http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2011/10/07/is-it-spring/  Dorothy and E2 bonding at the nest!

B next to main camon main camLooking upLooking righton perchfacing frontdoin the jiglooking at..in the nestoff and runnin

Thought it was Mr T at first, as this was where he hung out in the beginning. The white feather said it's Archer.

Beauty's shadow.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuA6ZjpEJys

Happy Feet’s fate still a mystery

October 6 2011 at 10:31pm

Wellington - The fate of Happy Feet, an emperor penguin who washed up in New Zealand, 3 000 kilometres from his Antarctic home, remained a mystery despite persistent questioning in parliament on Thursday.

Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley could only tell the House of Representatives that it was “highly improbable� that he was caught in the nets of a trawler after being released into the Southern Ocean September 4.

The saga of Happy Feet has been followed by thousands around the world since he was nursed back to health after being found on a North Island beach eating sand under the impression it was snow.

Fans expressed alarm when the satellite transmitter glued to his feathers stopped sending signals eight days after he was freed from a boat into the near-freezing waters off New Zealand's Campbell Island.

There was immediate speculation that he had been eaten by a whale or some other monster of the deep, but Green member of parliament Gareth Hughes suspected he had been swept up in the nets of one of nine trawlers recorded around Happy Feet's last known location.

The boats, trawling for southern blue whiting, or blue cod, were 37 to 55 kilometres away from the penguin at the time of the last transmission.

“A southern blue whiting trawler can cover 50 nautical miles (893 kilometres) in a day, and we are talking about an incredibly long net that is almost half a kilometre wide and 75 metres high,� Hughes said.

“How can the minister claim that it is very unlikely that Happy Feet was possibly trawled?� he asked.

As the speaker tried to keep order amid the festive noise of the last day of parliament before next month's general election, Heatley reminded parliament that the closest vessel was 32 kilometres away when the transmissions fell silent.

“Its fishing lines are not 32 kilometres long,� he said. “That would have meant that the vessel raced the transponder's emission, which went probably faster than - or close to - the speed of light. That would have been a very fast fishing vessel, indeed.�

Heatley said ministry officials had been monitoring the fishing boats and Happy Feet's transponder on adjacent screens, and they never came near each other. - Sapa-dpa

[Have a great day Deb]

  Have a great day Deb 

Fascinating story about a bird caught up in Hurricane Irene.

http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2011/10/06/news/doc4e8e2a115747a481260500.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Your right, a great story and a happy ending. 

Quiet and Uneventful
October 06, 2011 - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre
Kathy Reports:

All is well here at the Etobicoke Sunlife nest site.  Both Jack and Angel have been around alot the past few days and are in rebonding mode!   

Last night when I left both were on the nest ledge chupping to each other and this morning when I arrived, Angel was on her hunting perch and Jack was guarding the nest box 

"D*#% nail!"

Where is she now?

October 6: After five days without a check-in, NX came back into cell range and today her backpack was able to transmit the details of where she has been. On October 2, at around 11:15am, NX left Hanson’s Cove on the Little Wicomico River in Northumberland, Virginia, and flew roughly 2 miles further north to Vir-Mar Beach, in Virginia’s Northern Neck region. She spent two nights there and during the days explored most of the length of the river before returning to her current home base on the Little Wicomico on October 4.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045305/Did-say-theyd-lost-penguin-200-000-young-birds-search-hungry-chicks.html

Great pics here

Look away if you must - but there are some pretty fascinating critters here!

http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/birds/2011/10/05/spiders-an-appreciation/



(Should have saved this til Halloween...)

Ahhh and the 1st one is IRISH!!!!

LOVE IT!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4npuEpM39BE# Beau bringing in prey, (not for the squeamish, like me!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLBvsCxUTnI# Beau has a look at his new 2 from yesterday

The weather in Antarctica has kept Jeff from working. They already had white-out conditions. He's back in business and this is what he is doing!

I guess building an air control tower for the new Runway they built 2 years ago!! Here's the topper! More soon.

Jeff said the ice is real thin this year and conditions are very bad. They call it a Con 1 which is like an F4 Cat4 Hurricane. This pic was taken yesterday when it was nice and clear. Today the condition is Con1 again. They had to use GPS one night to get back to base. Phew, can't imagine getting lost in those conditions on the Ice.