The Science Mouse

by The Science Mouse

On April 9, 2009, I had the opportunity to interview Janice who works at the Pioneers Park Nature Center about birds.  The Chet Ager building has a large viewing window with a large bird feeding station set up to watch birds.  They also have some injured birds to see, including a barn owl and a bald eagle.

What kinds of birds do you mostly see?

We have lots of finches:  yellow gold finches and red house finches.  Of course we have cardinals and blue jays.

What is your favorite bird that you see here?

My favorite bird is the carolina wren.

How did you first get interested in birds?

When I was a kid, I just noticed that all the birds looked different and I was curious.  Then when I got to be a grown up, I wanted to work at a nature center.

What is the rarest or most interesting bird you have seen here?

Actually, the most interesting bird I’ve seen here I saw today out on the water.  It is called a wood duck.  It is so beautiful.  I’m going to show you a picture.

What are the challenges birds face in the spring?

Birds face a lot of challenges when they are migrating because of power lines and things people have built.  Sometimes there are so many buildings and concrete that they don’t have a place to stop and rest.  Birds have a lot of challenges, especially when they are migrating.  Also in the spring, they’re trying to find a good place to nest and the only problem is for a lot of birds is that there isn’t a lot of habitat.  Of course they need good habitat to make their nest.

What can people do to help?

You can help by putting out bird feeders, by putting out water in the winter when the rest of the water is frozen.  You can also recycle.  That keeps junk out of the landfills that takes up space.  You can even leave string and yarn around for birds to put into their nests.  You can go to your city or town council meetings to be sure there are still safe places for birds to live.

What is wrong with your eagle that it can’t go back in the wild?

Our goal here is to help animals get better.  They’re not pets, they are wild animals, and we want to put them back in the wild, back into their natural habitats.  The eage I believe was hit by a car and the damage to the wing was so extreme that a veterinarian had to amputate part of her wing.

We had to get a special permit from the government to even have an eagle.  It is illegal to keep a raptor–eagles, owlsm hawks, falcons–and also you can’t keep song birds.  You have to have a special permit.  So it has been kind of neat to have Hallie the eagle.  We’ve gotten to learn a lot about her and it has been nice to be able to help take care of her.  Her injury is so extreme she won’t be able to be released so we’re trying to make her comfortable.

Thank you!