These are some of the patients we are rehabilitating now. The first is a screech owl. The Western Screech Owl is a small, nocturnal, woodland Owl of western North America and is one of the west's more common owls at lower elevations. They are squat-looking owls that sit erect, with their plumage fluffed out, with the feet and legs obscured, and distinct ear tufts raised. The iris is bright yellow and the bill is gray to black, with tufts of bristly feathers around its base. The facial disk is bordered by black. The toes are yellow. Feathers are either mainly grayish or reddish-brown variegated dark and light, resembling a furrowed tree bark pattern. They use the variegated plumage as camouflage. When threatened, the bird stretches its body and tightens its feathers in order to look like a branch stub to avoid detection, but will take flight when it knows it has been detected.
The second picture is a female mallard duck. She was rescued from a shopping mall in Valencia. Her right leg was fractured and caused her to limp. Dr. Tom was able to put a "walking boot" type splint on it and she is doing well.
The third group of birds is Western Scrub Jay babies. Western scrub-jays are common through the American West, from the California coast through Oregon, southern Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and parts of Texas, mostly in lowland areas with oak and pinyon pine trees. The birds easily adapt to urban and suburban areas and are popular visitors to backyard feeders. Western scrub-jays do not migrate.
The fourth picture is of kestrels. Perhaps the most colorful raptor in the world, the American Kestrel is the most common falcon in North America. It is found from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, and in towns as well as wild lands.
