That's one intense little story! Nature can be brutal just like the civilized world. Not for the faint of heart! 

I would have crow-ked if I saw that. Whoa. I am one of those "faint of hearts"! My heart was pounding as I read it. I'm so weak.

Molly helps Jody out

Wow, she certainly is a beautiful girl, like her momma. Thanks for the pic.

I'm so looking forward to Jeff's adventure again this season. 7 months of nothing but fun and great stories, OK and maybe some work. He was stuck in New Zealand for a few days because of bad weather but finally made it. He landed on his own runway he helped build..Pegasus. His C-17 was the first to land on that runway with night vision. Last year when he got there, the temps were 50 to 70 below. This time it was only 20 below, a bit warmer. That's even too cold for me and I love the cold. Hope to start the pics soon.

I absolutely love the colors. She's been very busy with her gardens. She sent me this pic yesterday and I asked if I could post it. Every year she has the most amazing flowers. Thank you Aafke, you have quite the green thumb. 

He just arrived, now the fun begins. This pic is just a teaser. Sunrise.

Mt Erbus. C'mon, where's the penguins?

Within the next 10 days or so, hawks that are soaring over almost every neighborhood in Great Falls will be long gone, departing for South America.

They are Swainson's hawks, which are common in the West but suffering through a population decline. The raptors will be bound for Argentina, a trip of more than 6,000 miles, and won't be seen in Montana again until sometime in April or May.

Swainson's hawks grab a headline or two almost every summer in Great Falls — this year a pair that nested in the Riverview Boulevard and Madison Park area were written up for their aggressive behavior. In one instance, a hawk drew blood when it dove at and struck a Schwan's delivery driver on the head.

For the last week or so, adult Swainson's have watched from nearby perches as their freshly fledged juveniles perfected their soaring and swooping techniques. The exercises also get the youngsters ready for the big trip south. The kids are almost as big as the parents now, and they are hard to tell apart because of the variety of color phases.

A pair that summer every year near the Milwaukee Depot by Gibson Park appear to have successfully raised three juveniles. All five have been playing in the thermals over Broadwater Bay each day for almost a week.

A family of Swainson's in the 2800 block of 4th Avenue North also appear to be getting ready for the big trip.

Those notorious Swainson's of Riverview have dialed back their attacks on humans and will be joining the migration down one family member, which was found in a chain-link fence after what may have been an accidental electrocution.

Audubon says that Swainson's hawks leave their breeding range in August or September, and arrive in Argentina in November. The migratory flocks sometimes number between 5,000 and 10,000 birds.

"Migration from North to South America passes over land, and one can imagine the great numbers seen in Central America as the hawks are funneled by the narrowing land mass," the Audubon website states. "Veracruz, Mexico, has seen up to 845,000 Swainson's hawks in one fall. Their high numbers are joined by flocks of turkey vultures, broad-winged hawks and Mississippi kites, making one spectacular sight of migrating raptors."

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology characterizes the Swainson's hawk as a common small hawk in the West, although the birds have a wing span of up to 4 feet or more, and weigh about 3 pounds.

Caption: A couple of Swainson's hawks that have been practicing flying over Broadwater Bay take a break in a conifer Wednesday. Juvenile and adult birds can appear in different color phases, but these both appear to be juveniles.

[(con't)]

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/A-Close-Encounter-With-the-Rarest-Bird.html?c=y&page=1  New found negatives provide fresh views of the young ivory-billed woodpecker

The ivory-billed woodpecker is one of the most extraordinary birds ever to live in America’s forests: the biggest woodpecker in the United States, it seems to keep coming back from the dead. Once resident in swampy bottomlands from North Carolina to East Texas, it was believed to have gone extinct as early as the 1920s, but sightings, confirmed and otherwise, have been reported as recently as this year. (con't)

This is an amazing article.

Osprey Diary August 22, 2010
August 22nd, 2010 by rboardman

Sometimes I wonder how I, as a human, fit in to this place.

I arrive disturbing jays, robin and chaffinch as I walk along the wooded path. A fox barks at times, moths flutter. Bats are roosting. I peruse the loch and marvel at the water alive with insects skimming the surface and the occasional breaking of the silver sheen by pike, or the wind pushing waves on shore. There are fungi in the woods and flakes of late blooming flowers in the air.

On the Loch itself, are the plentiful, and might I add, fanciful great-crested grebe with now increasing numbers of tufted duck  and goosanders, a solitary pochard. They are all relishing small invertebrates, perch, trout and pike. Grey herons are doing the same from shore. Of course there are the “up-endersâ€�; mallards, Canada geese and mute swans seeking their vegetatation and invertebrates. I could go on…

Yesterday afternoon we were graced by “our� stalwart male at the nest, for moments only, but exciting ones to us. Monitoring of any kind has its’ merits, sharing of information beneficial. Perhaps as mused earlier he and his two young have been seen on thursday morning. I was certain that we were seeing one juvie roosting on thursday evening.

As I marvel, I wonder, as a human, how I fit in… Rinchen

A peregrine falcon was on the loose at Potter Park Zoo this morning.

Officials were attempting to retrieve the bird on zoo property at about 11:30 a.m.

Zoo staff, volunteers and the Lansing Fire Department have been attempting to find and catch the falcon since it escaped from a handler late Friday afternoon.

What a great pic of BB Sage. Thanks so much.

Great news, Mirta and truly incredible!  Thanks for posting! 

I agree, that is amazing. Congrats Mirta!  and here is B-95" (in winter plumage) in Tierra del Fuego

SKUNK!! 

Good one Bobbie.

[December 31, 1969]

 Likely Dot-Ca Sighting
December 31, 1969   ???  - Etobicoke - Sun Life Centre


Over the course of the last several days,Ive been trading emails with a friend,Jen Howard who lives in the Kemphenfelt Bay area of Lake Simcoe. Jen has sent me some interesting photos,taken since mid-July,of 2 different Peregrine Falcons. A 2nd year bird,carrying what appeared in the photo to be a young Starling and a more interesting pair of photos,taken from her boat of a banded,juvenile,male Peregrine Falcon. The bird was seen about a quarter of the way down the Holland River,heading to Bradford.  On close examination and abit of manipulation of the photo,blue tape was easily seen on one “legâ€�. This is tape placed over the silver US Fish and Wildlife band,at the time the young Peregrine was banded,to keep track of it more easily during a fledge watch. The coloured alpha-numeric band is black with white letters/numbers,telling us it is Canadian. That band seems to be 2 digits which on inspection Ive made out to be 13 over Y. I made this observation before checking any of the current year’s banding records. I then checked which 2010 banded,male Peregrines the Canadian Peregrine Foundation had put the blue tape on. I found 2. Indeed the corresponding colour marker band of one was 13/Y.  This bird is Dot-Ca from a nest CPF monitors,infact it is one I site-co-ordinate the Fledgling Watch for each year and is a bird I personally rescued this season from a glass balcony on a condominium building. I am certain enough of this ID to make this posting. Dot-Ca was banded this year at Etobicoke’s Sunlife Centre,at Islington and Bloor.

      Attached are Jen Howards shots of the young Peregrine she and her son Jeff observed from their boat and a shot  of Dot-Ca,provided by Baylie Kastner moments before he was rescued. Jen is going to keep her eyes open for us and hopes to see either or both of these Peregrine Falcons again.

     Upon consultation with CPF Raptor Centre manager Tracy Simpson,we believe that Dot-Ca is quite a distance from home for such a young Peregrine,but the timeline of Kathy not observing all young at Sunlife fits and Dot-Ca was the first of the 3 brothers to hunt successfully for himself this summer. I also learned from Tracy that CPF has believed for some time that there is a Peregrine Falcon nest in the Barrie area(which is the general area of the sighting),but has been unable to confirm or find one…so far.  Peregrine Falcons are already being observed migrating along the shores of Lake Ontario. At a site I attend and count at in Scarborough,4 have already been sighted. Last season a record 73 migrating Peregrine Falcons were observed. Im hopeful that even more will be seen this season.

 http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/w/2010/08/sightings/likely-dot-ca-sighting/  pics here

It's here too, so many animals just let go, abandoned, killed or they hoard, which is bad also. Thanks Bobbie.