I'd never let Photon run on a beach like this if there were shorebirds about. The next day in the same spot there were Semipalmated Plovers, but by then her 11-year-old muscles were pretty tired so she didn't mind the leash. I posted a whole set of her on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48014585@N00/sets/72157622190458422/
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Check out the Cornell Blog of Ornithology!
Caren Cooper from the Lab of Ornithology attended the AOU meeting and wrote about the presentations regarding bird collisions. Windows are an enormous problem--they kill about a BILLION birds every year in the United States! Read about the meeting sessions here.
What fun! Paw Talk!
I was interviewed for an article in the website Paw Talk this weekend, and it's up today. I love when pet owners are introduced to wild birds. Although wild birds cannot legally be kept as pets,and although birds don't have "paws," people pre-disposed to love animals (like me with my cat and my dog) are very welcome in the birding community. You can read the interview here.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Active babies!
What fun! They're starting to "fly" from branch to branch. This is the farthest any of them have ventured. So far.
Thse and more photos here.
Thse and more photos here.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
My four handsome babies
I have had more fun than I think I've ever had before watching these baby herons growing up. I put a bunch of photos of them, from the start of nesting through yesterday, into a Flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48014585@N00/sets/72157621748114647/
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Natural born killer
This beautiful cat is a natural born killer, but as a domesticated animal it is decidedly NOT a natural predator. What natural predator would kill two shrews just for fun, leaving the carcasses when the tiny mammals stopped "playing" along?
This morning when I was walking Photon we came upon the first dead shrew and I wondered what had killed it. Shrews apparently taste horrible, and normal predators, after tasting one, stop wasting time with them. The question was answered when we came upon this cat with the second shrew in its mouth. When it saw Photon, it dropped the shrew and skulked into the woods, too late for the little mammal. I could tell exactly where the cat was in the understory by following the sounds of the many anxious parent birds giving alarm calls.
There are so many nestlings and flightless fledglings right now--I get a stomachache every time I see a cat slinking about outdoors. Someone recently asked me whether their cat was in danger from Barn Owls that were calling and seeming to "scold" the cat every night. I feel so angry when people pretend their cat is a natural predator but don't want to subject it to the same harsh realities that genuinely natural predators face. And in the case of the Barn Owls--they're hardly big enough to mess with most cats. That group was clearly a family with probably more than one owlet. Their chicks were far more at danger from the cat than the cat was from the owls.
I love cats. But they belong indoors. Period.
This morning when I was walking Photon we came upon the first dead shrew and I wondered what had killed it. Shrews apparently taste horrible, and normal predators, after tasting one, stop wasting time with them. The question was answered when we came upon this cat with the second shrew in its mouth. When it saw Photon, it dropped the shrew and skulked into the woods, too late for the little mammal. I could tell exactly where the cat was in the understory by following the sounds of the many anxious parent birds giving alarm calls.
There are so many nestlings and flightless fledglings right now--I get a stomachache every time I see a cat slinking about outdoors. Someone recently asked me whether their cat was in danger from Barn Owls that were calling and seeming to "scold" the cat every night. I feel so angry when people pretend their cat is a natural predator but don't want to subject it to the same harsh realities that genuinely natural predators face. And in the case of the Barn Owls--they're hardly big enough to mess with most cats. That group was clearly a family with probably more than one owlet. Their chicks were far more at danger from the cat than the cat was from the owls.
I love cats. But they belong indoors. Period.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Grandpa
My grandpa died 39 years ago, on Father's Day, 1970. He was one of the formative people in my life who get credit for whatever good I may do, and there are still times when I ache with longing for him. This is hardly the first time I've linked to this story, but since it's Father's Day, I'm reposting it, the one tribute I've written about him, "Grandpa's Canaries."
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Great Blue Heron and fish
I have been having a LOT of fun with Annie, my new camera. We took this photo at lunch yesterday at the lab. Amazing to realize that this poor little fish is right now nourishing not just one heron but three or four others. That's how many babies are in the nest. Three for sure, and maybe four! I'll be trying to get more photos from the nest tomorrow.
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