From when we arrived to today, we're doing so much better now! So much more robust and active, starting to grow like a weed after a super rough start. (Bonus, hazards of working here include regular bathroom rerouting since sometimes it's bathroom eagles, sometimes it's bathroom cranebabies.)

The original Stiltchild: Gangly? Yes. Graceful? Not yet. Tall? By lunchtime. An inch a day growth rate is crazy to witness, every time I look there's more feathers, more leg, more bird. 🪶

How was your weekend? Here, "Let's get dressed up for Saturday night" means pretending to be a 6-foot bird so an orphaned baby doesn’t imprint on humans. Just normal weekend stuff. (Uglymom glow up! Equally as sweltering when slogging in 110 degree heat index, but better than a torn bedsheet) 🪶

Working to stabilize this teeny tiny crane colt (just hatched, the size of a small apple) sent to us for care from the big center in the cities. Cranes are very dedicated, loving parents so orphans are quite rare, but we're now the only place in state taking them so tis very busy crane-time. 🪶

Yolo the baby king vulture has the cutest freckles going on. 🪶 It takes king vultures 5-6 years to go from baby to full color glow-up, and during that time there's a constant transition of in between stages. Its so fun to see him evolve!

Those little chicken wing nubs have a long way to go before they're a 7 foot wingspan ready for migration 🪶 Learn more about the story of Stiltchild and Ugly Mom! www.patreon.com/foxfeather/p...

Thank you to everyone who has sent items from our Wildlife Wishlist for Stiltchild, our mini armada of wild turkey poults, and other birds coming in for care! 🎁 Many items are on sale today if you're so inclined to send a gift to the birds 🪶 : www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...

Just popping in to gently remind you that hydration is a lifestyle. Don’t mind us. Just casually checking if the pool magically refilled itself yet. Ahem.

When you dress up for the work party and everyone shows up in business casual 🪶

Emus hold summit at our newly re-constructed reflecting pool.

Those little chicken wing nubs have a long way to go before they're a 7 foot wingspan ready for migration 🪶 Learn more about the story of Stiltchild and Ugly Mom! www.patreon.com/foxfeather/p...

Emu Prime: Delivering packages and chaos. We also pecked your welcome mat and ate the eggs your chickens laid this morning. You're welcome.

If you want to help, please consider joining our Patreon - any pledge is a big help and lets us work towards building our area's first (and much needed) wildlife rehab hospital. And you get great perks, like a sneak peek at our newest art pin project about to launch! www.patreon.com/foxfeather

Legs for days! Sandhill crane colts can grown an insane 🌱 *inch per day* 🌱 and reach their full nearly five foot height in three months. Despite the very rough start, stiltchild has beaten the odds and is back on track for growth. Hopefully they can rejoin wild cranes in the fall! 🪶

Picking up materials for crane aviary enclosure base. Wildlife rehab feels like infinite construction (so much construction, forever).

"If it fits, I sits", vulture loaf edition. Vultures love to laying down like cat loafs when they have a comfy, wide space. Our staff has been collecting copious vulture boat pictures and made this super cute set featuring Yolo, Siri & Stimp, and Mr. Sev 🪶

Uglymom has had a day

Gotta get your steps in! 👟 Baby sandhill cranes walk up to 2 miles a day with their parents at only a few days old. It's critical for the development of their legs. Which means ugly mom (me in a grey bedsheet and sock puppet) slugging through the fields in almost 90 degree weather. Oof! 🪶

Confessions from a sandhill crane colt: Ugly mom was doing the best she could with what she had (chopsticks and a sock). #wildliferehab 🪶

When the wild turklets start arriving, they don't start quietly but rush in like a tsunami. These orphaned turkey poults are just beginning their long journey to get a second chance at a wild life, and will soon be joined by many others as we take most of the baby turkeys in our state for rehab. 🪶

Come hang out with baby emus today! Stream-mu is live for a little bit with chibi emu outside adventure time (with a current peacock cameo). twitch.tv/thefoxloft Make sure to follow us on Twitch to get notified when our bird streams are live!

My idiot noodle child just ate a plate full of jalapeño poppers. Everyone here is going to now have a bad day. 🌶

Jailbird! It's been crazy busy here, we've started averaging a hundred calls a day on our wildlife rehab line and I can't keep up. One of today's rescues is this great-horned owl chick who was down in someone's yard. Dehydrated and too thin, our staff is driving it up to TRC for a vet check. 🪶

Caution: Don’t leave your blue jay in direct sun.. they may melt. Our little resident drama queen, Bluey, may appear to be auditioning for a soap opera but is just living her best spa day life. Birds sunbathe to -Warm up -Expose parasites -UV sterilize feathers -Probably just feels amazing!

Two new fuzzy dinosaur lumps have just hatched!

What a handsome lad! Sev is now rockin' his full adult colors, including the bright red eyes unique to yellow-headed vultures. A few other vulture species have red in or around their eyes (bearded vultures, kings), but only yellow-heads have this solid, deep red color to the whole eye! 🪶

"We have a malinois at home" The malinois at home (Riot, the goofiest Dutch Shepherd, anti-malinois, didn't read the breed handbook)

Hey! Hey, you! Happy Friday! ❤️ Yolo

Lunch break!

Emu surprise

Icelandic horses, a most noble and ancient breed

No matter the species, geese are universally just as sassy 🪶

Yolo the baby king vulture showing up for #SoggyChildSunday with his adorable crossed toes! 🪶

Many thanks to everyone who came to visit our table at the IAATE/ABMA conference in Cincinnati last week! So many people advancing our understanding of animal behavior, welfare, care, conservation, and education work. It's always an inspiration to get the chance to learn from such amazing folks.

In case your day needs some cute: a yaklet born just two days ago, and some fluffy youngsters enjoying the first sprouts of fresh spring grass

If you live somewhere with spring thaw, take extra care to watch for birds and avoid speeding. Melting snow uncovers winter roadkill, which brings birds like this eagle to do cleanup. It's a time of year we see even more car strikes than usual, & soon with birds doing extra duty feeding nestlings. 🪶

Dodrio bathing time 🪶

Yellow headed vulture sketch painted in gouache.

Want to add a touch of class to any object? Put a peacock on it 🦚 Instant luxury

All of our wildlife patients this year so far have been owls, but this is our first short-eared. You can help prevent car strikes like this by obeying rural speed limits and not throwing any litter out of cars. Even organics like apple cores attract rodents to roads, which attracts their hunters. 🪶

With the weather warming, the emus are back to their regular shenanigans. Today's episode: Why are the edges of the entry rugs so shredded? A mystery for the ages. 🪶 #crimemus

Maximum round! Did you know 'borb' shape has a purpose? (Other than looking ridiculously cute) When birds become round fluffs, they trap a layer of warm air in their downy underfeathers, shielded by outer feathers, insulating themselves to stay toasty even in extreme cold! Cute and convenient! 🪶

Oh, to be a goofy noodle dog and live in simple, precedented times. #CyranoDeBorzoiac

An adult red-tailed hawk with big, mad feelings about a random juvenile being in its territory. We were just visiting for a short bit, a last hawking outing for the season. Falconry follows seasons like other hunting sports so as not to disrupt nesting locals and prey species. 🪶

Are vultures cute? Yes, and yes. Yes they are. Yolo is showing off his newly colored beak, shifting towards orange. His full transition to bright king vulture adult colors will take about five years! 🪶

Wings for days! (Featuring everyone's favorite yellow-headed vulture, Mr. Sev! He's got quite a bit of spring fever right now even though spring is still a ways off here. Me too, buddy!) 🪶

February is usually our coldest month, but a string of extremely warm days mean the birds have been thoroughly enjoying the winter reprieve. Here is Minerva the turkey vulture in her best toasty loaf form, soaking up the sun. 🪶

Spent the weekend at the Wisconsin Wildlife Rehab Association conference & touring multiple facilities to learn more about their aviary construction and programs. Incredible solar panels roof flight at Dane County humane society and huge span netted enclosures at the International Crane Foundation!

If a door gets left open here for any length of time it summons the elusive but impressive garage peacock.

Celebrating Superb Owls day, here are some of our burrowing owls being particualrly superb! Training isn't just tricks; medical behaviors like learning voluntary nail trims here mean not having to catch and restrain birds, much less stress for people and birds alike. #SuperbOwl