community.kjrh.com

Adventures with the barn owls....last night apparently one of the babies fell off the tray, and vanished. Cam watchers (like us) e-mailed the site frantically, rescuers came, and after long hours of searching, finally found the baby and put him/her back in the nest. So... cam watchers of the world have now saved two eagles in the Channel Islands and an owl baby (?correct word) in the UK. Go cam watchers!

Are those owl babies the MOST adorable things you ever saw?!?! And they are so cute the way they interact! I'm hooked. Glad those volunteers are so attentive to the forumers and quick to rescue. I'm tellin' ya... I could easily just pick one up and cuddle it, myself!... not really...not unless I want my nose beaked off! But really, are those little Steiff-teddy-owletts capable of being any sweeter than when they cuddle each other and rub their little heads sideways against each other?!? OH my GOSH they are cute!!!

Socal: About an hour ago I was watching them do just that very thing, cuddling and snuggling. So sweet! But you are right about their beaks, of course.

On palemale irregulars blog, today, Sunday, there is some very good news about the Houston Street (NYC) fledges afflicted with frounce (which killed the adult male), and great fun with a newly fledged (and completely as yet, un-flighted) chickadee.

Pale male Irregulars already has posted catgirls sighting of Kay! Your becoming very famous girl. YEE HAW!

You said it, Observer...and may I add, "Boy, howdy!"

Catbird: Donegal's blogspot is a wonderment, isn't it?! I had peeked at it a few times in the past, but this morning I gave it some of the time it truly deserves. Don't know where to begin in its praise. It is just so vivid, both textually and visually. And there is so much information, so ably offered in a brilliantly inviting "package." I'm sure there are any number of daily gems to be mined there. Today, in addition to catgirl's spotlight, I enjoyed the information about pain medications for rehabbing birds, the continuing discussion of frounce, and the precious tale of the "wind-up toy" of a baby chickadee discovered in the rhubarb patch. I could just imagine it perching on my own foot.

I will put a reading of Donegal's blog on my daily "things-to-do-for-myself list."

Bville: What a lovely sweet note! I have taken the liberty of copying it, and sending it on to Donna/Donegal. She will be so pleased. I love her blog site too!

Also, please, any and all ... if you/we have any questions about our redtails, their behaviors, habits, eye color, feeding habits, belly bands, foot size, anything at all, go to Donegal's blogsite and click on "contact me" and e-mail her. She WANTs to share what she knows and she wants to learn all the time. Because of this forum and the hawks it is inspired by, science now knows that hawks fly at night! (Thanks to Observer for her amazing screen shots!), and that, if redtail fledges CAN get back to their nest, they darned well will! and at every opportunity, too! And, of course, questions or comments do not have to be at all about only redtails. As you can see, her blog (and life) is about ALL of those magical, fascinating creatures who live their lives in quiet, around us all. So, if you have questions, are wondering about something our hawks have done? Ask her. If she doesn't know the answer, she will, for sure, find out!

Catbird:

I have taken the liberty of copying it, and sending it on to Donna/Donegal. She will be so pleased. I love her blog site too!

Thank you kindly, Catbird. I appreciate that you may well have been one of the first (way back when)  to introduce us here to Donna's blog. I feel that I've missed a lot along the way, but there are those archives! Don't know why the latest writings captured my interest so strongly. Maybe it was the pleasant combo of catbird's mention, the good news about the recovering frounce victims, and the chickadee photos and story. I remember that when I was a kid, we had a baby chickadee for a time (Why, I dont recall; but the outcome was good.) Also, my mom used to grow rhubarb in the back yard. Now, mind you, those two recollections had no juncture in reality; but Donna's article somehow melded them together in a happily nostalgic way.
Thanks, again.

This is to add to the kudos for catgirl...this, for her driving skills. It is rare for me here in Morton, IL to see any raptors...two sightings in 18 years (one at my birdbath and one on my arbor), although in the next town over, 7 miles away, there has been a pair of redtails for at least 10 years. So, just now, I was making a run to the grocery store, and a redtail flew over the road, and, gawking, I started hearing that dreaded sound of tires on gravel and whipped my head back forward and whipped the wheels back onto the road. So, be careful out there, catgirl! I think it was an adult. I could see that it had a shorter tail but not what color it was.

Yes, that can be a problem when driving!!!  Watching the sky and not the road - fine if you are a bird!!
As has been mentioned a number of times, there is a lot of road construction going on all over South Peoria - so that has kept the normal speed (35mph) down much lower, so I fit right in crawling along while I scan the road and the skies!  Also I tend to drive alot in the neighborhood too, and park in certain parking lots that have wide views of the area and do my scanning from there.
Believe me, I am careful.  It would be hard to explain to my husband, the cops, and my insurance if I hit anything!!!  I get enough strange looks and questions about what I am looking at as it is

Speaking of "looks and questions".... you mentioned a woman living in the area who has been watching the hawks too! I swear this is contagious! Did you tell her about the forum and your photos so she can "play" too?

 

Catbird:

This is to add to the kudos for catgirl...this, for her driving skills.

Catbird:

Brace yourselves my friends. . . and keep checking out catgirl's Flickr site ... I have unofficially re-named catgirl as the "Pied Piper of Hawks!"

I totally concur, Catbird. (Believe it or not, that very image came to my mind this afternoon.) My question is, how does she do it?!  I mean, one hand on the wheel, one on the camera, one on the pipe....oops, let's see now....

Hmmm....I'm thinking of the ice cream truck that used to drive through our neighborhoods in the summers, merrily "chirping" some recording designed to draw those sun-baked little kids like flies to a melted Fudgesicle. (Wish I could remember one of those tunes--This Old Man ? Anywho...)  So what might that "hawkilicious" (Observer, you inspired me) tune be that so entices our feathered friends? How's about "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins? Love that song. But...that would make catgirl the, uh, "little old bird woman."  No no no.... 

Hmmm...now if I were a hawk just minding my own business making lazy circles in the sky...and, if I were to hear the strains of "Listen to the Mockingbird" waaay down below me on, say, Peoria Avenue, I'd be redtailin' it toot sweet [RTH's can't spell in French] down thataway, looking for a suitable perch upon which to size up the source of that beak-smackin', droolin'-down-an-empty-crop tune. And I'd be thinkin' (in a Homer Simpson-type fashion), "Mock-ing-bird, arghhhhh...droool." 

Hmmm...Or, perhaps it's simply that the Red Hawks are excellent judges of character--they know a birdlover when they see one and just naturally gravitate to where the love is. Yup, that's it! They follow the love--and it makes them glow.

"Pipe" on, Catgirl!

I think the hawk population just doubled. See Catgirl's Flickr page.

A few weeks younger than Thunder too, based on their reddish "bibs." And they seem to be waiting for (and calling for) DINNER!!!!!!!