Goin' back a ways...

I have nada to post about, but still feel the need.
I was looking at photos from two years ago, and found some oldies but goodies.


Junior:


If you are relatively new to the blog, here's Junior's story.
About this time two years ago, he was sitting in a nice warm mew with free meals, awaiting his transfer to a nature center in Illinois.

That little head tilt just makes me melt. I was hiding behind the door as I took photos, in case he wanted to mate with my head again.



About two years ago, I went to my first OOS Owl Symposium:
(One of my Sunday Sketches...I so need to start doing those again. They made me giggle.)


And....sigh.
Boomer.

Off to his foster home, and onward to a forever home with another Boston, two kids and no cats.

The first foster home was completely useless, but the second time was the charm. Have you ever heard of a dog rescue returning your dog to you three months later???
I still miss him. The girls still talk about him. And Geoff says that Boomer was his favorite (we won't tell Nellie and Hooper).

I don't want to leave anyone depressed so how about an ending about food?

As most of you are aware, birds of prey eat meat. Bird of prey rehab centers need to supply that meat to their birds. A LOT of meat.

This was two years ago...during the quarterly "Rodent Run" (a fun video at that link...you have to have a warped sense of humor to deal with all this stuff), we were pleased (and a little horrified) at the size of some of the rats.
Some of them were approaching 2 pounds. They wouldn't fit in the bags.
So Marc had a good idea.....
Cut off the tails so the rats will fit.



(The birds don't eat the tails anyway....)
: - )

Someone pass the Nyquil?

Do we really need our sinus cavities? I mean, why are they there, if we only notice them when they are clogged beyond belief?
I would like to just taste an orange, or some soup, or anything except this nothingness.
I will be swilling a rather large dose of Nyquil in a minute, so this post should be coherent, but if I leave nonsensical garbage on your blog, please forgive me.

A big tree fell at Lake Isabella. It is rather close to the GHO nest, though the nest is still there. What is NOT there is the female owl. I noticed her absence last week, but held out hope that she was just low in the nest, brooding 2 or 3 new chicks. But it seems that there has been a nest failure. There could be any number of reasons:
1. The female died for some reason.
2. The male died for some reason, and the female would have to leave the nest to hunt for herself, leaving the eggs/chicks to grow cold.
3. The eggs were duds and the parents left the nest.
So, it's still early, so if they are both still alive, they will try again. If one of them has died, hopefully the remaining owl will find another mate and go on.
Speaking of death:
Helen, the 22 1/2 year old red-tailed hawk at RAPTOR, died after a prolonged illness of unknown origin.




Marilyn, one of our rehabbers, tried everything she could think of to save Helen. She was up tube-feeding Helen every 2 or 3 hours for days and days, but to no avail.
If there is a Rainbow Bridge for wild birds, Helen is sitting on top of it, with full sight and feeling a rush of youthful buoyancy in her veins.
Helen (1984-2007)


I heard on Cincy Birds that someone had seen 30+ sandhill cranes land near Armleder Park, so I took the girls out with high hopes. And this greeted us. A park and parking lot full of water. Damn.


Geoff took the girls to an indoor playground while I fell into a cold-virus-induced coma on the couch. I woke up in time to notice this out the window, in the back yard:

Our resident red-shouldered hawk had caught herself a mouse and was tearing it apart on our back fence! See the brake light on the car behind her? I bet that was a startling sight to the person driving by.

Jeff, our bander, told me to be on the lookout for color bands on the RS in the area, because RAPTOR has monitored an RS nest very close to our house in the past. This one did NOT have a color band, so she is either one of the adults, or a new bird to the area.

Just before take-off (did she realize I was watching?).

If you look really close, you can see blood on her talons.
Sweet!
When a sight like this catches my eye, it feels like such a blessing. I am not one to prescribe to any religion, but "blessing" is the only word I can think of to describe it.

Boomer update:
Today, Boomer was adopted by a family in Indiana, with a few kids and a female Boston Terrier. First reports say that he is getting along just fine.
Thank goodness.

Sunday Sketch:

Goodbye Boomer.

Word of the Day:

redivivus \red-uh-VY-vuhs; -VEE-\, adjective:
Living again; brought back to life; revived; restored.

Finally, after weeks and weeks of searching, Boomer is at a foster home found through Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue. The foster home is in Columbus, so I had to drop off the girls at 9 am, then drive around 100 miles. I stayed maybe 5 minutes, then drove 100 miles back to get the girls. I think everyone knows how I feel about Boomer, and I am just not in the mood to talk about it, so let's see the after effects.



Trixie ventured up first, since she was one of the cats who wasn't injured by Boomer.
I carried Queen up myself, but she got so panicked, I let her go back down. It will take her the longest, I think, because Boomer almost killed her.

Powder made herself right at home, which was nice to see. We got Boomer back a week after we got her, so she has spent all of her time here in the basement.

I feel good that Boomer is in a nice foster home, warm and cared for, and I know that he will soon find a family who is perfect for him.

It was da BOMB!

Word of the Day:

ambit \AM-bit\, noun:
1. Circuit or compass.
2. The boundaries or limits of a district or place.
3. An area in which something acts, operates, or has power or control; extent; sphere; scope.


The weather was actually nice enough to go outside and have a look around the yard:

The deer skull still rests just outside our fenceline. I have posted about this pile of bones before.

The prairie sleeps...but soon, it will grow up tall and create shelter once again for snakes and mice and bugs. I plan on expanding it this year, to maybe twice its length and depth. The blackberry bramble I planted two years ago is getting nice and tall and we can expect more than two berries this year. (Blackberries grow on last year's growth)

Our original birdbath, one of the catalysts for me becoming a birder sprung a leak some time back, so I turned it into a planter. All that is there right now is moss and fungus.

Boomer has been working on the same Nylabone since he came back. I think I will send it along when he goes to the foster home.

I soaked in the juncos, white-throated sparrows and the solitary towhee today. Soon they will be gone, not to be seen until next winter.
Now, my bird trip today:

Oh My God, my digiscoping skills stink.
I went out to a park today (Geoff and I decided that I shouldn't say which one I went to, and I will explain why in a minute)

Here are the geese that aren't snow geese.

And a slew of gulls, mostly ring-billed.

Thank goodness I had the scope today. On the far side of the lake, there were a zillion ducks:
Wood ducks
Ring-billed ducks
Black ducks
Mallards
Northern Pintails
Lesser scaups
Buffleheads
Hooded mergansers
Goldeneyes...
And probably lots more, but this ranger decided to come through on his little boat:

...and flushed them all.

This is why I am not saying which park:
I was getting ready to leave the park, and stopped to look at a raptor soaring above. I never did figure out what it was, because this package caught my attention. This package, wrapped as a Christmas present, was just sitting next to the parking lot. My first thought was "Is this Candid Camera or something?". Then I thought, "Holy sh**. What if that is a bomb?"
I hightailed it out of there and went to the Ranger's Station to report it. I felt stupid doing so, but what he told me made me glad that I did. He said that they have found rudimentary bombs in the park before.
Alright, then.
I will be watching the news, in case it's mentioned.

Okay, enough already. Bring on the warmth.

Word of the Day (And boy, does it fit!):
gelid \JEL-id\, adjective:
Extremely cold; icy.

I am getting quite attached to my little orangy house finch. But there is a direct correlation of redness and health and fitness in house finches and other brightly colored birds, so maybe he won't be around for long. Sometimes I wish I were ignorant of certain things, and could just enjoy nature blissfully unaware.

I miss my cats. I spend time with them in the evening, as I sit here and blog, but I miss them curling up with me in bed, and watching them tear through the house on their little kitty errands.

Sigh...at least ice is pretty. I tried all day to capture what I was seeing in the ice, but I failed. Each tiny knob, each icicle was throwing rainbows.
Anywhere I went today, it was like driving inside an ice castle. Or a glass house.

Makes me think of that song..
"Ow, she's a brick....HOUSE..."

Queen Anne's Lace, sleeping under an inch of frozen rain.

I didn't realize how funny this picture was until I uploaded it. I was photographing the tree sparrows at Mom's feeders, and when I saw this picture up close, I realized the song sparrow behind the tree sparrow looks like he is skating...or about to fall.
"WHOOOAAAA!"

I love to watch Nellie run. And I cringe the whole time. She just isn't young anymore, and every day, I am reminded how stiff her back and tail are. I don't ask her to "sit" anymore when I give out treats, because most of the time, she slowly lowers herself onto one of her hips, instead of sitting on her bottom.

The bluebird box had fallen down, and when I picked it up, a big slab of sod was stuck to it. Soon, Mister and Missus will be back, and by God, they will have babies this year!
All of the house sparrows and starlings will fall victim to my trap and RAPTOR's new CO2 chamber.
*evil cackle*

This fancy nest box has reared three successful broods of chickadees. These are last year's survivors.

Everywhere you look...ice.

Even the trunks of all the trees have a skin of ice.

Watching the sunset through the ice was inspiring. The ice pulled in every drop of gold light and I wish I could paint.

Boomer's time is running out. We are going to set a date, and if he hasn't been adopted by that time, he will be going to a local Boston rescue. Damn it.
I have two very big guns firing for me (Julie and Jane) but no one has stepped forward to adopt him. The longer he is here, the more painful it becomes.
In the above picture, he is stalking the cats through the basement door.
BIG sigh.

To end on a good note...
A bit of wisdom from the oh-so-intelligent and wise Susan:


"People in glass houses...

...probably go through a lot of Windex."

One of the reasons I love Julie Zickefoose

For those of you who don't read Julie's blog, first I have to say "WHY IN THE HELL NOT???" and second, she put up a post this morning that may help us find a good home for Boomer.