Wildlife

600 x 400 Baby Barn Owl

You’re invited to a wildlife baby shower and fundraiser

Support the Wildlife Department through spring baby season

You’re invited to a wildlife baby shower happening Sunday, February 25, from 12-4PM. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from CNC’s wildlife technicians what to do should you find baby birds or other baby animals. Ticketing and member reservations will open on January 24. 

Did you know spring is the perfect time of year for baby animals? While they may be cute in their first weeks, a lot goes into caring for them, as CNC’s wildlife rehabilitators can tell you.

Come learn all about CNC’s efforts to help injured wildlife as we celebrate a wildlife baby shower. The wildlife team relies heavily on donations to do their work and provide care for the animals. Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitators cannot accept payment for their services; therefore, without the help of the community, CNC will not be able to support all the baby animals who come to us this year. Northside Hospital will match all donations to the Wildlife Department during the month of February, up to $5,000.

Spring brings buds, blooms, and rains, and lots of calls to the Wildlife Department at CNC about baby animals. While CNC is licensed and trained only for raptors, reptiles, and amphibians, the Wildlife Department responds to over 150 requests each month in spring regarding wildlife babies of all species. Almost 300 animals less than one year of age were accepted for care at CNC, while the others were referred to rehabbers of those species if necessary. Generally, it costs about 3 times as much to rehab a juvenile than an adult mostly because they eat so much more food. Overall, CNC takes in over 700 injured animals each year.

This day is a great opportunity to meet wildlife technicians and learn about what they do as well as get up close to some amazing animals. Learn from professionals what to do when you find a baby animal. CNC will have unique wildlife walks with specialists dishing all the best stories about our rehabilitated animals, community partners, and fun games for the whole family to learn about their favorite baby animals.

But what’s so special about spring for baby wild animals?

Wildlife Director Kathryn Dudeck lays it all out: “With warmer weather approaching, plants are beginning to sprout and bud, which is delicious food for several smaller animals, such as rabbits, chipmunks, and songbirds. An ample food supply signals that it is suitable conditions to have offspring. With smaller animals being born, predatory species such as raptors coincide their breeding seasons.”

For instance, Eastern cottontail rabbits typically breed from February–September, and Great Horned Owls (a main predator of rabbits) often lay eggs in January so that there will be ample prey to feed their young.

Caring for young animals can be tricky as well, Dudeck said. Reptiles can be easy; from hatching, the species native to north Georgia are self-sufficient and don’t need a parent. This does not stop people from finding hatchling turtles and, thinking they have been orphaned, bringing them in for rehabilitation. They’re OK! Leave them be!

Raptors are a different story entirely. Two of the primary reasons CNC sees young birds of prey are because of nest loss, due to storms or human interaction, and being clumsy teenagers, Dudeck said.

Yes, even raptors go through an awkward phase.

“Once raptors start to grow their adult feathers, they are too large for the nest,” Dudeck said. “At approximately 6-8 weeks old, they start perching on the branches around the nest and then start building up their flight muscles by jumping from branch to branch. Occasionally, they miss a landing and are found uninjured on the ground.”

Unfortunately, raptors require more care than reptiles. For starters, depending on the age they may need feeding every couple of hours or their food must be specially prepared.

Because they can imprint on another creature (like humans), wildlife technicians at CNC wear a ghillie suit to disguise themselves and play recorded food-begging calls. Since vultures have an acute sense of smell, feathers from our resident vultures can be placed around the baby to give off the right smells.

Whenever possible, CNC will attempt to reunite the youngster with its parents if it is uninjured. If that is not possible, our non-releasable resident birds will sometimes become temporary foster parents.

If you come across a baby animal this spring, here are some tips to help:

1) Observe from a distance to look for the parents. They may be out hunting!

2) If no parents are seen, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Some species leave their young for hours at a time. Do not try to capture the animal or offer it food. Even babies can carry diseases, and the wrong food can kill them.

3) Contact Animal Help Now (ahnow.org) to find your local rehabilitator for instructions on how best to proceed.

How can you help?

Attend the wildlife baby shower on Sunday, February 25. Ticket and member reservations will open on January 24. Watch the calendar entry or the weekly eNews for details!

Bring in an item from the wish list below! You can drop it off any time in the Discovery Center or bring it with you to the baby shower.

Make a donation to the wildlife department. Northside Hospital will match up to $5,000 in donations!

Learn more about the CNC Wildlife Department and the rehabilitation support they provide to raptors, reptiles, and amphibians.

Thank you in advance for all of your support and we look forward to seeing you at the Wildlife Baby Shower!

Partners:

Gina Gallois
Primarily ‘Possums
Wild Nest Bird Rehab
Georgia Wildlife Network
Georgia Department of Natural Resources – Urban Wildlife

Amazon Wish List

Other Wish List items:

Perfume and dye-free laundry detergent (laundry sheets or powder preferred to minimize plastic)
Reptibark substrate
36” cable/zip ties
Zep heavy-duty spray bottles
Amazon gift cards
PetSmart and Petco gift cards
Kroger and Publix gift cards
Home Depot gift cards

Gift certificates to our food vendors:

RodentPro: Mazuri: American Rodent Supply www.americanrodent.com
Armstrong’s Cricket Farm: 

600 x 400 Vulture

There’s No Place Like Home: Vulture Aviary Complete

Special Thanks to The Imlay Foundation

ROSWELL, GA – The Chattahoochee Nature Center is proud to announce the long-awaited completion of the vulture aviary. The previous aviary was over 20 years old, and for the safety of the birds, including protection from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), they have been off exhibit since August 2022.

Through the generosity of The Imlay Foundation, Barbara & Ed Taylor in honor of Claire Mills, the Choate Bridges Foundation, and many other special donations, the money was secured to rebuild the enclosure. The Turkey Vulture, who arrived in 1989 with wing damage, and the Black Vulture, who arrived in 2006 after being raised illegally as a pet, have been returned now that the finishing touches are complete.

On an annual basis, CNC receives over 700 rehabilitation cases and 3,500 inquiries about wildlife. The on-site staff and department volunteers work tirelessly to help the injured animals and return them to the wild, if possible. They receive no federal or state funds for their work and cannot charge a fee for their services as wildlife rehabilitators. However, donations are gladly accepted.

“Thanks to several generous donors and The Imlay Foundation, we received funding for the vulture aviary to be rebuilt,” says Wildlife Director Kathryn Dudeck. “This was especially timely because our resident non-releasable vultures are currently housed in caging, which we need for rehabilitation. With the busy season upon us, we need to get them back on exhibit soon.” She notes that Wildlife still requires funds to rebuild the Red-shouldered Hawk aviary and that “While they are off exhibit, they can be housed in a smaller enclosure than the vultures so we will not temporarily lose the federally required 100’ flight cage that allows us to rehabilitate eagles, vultures, and ospreys.”

For more information on the Wildlife Department, visit https://www.chattnaturecenter.org/visit/experience/wildlife/

 

Vulture Aviary Before
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redtailedhawk

Community Partner Support from Cobb EMC

Partnership supports resident Red-tailed Hawks and Environmental Education Programming

When it comes to the Chattahoochee Nature Center’s (CNC) Wildlife Department, the saying “it takes a village” could not be truer. Each year, CNC rehabilitates over 375 native Georgia birds of prey. These raptors come to the Center most often because of human contact – hit by a car, shot, or sickened by eating a rat that has been poisoned. CNC does not receive state or federal funding and annual costs are close to $30,000 to feed these birds. As a result, CNC seeks private funding and looks to the community for support to provide this service.

Today, Chattahoochee Nature Center is celebrating one of our outstanding community partners, Cobb EMC. For the past 3 years, Cobb EMC has sponsored the care of our resident Red-Tailed Hawks as well as provided local students with the opportunity to experience hands-on, outdoor, environmental education programs at CNC. 

Mark Justice, Director, Education & Community Relations with Cobb EMC shared, “Cobb EMC’s commitment to our members includes a focus on the environment. We are honored to partner with CNC because of their unwavering dedication to wildlife and conservation education.”

CNC’s Wildlife Department treats and rehabilitates more than 750 animals each year, returning approximately 63% of raptors and 95% of reptiles of those surviving the first 24 hours back to the wild.  Since its inception in 2016, CNC’s wildlife clinic has treated more than 2000 raptors providing world-class treatment. CNC receives no state or federal funding for wildlife rehabilitation. We could not provide this service without the community partners such as Cobb EMC that care about our environment and the habitat of our animals.

“Humans are directly and indirectly responsible for nearly all the raptors we treat and care for. We feel it is our moral and ethical obligation to care for them” said Kathryn Dudeck, Wildlife Director at CNC.  Raptors most often sustain injuries in urban and suburban areas, most commonly in collisions with automobiles. We work to educate the community not to throw things out of cars, even biodegradable items such as apples. These items attract rodents to roadsides where raptors hunt and can be hit.

Cobb EMC’s funding has provided food, housing, and vet costs for our injured, non-releasable Red-Tailed Hawk for the past three years. We could not do this work without their support. 

We are thankful for Cobb EMC’s interest and commitment to CNC, the community, and Georgia’s environment through their sustainability projects seen at https://cobbemc.com/sustainability.

Tedx

Raptor Rap at TEDx Cartersville

November 16, 2022 –TEDx

Thanks to the Community Foundation of North Georgia

Tedx

Naturalists Larry Stevens and Jenna Ellett from Chattahoochee Nature Center talk about the importance of raptors in our communities and preserving their habitats. Larry Stevens served as a U.S. Army counterintelligence agent in West Berlin before becoming a Public Relations Manager at BellSouth in Atlanta. Today, he is a naturalist for the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Jenna Ellett is a Senior Analyst at Cloudmed, but she’s also a Naturalist at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.

Click to view video

turtle

Chattanooga wildlife rehabilitator warns ‘something very, very bad is happening’ to area’s box turtles

September 29, 2022- Chattanooga Times Free Press
By Emily Crisman

turtle
Photo by Kathryn Dudeck

Most years, Chattanooga wildlife rehabilitator Juniper Russo treats up to two box turtles suffering from upper respiratory infections. Since March of this year, she’s treated 22 turtles from the Chattanooga area with eye and ear infections at her wildlife rescue facility, For Fox Sake. She said when turtles are deficient in vitamin A, they develop inflammation in their eyes and especially in their ears, which can cause abscesses. 

Click to view entire article

spiderweb

Fake spiderwebs are a real fright for wildlife

September 28, 2022- Forest Preserve District Will County 

Photo via Shutterstock

Talk about the tangled webs we weave. Those fake spiderwebs that give your house a creepy Halloween feel are even scarier than you might think for wildlife, because they can be a literal death trap. 

Much like real spiderwebs trap insects, those fake ones do too. And it’s not just teeny, tiny insects that can get caught in the sticky strings. Birds can get entangled in the fake webs, and so can any small animals that are not strong enough to break free, Treehugger reports.

Click to view entire article

how rain affects wildlife

How Rain Affects Wildlife

Discover How Rain Impacts Animal Behaviors

how rain affects wildlife
By Kathryn Dudeck

We have been experiencing a lot of summer storms lately. We know how rain affects us but have you ever wondered how rain affects wildlife? We talked to Wildlife Director, Kathryn Dudeck to find out some ways that the rain affects wildlife.

Nocturnal animals such as raccoons, opossums, and coyotes are seen more commonly during the day if it has been consistently raining the night before. Because prey (rabbits, rats, mice, etc.) does not often come out in the rain, the predators don’t come out to hunt. Once the rains clear, no matter what time of day or night, the animals will all come to forage and feed. This is similar to humans making a late-night run to the grocery store.


While some animals such as frogs and toads relish the rains (and in some cases are triggered by rainfall to mate), others such as songbirds and raptors usually lie low. The feathers of these birds weigh more than their skeleton so if they get drenched, they are unable to fly. Even some of our long-time resident raptors at CNC will not eat when it rains, despite having covered areas in their enclosures.

For large migratory species like Sandhill Cranes who navigate hundreds of miles each day, storms and their accompanying winds can blow them off course. Therefore, these birds find suitable wetlands, a pond, or a lake and wait it out until the weather improves. An additional plus to this tactic is that they are often able to ride the thermals behind the storm so they won’t have to extend as much energy as they would in calm air. You can find out more about Sandhill Cranes and their migration habits here.

The steady rains we can experience at times may be a bit depressing for some of us, but smaller migratory waterbirds like rails and wood ducks love it! The wetlands are recharged and full, allowing for numerous stop-overs for resting, foraging, and feeding.

600 x 400 kingsnake

The Urban Kings Project Continues


Image Courtesy of Samantha Kennett

In 2019, a citizen science project was launched studying eastern kingsnakes in Metro Atlanta called The Urban Kings Project. Since then, hundreds of community members have participated by reporting sightings of their neighborhood kingsnakes. This year be the fourth and final year of data collection for the project. Here is everything you need to know about Urban Kings and how you can get involved!

What is The Urban Kings Project?
The Urban Kings Project is a citizen science research project based in Metro Atlanta trying to learn more about how eastern kingsnakes are impacted by increasing urbanization. Kingsnakes are commonly found in urban and suburban areas and seemed to have adapted to city life. This project aims to understand how these snakes are surviving in urban spaces and how urbanization overall can impact wildlife. Urban Kings is a collaborative project based out of Clemson University working in partnership with the Chattahoochee Nature Center, Kennesaw State University, and Georgia DNR.

Where is The Urban Kings Project located?
For this final year of the project, Urban Kings is focused on reports from Cobb, Fulton, South Cherokee, and Paulding counties.

What do I do if I see a kingsnake?
If you see a kingsnake in the counties above, please call Urban Kings while you see the snake if possible. The Urban Kings team will try to come out and respond to collect additional information on each snake. You can reach us by calling (404)-556-1863 or (678)-315-2020.

When you see a kingsnake, please take a photo and send it to Urban Kings with the date and exact location of the sighting. This information is not shared and is used in a private kingsnake population database. Please send your photo to bdhudso@g.clemson.edu and samantha.kennett@gmail.com.

What does it mean to “collect data” on the snakes?
The data Urban Kings collects on each snake is a general health assessment, length and weight, and a genetic sample in the form of a small scale clip. For humans, this is the equivalent of clipping a fingernail. Each snake is swabbed and tested for Snake Fungal Disease, which is a disease that is impacting snakes globally. Snake Fungal Disease is not contagious to people or other animals but can be passed from snake to snake. When possible, the Urban Kings team will also collect fecal samples from the snake, which can tell us a lot about what the snake has been eating! After responding to a snake call, data collection is done in a controlled and clean setting (like CNC’s Wildlife Clinic) rather than in the field to minimize stress for the snake. This means that the snake is typically taken for a day or two and then returned to the exact location they were found.

Are snakes harmed, killed, removed, or relocated?
Never! No snakes are harmed, killed, removed, or relocated in any aspect of the project.

What if I find a deceased kingsnake (hit by a car, cat/dog caught, human interaction, etc.)?
Please call Urban Kings! Even deceased there is still a lot to learn from these snakes. To name a few, we can see if they were healthy, what they were eating, if it was male or female, and test it for diseases. Deceased specimens are taken to the Georgia Museum of Natural History in Athens, Ga where people can learn from them for years to come.

What do I do if I find an injured kingsnake?
If you find an injured kingsnake, safely place the snake in a container and take the snake to the CNC Wildlife Clinic. In addition to calling Urban Kings, call the clinic to let them know you are coming. The number for the CNC Wildlife Clinic is (770) 992-2055 x239.

If I’m visiting the Chattahoochee Nature Center, what do I do if I see a kingsnake on the grounds?
The Urban Kings team has been fortunate over the last few years and has collected data on numerous kingsnakes on CNC’s property. If you see a kingsnake on the grounds at CNC, take a photo of the snake, make note of its exact location (dropping a point on a map is helpful), and send this information with the date you saw it over to Urban Kings.

How can I help?
1. Report kingsnakes! Please call when you see kingsnakes to report and email photo sightings to the project.
2. Spread the word! Please share information about the project with your community. If you have a neighborhood Facebook page or something similar, sharing the project flyer there is a great help.

Why is this project important? How will this information be used?
Rapid development increases the overlap between humans and wildlife, often leading to unnecessary conflict. This pattern is increasingly evident in cities across the world, especially those such as Atlanta which have an enormous metropolitan buffer. With your help, we plan to combine information about Kingsnake health and movement to begin building a type of risk map for informing current and future development plans. Our hope is to provide evidence for the requirements of small species of wildlife living in urban areas which can be merged into future development goals. Kingsnakes are our target species, but this information can be applied to many other small species of wildlife living in cities across the southeastern US. Additionally, we hope to strengthen community awareness surrounding the needs of common backyard wildlife by educating people all across the metro Atlanta region, and by encouraging community members to engage in research-based solutions to development-driven issues.

For questions or additional information, please feel free to reach out to Bryan Hudson or Samantha Kennett, or check out the project’s facebook page: facebook.com/UrbanKingsProject.

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