What a fantastic weekend! The staff at the Wildlife Center really went out of their way to show us their appreciation. If you couldn't make it, I hope my videos help you to live the moment with us.
Good news/bad news on the videos: Bad news -- I haven't had time to process 5 hours of tape.

Good news -- I processed the Buddy parts first! (Sitting around my campfire Saturday night...)
This is Buddy in his pen. We all had a horrible time with the door to his pen. My camcorder was focusing on the chain link. I actually had to read my book and switch to manual focus... I think most of what I included in this link is in focus, although at one point I think I adjusted the focus and you can see that for a couple of seconds. The other issue was trying to get video without the chain link showing up. There was a little square of chicken wire low on the door and the photographers were having good luck taking stills through that "window" since the chicken wire virtually disappeared for them. So, I tried it and shot a lot of video in a very awkward position to try to shoot through the little window of chicken wire, only to process my video and find it still showed up. Oh well...
Buddy in his pen (9:00)
These two videos are of Buddy getting his beak dremmeled.
If you are sensitive, don't watch this. There isn't any blood or anything. But Buddy did get upset when he got the anti-inflammitory/pain med orally. And there is a point when he's getting the gas when he gets excited. Dr Dave had told us in advance to expect that and that it's normal for an eagle to go through that phase just before going under. But the procedure went well and had a happy ending. So, no reason not to watch it! I did edit it: The gas took a while and there were times during the procedure that Dr Deb blocked what was happening, so I cut some parts out. I still ended up with two parts:
The first part he gets the shot, the gas, is intubated, gets ointment in his eyes to keep them from drying and the procedure starts:
Dremmel Part 1 (9:22)
The second part the procedure finishes and he wakes up:
Dremmel Part 2 (7:27)
These are Buddy's neighbors. Junior is a Golden Eagle on his left and Scarlet is a Red-tailed Hawk on his right. Junior didn't do much, but Scarlet was full of it! She wanted attention, but as soon as you paid her any attention, she would turn her back and walk away. When I mentioned to Randy something about Scarlett, he quoted that behavior before I even said anything. So, that's her M.O. Randy called her a Diva!
Buddy's Neighbors (2:52)
This is Ed Clark and Dr Dave McRuer discussing Buddy's future:
Buddy's Future (9:17)
We were also lucky enough to see an American Kestrel and a Red-tailed Hawk being released (the kestrel was really, really, REALLY ready to go!):
Kestrel Release (:59)
Red-tailed Hawk Release (6:08)
We went to the "Hawk Watch" and I got a little bit of a "Kettle" of Broad Shoulder Hawks. They look like a swarm of ants! There must have been 50 in this kettle, but if I'd zoomed out enough to capture them all, they would have been tiny specks. So, I've got two levels of zoom in this, the first I tried to zoom in some to try to get some detail. Then I zoomed out a little to try to give an idea of the number of hawks in this kettle.
Kettle of Broad Shoulder Hawks (1:12)
Later this week, I'll process the tape I shot at the release on Friday on the way up to the Wildlife Center. And I'll process the couple of hours of presentation at the Wildlife Center.
I edited this entry because I thought the ainti-inflammitory/pain med was a shot. It wasn't until I saw Ann's video that I was able to see that it was given orally.