http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/twitchers_are_contacted_over_missing_luke_1_1166582

[Some of the largest and most beautiful predatory birds are making a rare visit to the Olympic Peninsula this winter.“Snowy owls are here in pretty big numbers,� said Bob Boekelheide, director of the Dungeness River Audubon Center in Sequim.]

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20120101/news/301019980/snowy-owls-sweep-into-peninsula-from-arctic-to-the-delight-ofstory & pic

 Some of the largest and most beautiful predatory birds are making a rare visit to the Olympic Peninsula this winter.

“Snowy owls are here in pretty big numbers,� said Bob Boekelheide, director of the Dungeness River Audubon Center in Sequim.

Some pics from Jeff of momma Weddell

Hi all and Happy New Year! Donna sent me a note and I thought I'd respond here. I've been off over the holidays, so I don't really have anything new to report. Have been at Harlequin for about an hour this morning, but don't see any action. Will try to let you know when I do (and when I can become unburied from the pile of work on my desk!).

Also, I'm not sure why our camera man hasn't moved the camera to the nest tray. I'll shoot him another email. Unfortunately I don't have much control over this.

Cheers!

Thanks Kat, good luck getting unburied! Happy New Year!

12 degrees and some snow.

Bundle up Rochester!

[WOW!!!!]

WOW!!!!   

[Shaky]

Nice pics Carol, I think I met everyone there except for Shaky & Carrie! "I'll get you next time, my pretty!"

If you're checking out Rhea Mae and Tiago's cam at the Sheraton in Toronto, please be sure to report if you see either of them at the nest site.  It's hard for Linda to get down there during the Winter and she's asked for our help.

http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/Web_Cams/TorontoSheraton/index.htm

Thanks!

I check just about every day as I do Quest also. I'll be lookin! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1baqLbmqaQ#ws Here's the sister video to Ei's. Pretty cool stuff.

Quest was away for Christmas. Near Pickering.

Christmas Eve map

[Peregrine falcons have come back from near extinction, but biologists still debate whether or not the birds have made a full recovery.]

Peregrine falcons have come back from near extinction, but biologists still debate whether or not the birds have made a full recovery.

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/181534/Occupy-falcon

Surprising Science

On January 1st of this year, we awoke to reports of thousands of birds dead in Arkansas. The cause was not immediately known, and some people started to freak out, even saying that the event was a sign of the coming apocalypse.

Of course, within days scientists had an answer–the birds were likely startled by fireworks and, unable to see in the night, they ran into houses and signs and other objects and died from the trauma.

It turns out that birds are easily startled by fireworks. A study in the November/December issue of Behavioral Ecology used weather radar to track birds disturbed by New Year’s Eve fireworks for three years in the Netherlands. They found that thousands of birds took to the skies shortly after midnight and didn’t settle down again until 45 minutes later.

The scientists estimated that hundreds of thousands of birds, including several species of migratory waterfowl, were disturbed by the fireworks each year in the Netherlands alone. “The unexpected loud noises and bright lights fireworks produce are probably a source of disturbance for many species of domestic and wild animals,� the scientists wrote.

Most of the time, birds won’t die from the fireworks displays, as they did in Arkansas, the researchers note. But they still suffer from disrupted sleep, interrupted feeding and the energetic costs of flight and resettlement.

So, if you wake up on Sunday morning to more reports of dead birds, don’t think it’s Armageddon, but have a thought for the effects of our pretty displays on the wildlife around us.

Timbits is Tim Horton's slang for donut holes.

Who's Tim Horton??

:happy:I can help you with timbits and Tim Hortons, Donna.  Tim Horton was a Canadian hockey? player I think who began a successful donut chain in Cananda.  Think Dunkin Donuts.   They have since  come into the upstate area...I don't know how far south, but they are entrenched in the Rochester area.  Timbits are donut holes.
Coffee is excellent at Tim Hortons, but I brew Dunkin' Hazlenut at home :-) Next time you are up here, someone will have to take you for some of Tim's bits!

Well thank you Margaret, we just have munchkins here, no Tim's Bits yet. Maybe they are expanding! 

The Garden of Eagles
‎1st patient of 2012, Patient #12-0001, Bald Eagle. From Mr. Randy Huwa: The first patient of 2012 has arrived at the Wildlife Center -- a Bald Eagle. This bird was picked up in Chesapeake yesterday [Saturday] afternoon and spent the evening with wildlife rehabilitator Lisa Barlow. The bird arrived at the Center early this afternoon. We'll post additional information as it becomes available. Report from Dr. Miranda: It is an adult BAEA, 3.8 kg. Bird is thin, but not emaciated, weak, hanging head -- showing classic symptoms of lead poisoning. Test found blood lead levels of 0.267 ppm so we have started chelation therapy.