Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

We went on an overnight trip last Wednesday to Glen Rose to collect 26 captive prairie chickens from the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. On the way into the facility we saw lots of exotic animals including antelope, emus, deer and a rhino. Tagging, measuring, banding and radio collaring the chickens didn't take long- we finished up and left at around 1030am. From there it was a 5hr trip to our release site in Goliad county. It was a long day (13hrs!), we did not get back to the refuge until 8pm. The chickens all made it through the car ride and were divided into 3 acclimation pens on site. They will be fed and taken care of by our partners at the Nature Conservancy and be released next Thursday. This was the last batch of chickens to be released this year. All together we have released about 119 chickens into the wild. Most of the released chickens on the refuge have been doing well. There are fewer moralities this year than in previous years. The prairie chickens are still sticking around the pens in super broods (~10) and fed twice a day by us interns. One of my favorite part of the day is going out to the pens for afternoon feeding and throwing soybeans their directions. They are fairly habituated with us and will walk up and eat their veggies next to us.

A morning stretch

breakfast of champions

emus at FRWC