[But what about the eagles? How many do we have? Where do they come from? How do they make a living?]

But what about the eagles? How many do we have? Where do they come from? How do they make a living?

http://www.uticaod.com/m/sports/x1987745415/Eagles-on-the-rise-Heres-why

A single Canada Goose has between 20 and 25 thousand feathers.    Some are designed to help the bird fly or shed water. Many are the short, fluffy kind, the down that insulates the bird from the cold. Birds survive in sub-zero weather by fluffing their feathers, creating layers of air and feathers. Just a fraction of an inch of this insulation can keep a bird's body temperature at 104 degrees, even in freezing weather.    too hot for me!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 2012 - Paul McCartney and the rest of the Beatles most certainly grew up hearing Eurasian Blackbirds. Their song is beautiful, so it's no wonder the Beatles chose to weave it into one of their songs. But McCartney wasn't singing about the bird. He was singing about the racial strife in the American South in the 1960s. As he said later, "This was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: 'keep your faith; there is hope.'"
 Does the Eurasian Blackbird really sing in the dead of night? Generally not. Still … what a beautiful, hopeful song.

Bird Note

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/jan/15/post-falls-photographer-seizes-snowy-owl/ 

http://www.birdspert.com/?p=1883

A peregrine falcon with a taste for pigeons is spending the winter in downtown Maryville.

This is a perfect opportunity for people to see a peregrine falcon. Tall buildings with ledges located in urban areas with large pigeon populations occasionally attract wintering and nesting peregrines.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/jan/14/marcia-davis-maryvilles-peregrine-falcon-has-for/

AL: WHOOPING CRANE MIGRATION EFFORTS GROUNDED AGAIN

Operation Migration officials attempted to continue leading a migration of nine whooping cranes to Florida on Sunday, but eventually aborted the flight because the birds kept breaking off from the pack.

http://www.timesdaily.com/stories/Whooping-crane-migration-efforts-grounded-again,186485

Yesterday, 7 degrees, snow
today, 41 degrees and no snow! 

Posted on BCAW on the 15th

A note about S2, from 'Slechtvalkenliefde' Forum.
Person's name removed for privacy.

Dear Madam,

Falconry is an ancient method of hunting with birds of prey.
Man is by nature a hunter. At first they did, with bow and arrow or other primitive methods, but later they made use of other tools, such as rifles, but also including birds of prey.
Especially the peregrine, which are very suitable. It's a very cold blooded, but above all, confident bird.
The peregrine is also very easy to tame, but at the same time, the peregrine is also very quickly become feral.
The tame is reached, by offering food on hand for the peregrine.
This gives the peregrine quickly confidence in man, and is thus ideally suited as a hunting tool.
A trained and tamed peregrine may very well survive independently in nature because it is in very good condition and the hunting instinct (survival instinct) remains.
It is therefore very important that this peregrine S2, due to a falconer, made tame, so she can build a good condition in order to survive in the wild. The tame is a very gradual process and the welfare of the bird comes first. A stressed bird has no interest.
Currently she is healthy, but it lacks a good condition and we therefore can not skip this step to give her a good chance.

The peregrine S2 will not fly on a leash but she will be chasing a lure, if tame.
She is actually fooled, by the lure, an artificial prey, she can hunt, which at the last moment is pulled away through the line. She then wil again get height to start a new attack.
After a few times, she may "strike the prey", after which she will be rewarded with fresh food.
[A lure is a mechanism used in falconry. It has a pair of bird wings attached to an object which is swung round and round in a cord, for the falcon to chase.]

Thus building up a good condition, so that later she will successfully survive.
We can also then determine whether her fractions recovered well, so she can strike prey independently.
Given the age-old proven method, and experience of the falconers, we are confident that peregrine S2, safe and sound can be released.

Sincerely,

Martin Vink
VWG Gemert


Sorry for any spelling and grammatical mistakes, but I did my best.
I'm not as familiar with the English (and Dutch) terms from falconry.

Hey Donna did you watch this video? 

Ummm, soon as I heard the snake was still alive, I shut-er down! Nasty!!

4:45 then Auto-solve!! I couldn't wait any longer!! Usually just do auto-solve! Thanks Aafke!!

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/nat-geo-wild/wild-all-videos/ngc-red-tail-hawk-fledglings.html  Mom teaches them how to eat a snake

[Birders, however, are well aware of this invasion and we welcome our new owl overlords. Yes the country is being overrun with Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus), at least relative to how many of these magnificent birds are usually seen]

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2012/01/birding-national-parks-chasing-snowy-owl9242

Birders, however, are well aware of this invasion and we welcome our new owl overlords. Yes the country is being overrun with Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus), at least relative to how many of these magnificent birds are usually seen

Hey, Carol! Could you post just one of your pix of the deer eating from the bird-feeders? My sister will totally go crazy when she sees this, and I would love to send her one. Esp since she is on holiday now in FLA and this will totally rattle her cage. (I am evil...)

Slainte!

 

Bobbie, since Carol is probably at work, I'll post one for you. I'm sure she won't mind!   (I hope)

She didn't stay long