The raccoon who made these prints must have disappeared right before I arrived on this wooden bridge.  Our nature trails skirt through the homes of many species of wild animals.

This American robin was successfully rehabilitated after breaking its shoulder blade.  In order to keep the bone stable and give it time to heal, the bird had its wing wrapped to its body for two weeks.  Just like a human would have a cast or sling.  But because bird’s have a much faster metabolism than mammals, the birds broken bone will heal in 1/4 the time it would take a human!Marco Venturoli, our senior technician, is shown here releasing the robin back into the woodlands behind our Center.

Photos courtesy of Ashley Kramer, Student Intern.

This Virginia rail was happy to be recently released back into the wild.

Rails and other migratory birds often become injured during the spring and fall migrations as they are passing through Boston on their way to warmer locations.  The brights lights and large glass windows of big cities confuse the birds and result in collisions with buildings and other man-made structures.  An estimated 100 millions birds die in collisions each year!  Luckily, this rail was only stunned and was able to make a full recovery.

Photo courtesy of Ashley Kramer, Student Intern.

This juvenile downy woodpecker was found by a good Samaritan in his backyard while it was being attacked by another bird.  The bird was rescued, but it had sustained serious wounds to its head that caused it to be uncoordinated and unable to fly.  When the bird first came to the hospital it was very disoriented and even had a hard time finding and eating the food in its cage.  With some care and patience, the woodpecker made a full recovery over the course of several weeks.  And after he began pecking wood again and acting like a normal woodpecker he was release back into the wild.

Photograph courtesy of Ashley Kramer, Student Intern.

This eastern grey squirrel was found in Boston Common with a huge abscess (pus filled pocket) under its chin.

After clipping and scrubbing the infected area, we are ready to lance (cut open) the abscess to allow it to drain.

Flushing the abscess helps to clean out debris and bacteria so that it can heal over faster.

This squirrel also had overgrown teeth that had to be trimmed back.

Several days after surgery, this squirrel is recovering nicely and is much more comfortable.

All images are courtesy of Ashley Kramer, Student Intern.

These juvenile red squirrels are recovering from a serious case of mange (mite infestation) in which they lost almost all of their fur.  The only fur that remained was on the their head, feet and tail making them look like a domestic cat with a lion-haircut.  Slowly, but surely, they are starting to regrow healthy fur coats to keep them warm in the colder months.

When these squirrels first arrived they were completely hairless on their bodies.

After just a few weeks you can see their new fur is just starting to show up.

Nigel, the eighteen year old Iguana.

Two Ball Pythons.

It’s the box that worries me.

 A blue footed bearded dragon.

A video by: Kyle Richards

Click here for a complete list of NEWC Videos

This red-tailed hawk was hit on the right wing by a line drive golf ball. Fractured his ulna. Recovering after surgery.

The Red-Tailed Hark in this picture was admitted on May 30^th as a young orphaned hawk. This hawk would not have been able to survive in the wild on its own.  Now it has gained a substantial amount of size and will soon be soft released.

The Red-Tailed Hawk scientific name “Buteo Jamaicensis” has a very wide range from Alaska and Canada throughout North America and occasionally found as far south as Panama. This species of hawk gets its name from the red feathers found on its tail which come in after they mature around the age of  3-4 years old.  These are one of the larger hawks from North America with a wingspan of 43-57 but also one of the most common raptors in North America. Red-Tailed Hawks display sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging much larger. Due to their large population and that they can easily be trained to hunt the Red-Tailed hawks are often captured by falconers to be trained and hunted.

-Jackson Hoit, Student Intern

Welcome to Gallup! He is Penelope’s new friend.  Gallup is a 9 month old wethered Alpine goat.

Gallup was raised and donated to the Center by Jenna Illingworth.  Jenna is a student at the Norfolk Agricultural High School in Walpole.

On the first day together Penelope did not give Gallup a very warm greeting.  She refused to stand any where near him.   If he came close she would run to the other side of the pen.  She gave him dagger eyes.

Today, three days later, they are inseparable.  In fact last night they held a two goat meeting about how to cause the most trouble as a team.  In fact when I did this photo session I went inside their pen to get some close-ups of Gallup.  When I bent over, Penelope came up behind me and bit me in the butt.

Goats!

We are in desperate need of paper towels to keep our hospital clean.  Donations of paper towels (and other supplies) can be dropped off at 500 Columbian Street in South Weymouth at any time.  If the doors are locked, you can leave them outside.

A video by: Kyle Richards

Click here for a complete list of NEWC Videos

We are in desperate need of chlorine Bleach to clean and disinfect our hospital.  It takes several gallons each day to mop floors, wash bedding and disinfect hospital surfaces.  Most of our bleach comes donated from local BJ’s and Walmart, but with so many baby animals in the hospital we are constantly running out.  Donations of new bottles of bleach would greatly help us keep clean and germ free.

Toads for Mount Auburn Cemetery

By Dr. Joe Martinez, Ed.D

Mount Auburn Cemetery ( www.mountauburn.org ) is renowned as both the first garden cemetery to be established in the United States (consecrated in 1831) and as a birding hotspot (this past Spring a pair of nesting great horned owls with their two fledglings created quite a stir). Besides birds, other wildlife inhabiting the cemetery includes coyotes, foxes, painted turtles and bullfrogs. This is especially impressive when one considers that its location lies within both Cambridge and Watertown.

Over the past two decades the Cemetery administration has been committed to improving wildlife habitat on the grounds through plantings of native groundcovers, bushes and trees with the intent of attracting more wildlife to the cemetery. More recently, the administration has agreed to a project, initiated through a citizen-scientist proposal by Joe Martinez (the New England Wildlife Center’s outreach educator) and Patrick Fairbairn (a member of the Watertown Conservation Commission), to attempt a repopulation of the grounds with American toads, gray treefrogs, and spring peepers.  Each of these amphibian species was undoubtedly present in the cemetery at its inception; their disappearance from the cemetery is probably due to earlier landscaping practices that eliminated suitable habitat for the juveniles and adults.

The project is beginning with the American toad. Over a three year period (that began this year) a specified number of toad tadpoles will be collected each Spring from two locations near Boston and released into a vernal pool at the cemetery.  One of those locations is the rainwater retention pool at the New England Wildlife Center. In the five years since its creation wood frogs, spring peepers, and American toads have migrated in from the adjacent wetlands to breed there. When approached by Joe, Dr. Greg Mertz graciously agreed to volunteer NEWC as one of the donor locations.

Moving any Massachusetts amphibian from one location to another with the intent of establishing a new population requires permission from the state Fish and Wildlife Department, therefore a Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife scientific collecting permit was obtained. In addition, permission was  needed from the Watertown Conservation Commission (as the release site within the cemetery lies within Watertown).

This past May the first tadpoles were collected from the retention pond and transported to the cemetery.  The tadpoles began metamorphosing in late June and have already been seen over twenty yards from the vernal pool. Should any survive into adulthood they will return to the vernal pool to breed. If all goes well, in 3-4 years, the melodic sound of trilling American toads will add yet another wildlife element for visitors to enjoy at Mount Auburn Cemetery!

The rainwater retention pool. This pool was created to collect rain run-off from the roof and parking lot of the Thomas E. Curtis Wildlife Hospital and Education Center and filter the water before it reaches a nearby wetland. Three species of amphibians now breed here.

American toad tadpoles from the rainwater retention pool. Most of them have hindlimbs.

A newly metamorphosed toad at the cemetery. It was found along the shore of the vernal pool in which it was released.

In a few years toads this size may be living at Mount Auburn Cemetery!

The three Herring Gulls in this video came to the New England Wildlife Center as young orphans. Most Herring Gulls that come to the center are under the ideal weight for the species, so an important part of their treatment is simply to feed them. We inject Vitamin B complex into the fish we provide them because it is an important nutrient that is only available in fresh fish. We also give them a daily swim in our kiddie pools to mimic the ocean! Currently, their plumage is brown and mottled, but after a couple more years they will start to look like the white and grey adult sea gulls seen in the wild. Sea gulls are natural scavengers so you may have seen these birds stealing food at the beach and flying around mall and McDonalds parking lots!

-Bennett King, Student Intern

Click here for a complete list of NEWC Videos

The Eastern Screech Owl can be found in several different habitats all around the eastern half of the United States. Any decaying tree cavities found in forests, woodlands, urban, or suburban areas make great homes for this small owl. The species only reaches about nine inches tall!

As for their calls, these owls make a variety of noises. The most common is a trill used by males and females. This sound serves several purposes such as marking territory and courting. It is even used by the mother to encouraging the young to fledge from their nest. The screeching cry they are named after is often a verbal defense of their nest or territory.

The screech owl featured in the picture was admitted for head trauma. With treatment, the owl recovered quickly and was successfully released Tuesday, August 9th.

– Shauna McLeod, Student Intern.

In this video, two young raccoons are exposed to live fish for the first time. With orphaned wildlife, its important to introduce them to a range of natural food which they can find in the wild. This teaches them what is suitable forage and helps to discourage their dependence on humans for food.

These two juvenile raccoons were brought in at the beginning of this summer as orphans. The “masked bandits” have been a symbol for the New England Wildlife Center, as they are the favorites of many children, volunteers and interns.  They are so sneaky and curious that they were found venturing in the ceiling one night after figuring out how to push up the ceiling tiles. However, they must be taken care of with much caution because they can carry raccoon roundworm — a potentially dangerous parasite that if ingested can cause permanent neurological damage.  This is why it is extremely important for these animals to be used for educating the public about staying away from raccoons despite their very “cute” social nature.  These two raccoons have served as great mascots to our facility and are predicted to leave by the end of the summer!  Thanks to everyone who has supported us with donations and time — if it weren’t for our generous community, we would not have the resources to care for our wonderful local wildlife.”

– Lana Fox, Student Intern

Click here for a complete list of NEWC Videos

The future of this Great Horned Owl was up in the air after a civilian took him from the wild and tried to raise him as a pet.  Imprinted birds are always at risk for losing their fear of humans, and many people weren’t sure if this owl could ever go back to the woods of New England.  Luckily, here at NEWC we gave him just the right combination of solitude, medication and food.  With the help of the Massachusetts Audubon Society we will hopefully be  able to soft release him back into the wild in the coming weeks.

– Alexandria Hicks-Nelson, Student Intern

This Thursday, we released three young turkeys that we have been caring for over the past month.  Turkeys are generally quite wary of people and do not have the best success rate at rehabilitation because they can become so stressed when they are in contact with people. These three will one day grow to be just under four feet tall, and while they live on the ground, they can be quite explosive flyers to get out of the reach of their predators. Turkeys eat both insects and plant matter when foraging on the ground. When we released our turkeys, two of them flew directly into the canopy, while this last one remained on the ground for a moment, just enough time to take a picture.

– Morgan Robinson, Student Intern

Two months ago, a female painted turtle came to our clinic with very severe traumatic wounds after being hit by a car.  Female turtles are commonly victims of car strikes in the late spring and early summer as they are crossing roads to look for suitable habitat to lay their eggs.  Unfortunately, she had to be euthanized, but shortly after she died we collected 6 eggs from inside of her.

Just yesterday they started to hatch!  They are only the size of quarter when they are born and are very cute.

Remember to slow down and keep an eye out for crossing turtles in the summer months.  If you find one on the road, move it off into the grass — but make sure you move it in the direction it was headed.

Reptile Talk With Kurt Schatzl Sat, Aug6 at 1pm .

Come Join us!

Kurt Schatzl is the current President of the New England Herpetological Society of Weymouth Ma. The NEHS is a conservation oriented educational organization that promotes the advancement of Herpetology.  Kurt is a lifelong Braintree resident and reptile hobbyist with extensive knowledge of native reptile and amphibians, including endangered species.

$5 Suggested Donation

Chimney Swifts

These Chimney Swifts came to us after falling down a chimney. Their name tells us where these guys live and nest. They like to climb up on the sides and hang vertically in huddles with their siblings. They’re not quite old enough to fly yet, though that doesn’t stop them from trying every chance they get. Swifts are really good fliers catching tiny insects in mid-flight. An interesting fact about them is that they can’t take off from the ground.

Elena Moser, Student Intern