- up so bad we can't fix them but we try very hard we have taken care of 97 birds thus this far in the
- year and we've brought a couple for you to see today we brought little ones because sometimes the big
- ones get pretty rowdy we have everything from a six ounce screech owl up to a 17 pound
- bald eagle. So right now we have 17 birds at the facility that we are caring for. Seven of those are
- our educational ambassadors and three of those are foster parents who when we get baby chicks of their
- species they will raise those babies and we are able to release them. So that is our goal is release.
- Our motto is
- rescue, rehabilitate, and release. So we try our hardest to get those birds back out there where they
- belong. I kind of lost my train of thought, sorry. We have these two birds today. One is an American
- Kestrel and the other is a Eastern Screech Owl.
- And these are both non-releasable birds. And that's the only kind of bird that we will keep as an education
- bird is something that's non-releasable. So that just means that it came to us as a wild bird and its
- injury or its story is preventing it from surviving in the wild.
- So we are licensed through the Federal Fish and Wildlife and through Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
- We have very strict rules that we have to follow on birds that we are allowed to present to the public
- and birds that are we allowed to keep as educational ambassadors. So this bird is Amelia, and she's
- an American Kestrel. She has a very unique story. She is six years old now.
- She was brought to us by a veterinarian, and she was a tiny little chick. Actually, she was still white
- and fuzzy when she came to us. So her story is that someone had found her in the wild and thought it
- would be very cool to keep her as a pet. Highly illegal in Indiana. Wild animals deserve to be wild
- animals. Domestic animals are for people.
- They kept her as a pet and they did some online research that said that she is a bird of prey. Bird
- of prey only eat meat. They will not eat birdseed or any grasses or anything like that. They only eat
- meat. So when they found that out, they went to the refrigerator to get her something to eat and they
- fed her hot dogs and bologna. Yes.
- So we all know how bad processed food is for humans. So now you can only imagine how bad it is for birds
- of prey or any wild animal. So they had her for a few weeks, and they continued to feed her hot dogs
- and baloney. And she began to decline. And she got sicker and sicker until they took her to a veterinarian
- because they thought she was going to pass. And the veterinarian, of course, said, do you have a license
- for this bird?
- And they said, no, we don't. So the veterinarian said, I'm sorry that we can't release this bird back
- to you. So then the veterinarian called us and said, we have this little kestrel chick. We don't really
- know if she's going to survive or not. But if you would like a chance to take her and get her healthy
- again, you're welcome to. And so of course, we jumped on that opportunity. We jump on every opportunity.
- So we did pick her up.
- And she was actually so sick that her feathers were just starting to come in. Her adult feathers were
- just starting to come in. But when you would touch her, her feathers would break off. So it took us
- about two complete full years with the proper diet to get her healthy again. So what had happened to
- this bird is when you are a baby bird, chickens and ducks and turkeys, all baby birds do this, they imprint.
- So whoever feeds you becomes your parent. So since this little bird had been fed by people almost her
- whole life, she imprinted, she doesn't know that she's a bird. She thinks she's a human or else she
- thinks we're all birds. I'm not sure which one, but anyhow, she has no communication skills with other
- birds because she didn't have bird parents to teach her. And she has no hunting skills.
- So it is illegal in Indiana to release a bird of prey that is imprinted because we know that they will
- not survive. So she is ours until she expires, which is probably about 25 years and she's six years
- old now. So our children are probably going to inherit this bird, which they're not happy about.
- but she lives in a big parrot cage in our house. So we have other imprinted birds that actually live
- outside, but they had some time to be outside before they were captured and put in the house, and they
- didn't get acclimated to being in the house. Basically, Amelia only knows that she's
- been in the house. So she stays in our house. She's allowed to free fly. We opened her cage door and
- she free flies around our house for about four or five hours a day. And when she's had enough, she'll
- fly back into her cage and put herself up. So the only problem with that, well, actually there's two
- problems with that. The first problem is, is she takes a bath every day in the dog's water bowl. The
- dog is not impressed at all.
- So we have that problem. And the other problem is she sometimes will perch on the curtain rods. And
- since she is still a wild animal, she does not have very good manners. So we do not have nice drapes
- at our house. We have washable drapes at our house. So in the wild, she is a fantastic bird to have
- around her property.
- And these birds are found all across the lower 48 states in the United States. But in the wild, she
- would have five babies every year, and she would be catching mice like crazy, five to six mice every
- single day. So here's something really cool to think about that we as humans just don't think about.
- One bass will cost a farmer $125 a year in waste because they ruin bags of feed and they eat the crops
- and they eat the corn. And so it costs a farmer $125 a year. Well, Amelia over there would eat six mice
- a day and her five children,
- would eat five or six mice a day. So just Amelia and her children would save a farmer $750 a year. That's
- a lot. And not only does it cost that farmer that much, but do you know who makes up that difference?
- We do. So birds of prey are very important to have around. So they also are important to have around
- because they keep the mice in check so we don't have them in our homes.
- They catch little snakes, which a lot of people are objective to. So they're very important birds. Now,
- unfortunately, all the birds in the United States are in decline. So we work very hard to get these
- kestrels back out there where they belong. We actually had 21 kestrel babies this year. So only two
- of them were siblings. The others were singles that had fallen out of the nest.
- They come to us as little chicks not able to fly yet. They just doodle around and fall out of the nest
- somehow. So they come to us. We have to hand feed them with tweezers. And then once they are big enough
- to feed themselves,
- We will offer them food and they'll eat on their own. Then we will place them outside in a big mew or
- a big pen with a foster parent. And then that foster parent will continue to raise that bird and teach
- it things like communication, bird behaviors like preening their feathers to keep them clean. And then
- the foster parent and help from us will teach the bird to hunt.
- And so once they're strong hunters, then we are able to release those back into the wild where they
- belong. So we got quite a few of them back out this year and it was a good thing. So Amelia weighs a
- big 10 ounces. She is a female and the male looks pretty much like her except where she's a little gray
- on the head. The male is blue and he has blue on his wings. They're stunning birds. They're actually
- from the falcon family.
- And they can actually hover like a hummingbird. And I'm sure everyone's heard of the peregrine falcon,
- the fastest animal on earth. Well, she's a cousin. So the peregrine can dive at 270 miles per hour.
- Amelia can dive at 200 miles an hour. Pretty impressive for such a little bird. OK, Rick, you want to
- get the other one out now? Thank you. So while he's doing that,
- About 90% of the birds that we treat are all human-related injuries. So very rarely do we actually get
- a sick bird. And if we do, we're usually not able to save it. So birds have to stay pretty healthy on
- their own. But we're happy to help them recover from human injuries. Car strikes are our number one
- reason we have birds, probably
- 65 or 70% of the birds we get are car strikes, and they'll come in with broken wings or broken legs
- or concussions. We usually do pretty well with getting those guys back out. I'm trying to think of what
- else. We are, like Art said, we are a nonprofit. We don't get any help from the government. They bring
- us birds, but they don't help us pay for them, which is okay. So far this year, we have used about
- $15,000 in mice. We purchase our mice from a company in Indianapolis that ships them in from China for
- zoos and things like that. And that's the main diet for most of our birds, our mice. The bigger birds
- like the eagles and the great horned owls, they'll eat rats. We do butcher venison and feed a lot of
- venison because we try to keep their diets as natural as we can. It's just for the overall health of them.
- So this is Sparky. Sparky is an Eastern screech owl. Sparky is full grown. We do not know how old Sparky
- is. Sparky is a female. We do know that. But Sparky has a very unique story too. Sparky came to us about
- three weeks ago with both of her eyes swollen shut and unable to fly.
- So the person that called us to help take care of Sparky and brought a Sparky said, I just found her
- in the grass. I don't know what's happened to her. And when I got to examining her to try to help her,
- I thought, boy, this bird's got two infected eyes. This is so odd. I've had him with one, one infected
- eye before, but never two.
- So I got to thinking about it, and this little bird came from Medora, Indiana, which is down by the
- river, and it's all flat farmland, and they grow crops in those fields all the time. So I called the
- finder back, and I said, hey, any chance they've done any crop dusting around there? And maybe this
- bird got into some kind of chemical? And he said, no, I don't think so. He said, I don't recall it.
- And I said, OK. And I said, well.
- It would really help me if I knew what was going on with this bird because then I would know how to
- treat it. So I was going to treat it for eye infection with antibiotics and lots of cleaning. But the
- next day, that guy called me back and he said, I'm really embarrassed to tell you. And I said, what's
- going on? And he said, I was spraying an herbicide at my farm to kill some tall weeds.
- And this bird must have gotten into it. And I said, you know, it happens. It happens. We don't use herbicides
- at our farm, but it happens. Other people do. But that told me how to treat this little bird. So he
- didn't need antibiotics. He needed his eyes flushed and flushed and flushed. And then he needed some
- soothing ointment in his eyes because his eyes were burned. And it not only affected him in his eyes,
- it infected him neurologically.
- So that's why he couldn't fly. So she, she is starting to fly a little bit now and I'm not sure if she
- will be able to be released before winter because right now she is not a strong hunter, but she is starting
- to fly. So our hope is she will continue to get strong and the neurological problems will clear themselves
- up and we'll be able to, to release her back where she belongs. She probably has a family.
- Most of the birds of prey will mate for life. If they don't mate for life, they usually live in family
- units. So Sparky, being a female, probably has a family unit that includes some of her babies.
- So what happens when birds of prey have babies is they'll let them hang around in the same area with
- them until they nest the next year. And then they have new chicks. So before those eggs are hatched,
- the mom and the dad will push the older chicks out just a little farther away from the nest, which makes
- room for the new chicks so they can get up and learn to fly. So she weighs a big six ounces.
- She eats one mouse every day in captivity because she's not flying and we don't want to get her overweight
- or she'll have trouble flying. But in the wild she would eat two, maybe three mice every day. So she's
- another great bird to have around. And she too would have anywhere from three to five babies every year.
- So screech apps come into two different colors. This is the red morph and they have a gray morph which
- mimics tree bark just perfectly. So that's part of their camouflage. So right now at our facility, we
- have two bald eagles, one adult and one juvenile. We've got several red-tailed hawks. We have a barn
- owl. We have another screech owl that looks just like Sparky.
- And we have two great horned owls. One's an education bird and one is a foster parent. And we have a
- barred owl. And he's a little male. And he raised 15 chicks this year on his own without a female to
- help. And every day when I would bring another bird to that poor fella, you could just see his face
- and he would be like, oh, lady, what are you doing to me?
- But he successfully raised all 15 of them. They were great hunters, and we've been able to release every
- one of those. So we don't have any babies left from this season. We were able to release all of those.
- And we're just really happy that we can do that.
- We've actually been taking in some birds from another facility that does not have the foster parents,
- and they pay us to take care of their babies. So they pay for the food so it doesn't come out of our
- budget. So that works really well. There's not a whole lot of us rehabbers, not for birds of prey.
- I know here in Bloomington, you've got a couple of good rehab facilities, pipsqueakery and wild care
- that do mammals, but they don't do birds of prey. So they send their birds of prey to us, which we're
- happy to help. And we collaborate pretty good together, and we're all glad to help each other. So is
- it time for questions and answers? Art?
- Yes, yes. So Art has a friend, a mutual friend with us, and his name is Frank Meadows, and he found
- a juvenile bald eagle in his mother's driveway. And it had been struck by a car, and it had an injury,
- a coracoid, which is like our
- Shoulder bone here, breast bone, collarbone. That's what I'm thinking, collarbone. Birds probably don't
- have collarbones. They have coracoids. But anyhow, it was injured and it had a concussion and we were
- able to take it and heal it. And then we were able to take it back to the farm where it was found and
- release it. I've got an idea for you. Say you need it for rats. Why not call the mayor of New York or
- something? I mean,
- They've got a lot of them. They're probably getting them for free. Yes, ma'am. Come get one from here.
- Have you noticed any changes in bird health over the years related maybe to climate or urban development?
- Not so much bird health, but bird behaviors. So we're finding some birds are having two clutches
- of chicks where they used to only have one. Sometimes they're nesting, not in their normal time period.
- Virge of prey only nest in the spring. So we've been taught, but now sometimes we're finding, we're
- finding they'll nest again in the fall. And used to there was specific times, like we knew eagles were
- going to be born in February. Now sometimes they're born in March.
- or April. So yeah, bird behaviors are really starting to change and their migration pattern is changing
- as well. The red-tailed hawks, the females will travel from Indiana. They will travel to South America.
- The males stay here and protect the territory, but now we're finding that more of the females are staying
- too. So that's climate change because of the weather and the temperatures. Yeah.
- Are your mice dead or alive? And are they white mice or like laboratory mice or wild mice? Good question.
- So the mice we buy are frozen. So we have to follow them to feed and the same thing with the rats and
- they are all white. So when we are feeding
- birds that are not babies, we feed them white mice. The babies we feed colored mice. And the reason
- we do that is so then when we release them, they're not out in the field looking for white mice. They're
- looking for natural colored mice. So those colored mice we raise ourselves, but it's really hard to
- keep up with it.
- They eat so many. And a lot of people have said to us, well, wouldn't it save you a lot of money if
- you didn't have to buy mice? Yes. I cannot keep up with raising that many. When you think about, well,
- even Millie, she eats two mice a day. And Sparky eats one mouse a day. But like the owls, a great horned
- owl eats seven or eight if it doesn't eat a rat. And a barn owl eats five every day.
- And our red-shoulder hawk, she eats five every day. So it just takes a lot. I can't keep up with it.
- But, yeah, good question. Hey, thanks for being with us today. I'm curious how did you get into this?
- How did you learn it? How did you get trained, you know, and all? It's clearly an intensive skill, so
- I'm curious how that happened for you. Okay. I was in law enforcement, but I was the animal control officer.
- So I only dealt with animals and I did not write artist speeding ticket. But one day I got a call that
- there was a red-tailed hawk that had been struck by a car and it was in the highway and it was still
- alive. So I went and picked it up and then I was like, what do I do now? And it's not something that's
- readily available, puppies and kittens.
- Piece of cake. But what am I going to do with this red tail hawk? So I did some research and I found
- that there was a rehabilitation center in Brown County. And so I took that bird over there and I just
- simply fell in love with these birds of prey. They're so intelligent and they're just fun. So I started
- volunteering for them and I volunteered for four years and apprenticed at the same time. And I was doing
- a lot of transport. So they'd get a call of a bird that was down that needed transport to the facility.
- So I was doing that.
- And then I just decided, you know, we could use, we're from Lawrence County. So I said, we could just
- use one in Lawrence County. So that was 10 years ago. And in that 10 years, there was a state facility
- called Hardy Lake down towards Scottsburg. And so they took care of a lot of those birds down there,
- but they have since closed their facility. And so now we are the closest one.
- from the Ohio River to Lawrence County. So that's a lot of transporting. So my husband Rick and I, we
- don't do this on our own. We have volunteers that help. We have a girl from college that's apprenticing
- with us. She's from Jasper, and she's wanting to open her facility. So two years from now, and when
- she gets her apprenticeship done, which is a requirement, then maybe she'll be able to open her facility
- too. So yeah, good question.
- How much of a problem do you have with birds coming in that have been poisoned by people poisoning the
- mice? It happens. It happens. I don't know if everybody knows this or not, but when you put rat poison
- out or mouse poison out, and the mouse eats it, but he doesn't die immediately, and he crawls back outside,
- and then an owl swoops down and gets him and eats him, the owl will die as well.
- they've ate something that is poison, there's no saving them. Once we figure out what's going on with
- them, we'll euthanize them immediately because it's horrible. Yeah. So, yeah, get an owl. Don't get
- it, don't poison. Thank you so much for your service and for what you're doing for all the birds and
- thanks for bringing those birds in for us to look at up close.
- I was wondering how do you figure out how to release and where to release the birds? And are you looking
- for places to release the birds? We are always looking for places to release the bird. Our goal is to
- always take the bird back where it came from because they do live in family units. There are some exceptions
- that we don't take them back. This year we had three baby hawks come in. Two of those came from a nest
- right next to the interstate.
- and their parent had been hit by a car and killed, so we did not release those birds there. The other
- one came from a city park in Terre Haute, and the park was overran with feral cats. I said, no.
- So we do release a few at our farm. We don't want to overload it. So yes, we're always looking for properties
- to release safe properties. We work a lot with Sycamore Land Trust because their properties are protected
- and good and safe. And so we do release a lot there as well. Thank you. So how big is your farm? And
- then also, do you use veterinary services? We do. Our farm is 30 acres. It used to
- have cattle and horses and things on it. Since we're older, we don't do that anymore. The kids have
- grown up and moved away, so we don't have to do horses anymore. And what was the other part? Oh, the
- veterinarian. We use a veterinarian in Franklin, Indiana. So it's pretty good drive. It's about an hour
- and 45 minutes from where we're located. We are required by Department of Fish and Wildlife to use a
- veterinarian who is licensed to
- to treat wildlife. Right now, I only know two in the state. One's in Franklin, the other one
- is in Evansville, and he is not taking any patients because he's ready to retire. So yeah, it's a problem.
- Thank you so much for this presentation. I grew up in a house where we had seven birds flying around
- at all times, dogs and cats. And I'm wondering, I've already fallen in love with these two birds. Isn't
- it just heartbreaking for you both to release them? It can be bittersweet. It can be bittersweet. I
- try not to get attached to them, but some of them that we keep for a long time to get healed.
- you get attached to them. You really do. And what people don't realize, and I never realized it either,
- is every bird has its individual personality. So you'll get nice birds, you'll get hateful old ladies,
- you'll get, you know, just some birds that will not room with other birds. They're just like, no, you know,
- This is my place. Find somebody else to put this bird with. But yeah, all different personalities. So
- it is really fun. We were talking about the eagle that Frank brought us. He was very talkative. I can
- talk to that bird and he would grunt and growl and make noises back at me. Like, just like he knew what
- I was saying. It was, it was really fun. So, and you know, when you get a really super nice bird, you
- can spend a little bit of time with it without
- getting it too tame because that's another problem that we have. If we get them where they're not afraid
- of humans and then we release them, then it could be a problem. So you can be at the city park having
- a picnic with your fried chicken and a red-tailed hawk land in the middle of your table and take your
- chicken away from them. So we have to be careful what we do, but it's really hard. And especially the
- babies when they come in all white and fuzzy and they're missing their mom and they'll cuddle up with you.
- we can only do that for about two or three days, and then we have to put them back and let them be wild
- animals. Thank you again for being with us today. I'm intrigued with the concept of fostering and imprinting.
- They're just interesting to me, but how do you avoid from imprinting the bird so they'll be able to
- be released? Is there a method? There's really not a method. You'll see pictures sometimes of
- people in zoos with puppets feeding the birds and that kind of thing. We've not had to do that. We just,
- and this is really hard for the volunteers. It's really hard for me too, but it's really hard for the
- volunteers to help us. Those birds are adorable when they're babies, but we coochie coo them for about
- two or three days and then we leave them alone and we just let them be wild. And so then when we're
- feeding, we don't talk to them. We don't,
- stroke their little heads, we don't do any of that, and then we'll put them where they belong and we'll
- just walk off and leave them. That's the only thing that we can do. Ten years, we've never imprinted
- a bird, so it's working. The fostering, it's amazing. It is amazing because if we did not have those
- fosters, there's a chance that those birds could imprint. But more importantly, they teach them communication.
- So let's say the great horned owls, for example, if we raise one, and we can, we can raise them, we
- can teach them to hunt, flying comes naturally, and we can release them. But we're doing the birds an
- injustice if we don't teach them their communication skills, because if it's wild and it hears another
- great horned owl say, oh my goodness, there's a bobcat coming, be careful, that bird we released doesn't
- know what that means.
- So that's an injustice. So by raising them with an adult foster parent, that foster parent can teach
- them those communication skills that they need and simple things like preening. I mean, birds of prey
- will bathe every day. They're incredibly clean. And then they'll, they'll take those beaks and they'll
- stroke their feathers. And that's called preening. It's just cleaning the feathers and keeping their
- feathers in good shape. We as humans can't teach them to do that.
- So there again, you're releasing a bird and you're handicapping it by not teaching it all the things
- it needs to survive. Falcons innate to Indiana? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Falcons innate to Indiana?
- Falcons are found across the United States. We don't get a lot of Falcons.
- Um, the Kestrels we get a lot where they are in the Falcon family, but like the Paragon Falcons, we've
- only had one in 10 years. Um, the Merlins are Falcons. We've only had two or three of those. So yeah,
- we don't know. We just don't get very many of those. Now the Paragon Falcons, um, there was only 16
- known nests in the whole state of Indiana. So we had a baby come in this year.
- It's the first one in 10 years, and we were able to patch it up and send it back, and we only had to
- have it a couple of days. It was when the weather was like over 100 degrees, and it had stood on a metal
- rod on a tower, and it burned the bottom of its feet.
- So then it was stuck on the ground. It couldn't learn to fly or anything. So we healed its feet up really
- quick. And we just had it a few days. And we took it back to where its parents were. And its parents
- came back and claimed it and finished raising it and teaching it to hunt. Yeah, it was good. It was
- really good. I'm curious. When you got a wild one in and you go to feed it like a rat or mouse,
- since they're dead or they're frozen, do you have to kind of move it so it looks like it's a live prey
- or something? We'll just offer it to them first, just lay it in the cage with them. And if they don't
- eat, eventually we will have to force feed them to get them going again. Sometimes when they have a
- head injury, like a concussion, it just kind of knocks them silly and they forget to eat. So once we
- start feeding them again, then they'll pick up and continue on.
- If you find an injured prey, bird of prey, how do you handle it to bring it to you? Actually, it's very
- easy. People, people really think it's hard, but it's really not. Um, all birds of prey can bite. They
- rarely do, but it's those talons on those feet that will get you. So we just tell people, put a pair
- of heavy gloves on, take a towel or a blanket and just throw it over the bird.
- and just scoop it up and put it in a cardboard box or a tote or a dog crate and bring it to us. We have
- lots and lots of older people do it, but then sometimes we'll get a young man and he'll say, huh, I'm
- not touching that thing. Sometimes I have to shame them into it. I was like, you know, I had an 80 year
- old lady last week. And so they'll go, okay. And then they'll catch it and bring it to us. How do you
- tell that, um,
- A bird is going to be a good candidate to be a foster parent. We just work with it and it's based on
- their personality and it's based on their nature. Some of the falcons and some of the hawks are just
- so nervous and high strung that it's just not a good fit.
- There's a card on your table with our Facebook on the bottom of it. We do have a Facebook page. It belongs
- to the birds. Any birds that come in, we will post their picture and their treatment and hopefully their
- release. And it also lists all of the fundraising events that we do. So we've got a really cool stained glass
- project coming up. I think it's the 20th of September. But yeah, it's on our page. And we do lots and
- lots of fundraising. So we will hang around after the meeting if you guys have more questions or you
- want to see the birds up close. But thank you so very much for having us. Thank you. Thank you. I'm
- so happy you're able to release so many birds back into the wild.
- And honor your talk, the donation we made this quarter to off-night productions. Yesterday headline,
- I think close to 49,000 students, a new record here at the IU Bloomington campus. I think I saw all
- 49,000 driving in today. So just remember for parking, besides the two IMU parking lots, you can park
- in the Atwater or Henderson Street garages. If you want more information about that, please ask.
- I'd like to thank our volunteers for today's program, Michael Shermas. And I want to single out Michael.
- He, during the session when the birds were being taken around, Michael followed so that the people on
- Zoom could see the birds. So thank you, Michael. Hank Walter, Art Onick, Leslie Katsenko, Glenda Murray,
- Jeff Richardson, Sarah Loughlin, Judy Schroeder.
- Our next meeting will be on September 16th in the Georgian Room. Katarina Koch will be speaking to us
- about the Lotus Festival. I'll be traveling that day, so Sam Udak will lead our efforts. And Tyler,
- if you could please share the graphic for the four-way test. And please stand if you're able and join me.
- of the things we think, say, or do. First, is it the truth? Second, is it fair to all concerned? Third,
- will it build goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned? And fifth,
- is it fun?