Our birds come to us from all over the United States and all are non-releasable. Wings of Discovery provides lifelong sanctuary for these birds while educating the public about how best to protect these beautiful creatures and what we can do to keep them safe and in the wild.
"Felix"
The name means "lucky" and Felix is also a grey phase Eastern Screech Owl. He was sent to us by the Cypress Zoo and Rehab in Louisiana in December of 2013. He arrived at their facility at the same time as Sterling and they have remained together, joining with our older red phase "Siggy" at arrival and currently residing with "Frankenberry." While Felix and Sterling are a mated pair, Felix has proven he prefers to be in a "group" environment and does best when there is a second male for him to buddy with. He also had a serious injury to his left eye, ultimately resulting in the surgical removal of it. We are unsure of the age, since they were originally from the wild, however we suspect they were young when they came to us since Sterling presented with suckling behavior during her post-surgical rehabilitation. Given that we believe Felix was probably hatched 2010 or 2011. While Felix is still going strong, he hasn’t been the same at events/programs since losing Siggy. He doesn’t seem to get the same support from Frankenberry at events, so we felt it was better to simply retire him from his education work and let him live out his life in our sanctuary.
"Kaui"
The name is pronounced Ka-oo-ee and means "youthful beauty" in Hawaiian. She was found on the side of a freeway entrance in Santa Cruz, CA on July 7th, 2016. She has a broken talon on her right foot and a closed elbow fracture on her left wing. The elbow fracture is a complicated one, which makes her unable to fly well enough to survive in the wild. Wings of Discovery acquired her on August 1st, 2016 from Native Animal Rescue. Kaui appeared to be about 5-6 months old at that time. We based our age estimate on the fact that she still had a considerable amount of pin feathers emerging all over her along with small and thin beak and talons.
"Frankenberry"
Frankenberry is a red phase Eastern Screech Owl. He was named Frankenberry at the Owl Moon Raptor Center in Maryland, where they name their birds after the person who finds them. We like to refer to him as "Sir Frankenberry" here at Wings of Discovery, because he immediately took charge of the group when he was put with our other eastern screech owls and tends to stick his beak upward as though he is superior to everyone else :) Frankenberry came to us on June 10, 2017 after having been deemed non-releasable due to his vision problems. The Owl Moon Raptor Center brought him to a veterinary eye specialist where they determined Frankenberry to be blind in his left eye with some minor damage to his right eye. He can still see enough out of his right eye to get around and find his food in his enclosure, but not well enough to survive on his own in the wild. He will continue to need eye drops in his left eye as well for the rest of his life, or until such time it is determined surgery is needed to remove it. As eye surgery is such a risky and dangerous procedure for these little owls, it is not something we like to do unless it is medically necessary. Therefore, as long as Frankenberry does well with the eye drops, we at Wings of Discovery will continue giving them to him. We are happy to have added him to our collection, as are Sterling and Felix to have a new friend with them again.
"Ziva"
Ziva is on loan to us from our Founder/President and resident falconer Stephanie Sayre. The name "Ziva" means "bright" or "radiant" and she is so named because of her bright and radiant coloring. She is an Aplomado falcon, which are an endangered species of falcon. Ziva is a medium-sized falcon who was born March 26th, 2018 and is completely healthy with no injuries. Ziva is Stephanie's falconry bird who will be taught to hunt as well as spend time as an educational bird. She is a perfect ambassador to help spread our conservation message about how to save her species and other birds of prey that are endangered. Birds of prey typically reach their full adult size by 5-6 weeks of age and are flying by 8-10 weeks, just before their parents kick them out of their nest to fend for themselves.
Stephanie acquired her on April 8th, when she was only 13 days old. Since her "bird dad" was not very good at being a father (he killed her sister), she had to be hand-raised at a very early age. However, that has made Stephanie and Ziva's bond very strong! She prefers to spend her time with Stephanie and can often be found on her head, playing with her tennis balls, or mini shoes, or just chillin' out on her back. Follow "Wings of Discovery" on our Instagram and Facebook pages to learn more about Ziva and see what she looked like as she grew up. You can also catch some cute shots/videos of how she likes to play and hear about any upcoming events and shows!
“Gumdrop”
Gumdrop is on loan to us from our Founder/President and resident falconer Stephanie Sayre. He is a laughing kookaburra and was named “Gumdrop,” because they are often found in gum trees. Gumdrop was born May 5th, 2020 and was hand-raised. Stephanie acquired him on May 26th, at 21 days old and, just like Ziva, he too was full grown very quickly. The laughing kookaburra is the largest of the kingfishers and is one of 4 species of kookaburras. There are 2 species that are found in Australia; the laughing kookaburra and the blue-winged kookaburra, and 2 that are found in New Guinea; the Rufous bellied and the Spangled. While all the laughing kookaburras have that iridescent blue on their wings, it’s the males that has blue found between the wings above their tail feathers. However, that blue above the tail that indicates it’s a male doesn’t show up until after it molts for the first time and gets the adult feathers in. Gumdrop lives free in Stephanie’s bedroom, but enjoys his time spent out on the balcony looking up at the sky as well. His favorite thing to do though is find things to play with and get into mischief on the floor of his room! He has also been known to steal food right off Stephanie’s plate, he has become quite the little kleptomaniac. Gumdrop also really enjoys taking baths, especially when they have floral hydrosols in them! He jumps in and out and in and out repeatedly like it’s a game. Lastly, the reason they are called the “laughing” kookaburra, is because of their call, which truly sounds like someone laughing. In fact, once you get Gumdrop started, you’d better not laugh, because laughing will just keep him going and he can be quite loud! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram and watch videos of him playing, bathing, eating, and of course…laughing! We are very excited to be able to add Gumdrop to our Wings of Discovery family and hope you love him as much as we do.
“Dawn Hoosier”
Dawn Hoosier was the only one of 13 that proved to be non-releasable after nearly being bulldozed out of their nests in Star City, Indiana in June of 2023. She was transferred to Wings of Discovery in the end of August. Dawn Hoosier was so named for the person who made her transfer to California possible and the lovely state of Indiana that she came from. She is a very unique addition to our collection in that she is actually a mix between a grey phase and a red phase. One of her parents was actually half and half, so she is actually 1/4 red phase and 3/4 grey phase. We hope that she keeps the red in her through her first molt to her adult plumage in 2024, but either way she is a beautiful and welcome addition to our collection. She has done a great job at completing our group of eastern screech owls and helping to fill the gap left by our 2 female losses of 2023; Sterling and Luna (may they rest in peace).