Dylan occasionally overshadows other birds at the American Bald Eagle Foundation, even though the Eastern screech owl stands only six inches tall “if he puts his horns up.”
On Wednesday morning,Natalie Humphrey-Kauffman, 10, and Lydia Haxton, 11, introduced cruise ship guests to Dylan. Humphrey-Kauffman and Haxton both are graduates of an ABEF junior bird handler class, along with Lindsey Jobbins, Shaye Otton and Lyric Wiggins.
“I loveDylan,” Haxton said. “He’s cute, and he now fully trusts me.”
The class met on Saturdays for three months under the direction of Dan Hart and intern Jamie Perry.
The students received their diplomas in June at a graduation ceremony and range in age from 9 to 15, said Cheryl McRoberts, ABEF director of operations.
“They were all great and learned really fast,” Perry said. “Everyone looked forward to working with Dylan.”
Course material for the new program included three pages of vocabulary words, such as “tomial tooth,” “fovea” and “blood feather.” The aspiring bird handlers also learned the names of leg and arm bones and terms for ocular anatomy.
“I like that I can share what I know with other people,” said Humphrey-Kauffman, who on Wednesday explained to visitors that Dylan is from Alabama and stays at ABEF due to blindness in one eye.
An Alaska Mountain Guides bus brought about 40 visitors to the foundation for a 9:15 a.m. live bird demonstration that opened with comments from Humphrey-Kauffman and intern Matt Wilson.
McRoberts said the youngsters repeatedly impress visitors to the museum.
“There will be people who come up and say, ‘How do you know Dylan is a boy?’ and Lydia looks at them and says, ‘Are you ready for this? It’s called reverse sexual dimorphism,’” McRoberts said.
The class defined reverse sexual dimorphism as “the phrase used to describe the fact that among raptors the females are larger than the males. This size variation may be as little as 10 percent or as great as 50 percent depending on the species of raptor.”
Humphrey-Kauffman said she “wanted to be in the class because I love animals.” She previously won acontest to name the foundation’s great gray owl, Aspen.
The foundation also is home for a barred owl and great horned owl.
There have been several newcomers to the foundation in recent weeks.ABEF has four interns this summer, and hired raptor handler Ed Podgorski in May. Podgorski had volunteered at the Alaska Wildbird Rehabilitation Center in Wasilla.
“By trade, I was an aircraft mechanic for 20-some years,” he said. “I guess I like things that fly or used to fly.”
Podgorski said his work at the foundation “just doesn’t feel like a job,” but noted “eagles are really hard to train, especially mature eagles.”
“They’re not pets, but you do kind of get a bond with a certain bird,” he said.
ABEF this month welcomed a juvenile eagle from Sitka and a juvenile raven from Juneau.
The eagle had a wing tip amputated after being electrocuted and does not yet have a name.
McRoberts said the raven has 60 percent mobility in its right wing after falling out of its nest. The bird informally is known as Gary, but McRoberts would like to take it to Klukwan to be named.
The foundation also houses another eagle, a falcon and two red-tailed hawks.
For photos and videos from summer activities, visit the “American Bald Eagle Foundation” Facebook page.