A great story and one beautiful eagle. Thanks Kris! Hope he heals well enough to fly free some day.

Her beak opened wide and HACK!, HACK!, HACK!, HACK!  On the 5th HACK! a large, gray shapeless lump fell from her beak.  I watched as it fell over the ledge to the playpen below.  Well, that was fun!  Hahahahaha!

You just see it all huh Carol? Right place, right time!

I love to study their behavour.  I could sit for hours just watching them.   

The more you watch different birds, the more you notice similar behavours.  Fascinating!

If I lived in Rochester, I'd get a job as a Street Cleaner. That way I'd be out all day, (not doing my job), just watching Falcons. Probably that job wouldn't last long.

Well I know you wouldn't get any work done cuz street cleaners have to look down. Watchers have to look up! Keep your eyes to the sky!
 

That's why I said "that job probably wouldn't last long", I'd be like (FIRED).

Her beak opened wide and HACK!, HACK!, HACK!, HACK!  On the 5th HACK! a large, gray shapeless lump fell from her beak.  I watched as it fell over the ledge to the playpen below.  Well, that was fun!  Hahahahaha!

You just see it all huh Carol? Right place, right time!

I love to study their behavour.  I could sit for hours just watching them.   

The more you watch different birds, the more you notice similar behavours.  Fascinating!

If I lived in Rochester, I'd get a job as a Street Cleaner. That way I'd be out all day, (not doing my job), just watching Falcons. Probably that job wouldn't last long.

The accumulation or avian carcasses this fall on The Baltimore Sun's pedestrian bridge over Centre Street seems to be way down. In years past, as many as a dozen birds would die each autumn in collisions with the bridge's glass walls. Their feathery bodies would lie on the ledges for months until maintenance personnel could get out there to scoop them up. It made for a pretty ghastly stroll into work from the parking garage each morning
Some of the birds would not die right away, and we would watch as the stunned and broken songbirds slowly expired. It's likely more fell to the street and never got counted. Others may have been temporarily stunned, and eventually flew off.
Apparently, the critters simply cannot see the glass. They see the bridge and its (interior) railings as a place to rest. Or, perhaps they see The Sun's grove of ginkgo trees through the glass and try to fly through for a rest in the branches.
When the problem was brought to The Sun's managers, they responded by purchasing ultraviolet-reflective decals. When applied to the glass, the manufacturers said, the stickers would alert the birds to the presence of the glass, and they would veer away.
So far, so good. Most of last year's fatal collisions occurred in October, during the fall migrations. By the end of that month, we were approaching 10, if I recall correctly. This year, through the first week of November, we can count only three fatal collisions. One actually occurred late in the summer - a white dove or pigeon with a blue band. A second - a sapsucker (photo), I suspect - died early in the autumn. A sparrow fell late in October.
But, so far at least, that's it. It seems as though the application of the UV decals has saved a few of the millions of birds that die in collisions with buildings each year. Our thanks to The Sun managers and maintenance employees who made it happen.
I'm told the Wisconsin Humane Society is selling window decals. You can even build your place with bird-safe glass, if you can afford it.

Bridge
Sapsucker

The Baltimore Sun 

Her beak opened wide and HACK!, HACK!, HACK!, HACK!  On the 5th HACK! a large, gray shapeless lump fell from her beak.  I watched as it fell over the ledge to the playpen below.  Well, that was fun!  Hahahahaha!

You just see it all huh Carol? Right place, right time!

This sweet honey.  Here is a link which includes a video.  She has been given a stuffed animal to hold on to as a mom surrogate.  This infuriates me to no end.  This was done to her by a sub species

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/frodo-baby-koala-shot-in-_n_780625.html

This is just the saddest thing I've seen in a while and we've seen it all here. 2 yrs in prison, not enough, 200,000 fine....not enough.

White Egret. I actually took this pic when I was in Fla. Sometimes I do something right. 

Federal biologists are intensifying research on a large and unexplained rise in the frequency of deformed beaks in a wide range of bird species from Alaska through the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia. The deformities reduce the birds’ ability to feed, clean themselves and raise young, according to the scientists, from the United States Geological Survey. The photo below, by Sandy Talbot, shows a normal black-capped chickadee and one with a deformed beak:
Oh not the Chickadee!
The rise in the frequency of the deformities in the region over the last decade is “startling� and cannot be a statistical fluke, the researchers said in a news release on Monday.

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/scientists-probe-beak-trouble-in-alaskan-and-northwestern-birds/?partner=rss&emc=rss Read more about this



Saw the baby Koala on the news last night.  Poor little one.  I truly hope they are able to save him/her.   

How cute they named it "Frodo"

[62% (4088)]

62% (4088) Votes! Good feelings on this one 

Now 4,089!  WooHoo!   

 

[62% (4088)]

62% (4088) Votes! Good feelings on this one 

Today's WAI?

Yes, this is a Fieldfare in a Fare Field! - But beware that Mistle thrushes share this - so look for a white belly too to confirm Fieldfare.

Good job Aafke & MAK! 

Northern finches have been making appearances throughout the county.

Barton Smith of Wyomissing Hills has had a pine siskin at his feeders for the last week.

Matt Wlasniewski of Hamburg reports purple finches at his feeders.

Catherine Elwell of District Township writes: "A new visitor for my place was a white-crowned sparrow on Oct. 26. Oct. 22 brought the first brown creeper; I spied my first pine siskins (three) on the 30th. Purple finches were the first to arrive on Oct. 2 (five males and eight females)."

She also writes that the new visitors have been making their presence known among the local birds: "It was comical to watch a female purple finch and an Am. goldfinch interact at my bird bath. The goldfinch was already happily bathing when the purple finch landed and began tugging and pulling at the goldfinch's tail feathers. I guess the p. finch wanted privacy and was telling the goldfinch to get lost."

Mike Vanino of Kenhorst sent in some remarkable photos of the bald eagle congregation that occurs every winter at the Conowingo Dam along the Susquehanna River in northeast Maryland. He stopped counting at 100. As the bald eagle population has increased, the wintering eagle numbers at the dam have also increased.

The eagles find easy pickings at the hydroelectric dam when the turbines stun the fish, making them easy meals.

Bald eagles have made a remarkable comeback, a fact recently celebrated at Hawk Mountain. As of last Thursday, a record 349 balds had passed the lookout since this year's count began July 31.


Hawk Mountain will hold a Golden Eagle Saturday on Saturday, highlighting the other eagle that migrates through Berks. As of Thursday, 42 have been spotted this season, but the colder, November days are what push this magnificent bird out of the north.

It was the golden eagle that put Hawk Mountain on the map in the mid-1930s when curator Maurice Broun recorded this bird in unprecedented numbers. The prevailing wisdom of the time was that the golden eagle was a raptor of the West without a sizable Eastern presence. Some even doubted his eagle identification skills until they went to Hawk Mountain to witness the migration with their own eyes.

Go to Hawk Mountain in the waning days of November and catch both of these eagles with your own astonished eyes.

More than 100 bald eagles have congregated at the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River in northeastern Maryland.

Rewards are being offered for information on the suspected poisoning of two bald eagles near Lincoln, state officials said today. One bald eagle was dead and another was near death when state wildlife investigators arrived at a farm near Ellendale late last month.
The birds had been poisoned, said Sgt. Gregory Rhodes, with the state Division of Fish and Wildlife.
The surviving bird was taken to TriState Bird Rescue and Research in Milford Crossroads, treated and released Tuesday.
Rhodes said investigators don’t want to give out too many details on this case but in other bird poisoning cases, someone sets out bait tainted with poison as they target a perceived pest on their land. An animal eats the poison-tainted bait, dies and then the eagle eats the contaminated animal.
Rhodes said cases of eagles and other birds of prey falling victim to secondary poisoning are not uncommon.
“That’s why it’s against the law,� he said. “Eagles eat things that are dead.�
Rhodes said officials are asking the public’s help in trying to find out more about what happened.
The birds were discovered Oct. 21 when state investigators were contacted by a citizen, Rhodes said. The birds were found in a field near the intersection of Beaver Dam Road and Sammons Road.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward up to $3,500 and the state Division of Fish and Wildlife is offering $1,000 for information leading to a conviction.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Gregory Rhodes with the Division of Fish and Wildlife at (302) 739-9913 or (302) 542-6102, or Special Agent Daniel Collins with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Dover at (302) 730-9184.

Information also may be provided by calling Delaware Fish and Wildlife Operation Game Theft at (800) 292-3030, or by going to the Operation Game Theft website.

Officials said maximum federal criminal penalties include a $100,000 fine and one year in prison.