This Week at Liberty
July 29, 2025
Hoots, Howls, and Hollers
Megan Mosby
Executive Director
To Save or Savor the World
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. That makes it hard to plan the day.” E.B. White
I happened on this quote the other day and couldn’t get it out of my mind. In trying to understand its resonance with me, I realized that not only was it apropos to me, it is also very fitting to Liberty Wildlife. Our hospital, in particular, sets about “saving the world” one wild animal at a time. At the same time, our educational efforts go a long way at helping all who encounter us, to savor the world….one nature encounter at a time.
Save the World
For example, a report from the Southwestern Bald Eagle Management Committee summarized some of the activity since March. This group monitors the state bald eagles, and this year, six of these eagles ran into trouble. All six of these eagles were transferred to Liberty Wildlife for examination and care. Now, all but one have been returned to the wild. The last one, is still healing and is on course to be released when possible. That is a “score 6 for the eagle population” in the state of Arizona! Way to go Liberty Wildlife Medical Services.
Savor the World
I had the pleasure of giving a private tour to some out-of-state visitors this weekend. I never tire of introducing new people to the beauties of both our campus and the wildlife ambassadors. Many of our guests haven’t had time or previous yearning to spend time in nature. Lack of experience is often a result of lack of opportunity. At Liberty Wildlife, we have honed in on providing opportunities to experience…or dare I say to savor… bits of the world seemingly not available to most people. When a person realizes the value of a turkey vulture, the beauty of a great horned owl, the ultimate reward of gazing deeply into the eyes of golden eagle, well, that is a big score for them and the world! Awareness of what is around you in nature is a first big step to embracing, caring, advocating.
Call to Action
So, take some time to do your part to save the world…whatever part is important to you…and take some time to savor it also. And, fyi….I love a good turn of phrase that the quote offers…
More Questions (and Answers)
As promised, I am going to answer a question sent in after the last blog post. One of the readers was curious about the process used to determine if an animal was an imprint or just habituated. A good question… and not easily answered, but here goes. A true imprint is an animal that during a critical period of its early life learned to be the species needed for it to survive. It learned this from who brought it food, who sang it songs, and what were those ‘songs’. In other words, who were the parents? In a perfect world, the great horned owl parents raised a great horned owl hatchling. They delivered the food; they made the correct sounds; they created the correct image as soon as the baby could distinguish those things…which is a different time for each species.
Unfortunately, when a human tries to raise a baby great horned owl (or any other species) looking, sounding, being a human is all the baby knows. Ultimately, the baby loses its fear of humans, goes to humans for food, recognizes the human cooing as the sounds it is supposed to make and doesn’t assimilate with other great horned owls. It doesn’t blend in with other great horned owl babies when put in an enclosure with other fledglings and in our case, the mal-imprint will segregate itself from the proper imprints…they just don’t interact with others of their true species because they don’t recognize being one themselves. And, mal-imprinting can’t be undone.
If the animal is just tame or habituated from being in captivity after it was properly imprinted, it can revert to the wild behaviors and resume its place as a wild great horned owl. Habituation can be undone, mal-imprinting cannot.
For that reason, all baby animals need the opportunity to be raised by parents of their own species. And, for that reason, in an effort to help a found baby, you should always seek out a responsible rehabilitator who can immediately provide what the baby needs to properly imprint… and then assume its rightful place in the natural scheme of things.
This Week @ Liberty
The intake total for the year is now up to 7040.
We’ve passed the halfway point of 2025 (how and why are yet to be determined because I can’t figure out where it’s all going). Orphan Care is well on its way, and is still continuing to care for all the orphaned and injured babies coming in, and our hospital is continuing to see lots of animals due to the heat (and other various injuries). August brings a bit of quiet, though; our public hours will be closed for the month to accommodate for repairs needed around site and to get us ready for the start of another busy education season. If you’ve been here recently, you’ll have noticed some new enclosures getting built near Alpo the Desert Tortoise (more to come on that in the upcoming weeks), and we’re well on our way to have an awesome Wishes for Wildlife (celebration and silent auction) at the beginning of November (again, more to come!)
Make sure to keep an eye out for updates on a whole lot of happenings here at Liberty Wildlife. I promise you won’t want to miss them!
Water Birds Galore
With 10,000+ animals coming through our doors every year, it’s easy to say we’ve seen our fair share of native wildlife. While doves and pigeons are the norm, great horned owls and red-tailed hawks are quite usual, too. But what about the birds you see stalking the wetlands on your trip to Lake Pleasant? The ones with skinny long legs and what seems like an even longer neck? Or what about brown pelicans—most often seen during a trip to California when you’re visiting the beach—hanging out at Tempe Town Lake?
Well, there’s a rhyme and reason to them all. So why don’t we break down some fun facts about some of the water birds we see here at Liberty Wildlife.
Green Herons: These quick little dudes are often seen in swamps, marshes, lakes and other wet habitats where trees and shrubs provide nesting sites. In the United States, you’ll find them along the coast of California, down into Arizona and New Mexico, and into the eastern United States where they will migrate north in late winter (usually at night and in large flocks) and head back in spring (not everyone migrates, but most do). They tend to go for minnows, sunfish, pickerel, carp, goldfish and even eels! That doesn’t stop them from snacking on insects, reptiles or small rodents, either. During breeding season, they find their mate (like a lot of birds, they are monogamous) and perform courtship displays like stretching their necks, exaggerated flying (think a lot of flapping) and snapping their bills.
Fun fact: they camouflage super well. Can you see the green heron in his release photo?
Great Blue Herons: Standing at a whopping four feet with a wingspan of nearly six feet, despite their size, these birds only weigh about five to six pounds (thanks in part to their hollow bones). They can be found on shorelines, riverbanks, marshes, estuaries and ponds throughout the United States, into southern Canada and down through Central America. They will go after anything they can strike with that long neck and beak of theirs; fish, amphibians, insects, rodents and yes, other birds (if you’re part of any bird groups on social media, there are some insane videos of how these guys hunt. I recommend viewing a few to see how incredibly fast they are). They have specialized feathers on their chest that these birds will comb down with one of their fringed talons on their middle toe, which helps to remove fish slime and other oils from the foods they eat.
Fun fact: the oldest recorded in the wild was just over twenty-four years old. He was from Texas!
Black Crown Night Herons: These birds can be found in wetlands across the United States, into some parts of southern Canada, and throughout Central America and the southern part of South America (and a bit in the north, too). Like our great horned owl friend, they’re crepuscular; meaning they’re most active at dawn and dusk and hang in wetlands during the day. As social birds, they breed in colonies, and feast off leeches, crayfish, amphibians, turtles, rodents, eggs and even carrion and plant material. Like the great blue heron, they stalk the tall grasses with slow, measured steps, before striking with their long neck and beak.
Fun fact: A breeding parent will take any chick placed in their nest. They do not distinguish between their own offspring and those from other parents.
Brown Pelicans: These massive birds are found on the southern coasts of the United States (Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific). If you’re wondering why we have two of them here (as you should), it’s because during monsoon season (the non-existent one we’re having right now), those big storms reach over to those same areas. And these birds sometimes get caught in said storms and get pulled a bit off course (quite a bit, actually). Eating mostly small fish that form in schools, they will dive head first into the ocean (with a tuck and twist) and open their mouth to catch said fish. They’re “day shift” hunters (diurnal), but during a full moon have been spotted continuing said hunt.
Fun fact: We are currently awaiting transportation to get these two back to California (should be happening in the next week or so!).
Notable Mentions
Our last public hours for the month of July happens tomorrow (Wednesday, July 30th). Remember public hours is closed for the month of August; our intake window remains open, rain or shine, from 8am-6pm every day of the week. We’ll keep you posted when we reopen to the public so you can come see all your favorite permanent residents, as well as some amazing upcoming events in the fall.
Without further ado, here are this week’s notable mentions:
- A hatchling lesser nighthawk drops in (they are adorable little nuggets) (4 pictures)
- Groot the coatimundi being adorable (and yes he snuggles in that blanket even when it’s 118 degrees outside!) (2 pictures)
As always, thanks for reading!
Until next time!
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