I just got home from downtown. For over 2 hrs. I searched by truck and by foot all the usual spots with no success. They are hiding well today. Hopefully when I get back watching a little after noon they will show themselves. MAK

Boy, they sure can hide. Oh well, they have to eat. 

   Hey Donna and Janet have either of you seen the beluga whales and manatees? Moose in New Jersey...COOL!   

Nope!  But I have seen lots of dolphins off Atlantic City - about 5 miles offshore.

Nope, no Beluga's, (only in captivity). Manatees, yes, in Fla. They are awesome.

6:14 NO A or B. Dan thinks they are sleeping in while Callidora roams the city.

6:00 am MAK: Callidora over near Xerox, something new she says.

5:37..

Nice to come for a visit

Baby peregrine falcons are being watched from around the world, as the chicks learn to fly near their University of Alberta nest.

Each day hundreds of viewers from as far as England, Germany and the United States have been watching the three five-week-old falcons online, born atop the clinical sciences building.

"It's popular. A lot of people get very attached to these birds," said Ian Moore, of the Students' Union at the U of A.

The webcams offer three views, one inside the nest and two outside.

Since Sunday, volunteers have also been keeping a close eye on the birds -- born June 5 and 6 -- as they begin to fly, said Moore.

If the fledglings run into trouble learning to fly, a volunteer contacts a biologist who then returns the falcon to the nest.

Peregrine falcons -- capable of reaching speeds of more than 320 km/h, making it the fastest animal in the world -- were nearly extinct due to the use of now-banned chlorine pesticides such as DDT.

Populations have since recovered but are still threatened, with about 50 peregrine falcon mating pairs in the province.

Last year, more than 14,000 people viewed the webcam, which helps educate people about urban wildlife, said Moore.

"Not a lot of people know about the extent and diversity of wildlife that exists in Edmonton," he said.

Watch the peregrines at www.falconcam.med.ualberta.ca.

From the bobcats and black bears that inhabit the northwest of the state to the peregrine falcons that nest atop a Jersey City skyscraper and the harbor seals that pass through the Edison Boat Basin, there is an abundance of wildlife in New Jersey. Just ask David Wheeler, founder of the nature blog “Wild New Jersey� and director of operations for the Edison Wetlands Association. Wheeler spent nearly a year in 2008 and 2009 scouring the entire state detailing its wildlife, the results of which can be found in his first book, “Wild New Jersey: Nature Adventures in the Garden State.�

The book will be released in February 2011 through Rutgers University Press. An excerpt is currently featured in the Rutgers University Press Fall/Winter 2010 Catalog, which was just released.

“It was certainly an eye-opening experience to see along with the [wildlife] experts,� Wheeler said. “It’s just incredible where this wildlife is.� Wheeler said that with this book, he hopes to relay to the public that there is a diverse array of animal life in the Garden State.

“When you think of New Jersey, it doesn’t get that reputation of a place of having wildlife. The state gets some good connotations, but most are negative,� he said. “New Jersey is really a hidden gem for nature lovers, and I hope I captured all of the different aspects for the nature expert as well as for a family who wants to spend time outdoors.�

One chapter of the book focuses on the Dismal Swamp Conservation Area in Edison, Metuchen and South Plainfield, while another highlights the Raritan Estuary running through Edison, Woodbridge, New Brunswick and other towns Wheeler said he had many memorable experiences during the year of taking weekend trips around the state. He went on one with biologists to see the peregrine falcons, which he said were close to extinct 25 years ago, nesting on top of a building in Jersey City.

“The biologists go up every year to check on the chicks,� said Wheeler. “They are strong, fierce and fast predators. The mother and father took turns nose-diving at us, protecting their chicks, so one of the biologists had to hold an umbrella to protect us. It was an absolutely amazing experience overlooking the New York skyline.�

A peregrine falcon rests atop a Jersey City skyscraper. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID WHEELER A peregrine falcon rests atop a Jersey City skyscraper. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID WHEELER Wheeler, who noted that he went dog sledding at High Point State Park in Sussex County, said he still has not been able to find a bobcat in New Jersey. “They are very secretive and rarely encountered, but they have a healthy population in New Jersey, from studies that have been done,� he said. “Their population usually resides north of Route 80.�

Speaking of the southern part of the state, Wheeler said the Cape May area is “arguably the best spot for birds.�

Overall, he said, New Jersey has some amazing natural attributes, with its beaches, valleys and the Pine Barrens.

Wheeler explained that beluga whales pass through, as do manatees, which are large, unique creatures usually found in the warm waters off Florida, and there are a dozen species of sharks in local waters. The state is also along the path of migration for a moose from the Adirondacks.

“We get the best of both worlds regarding wildlife,� he said. “New Jersey is the farthest south for some species from the north to migrate to, and the farthest north for some species from the south to migrate to.�
Jersey City Falcon

an Osprey from Edison

Kids will be kids! Thanks Sage...I like looking at your pics. 

Great and humorous pics Jim D. Thanks.  the Boot!

FORT JACKSON, La. — The smallest victims are the biggest challenge for crews rescuing birds fouled with oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill.

There's no way to know how many chicks have been killed by the oil, or starved because their parents were rescued or died struggling in a slick.

"There are plenty of oiled babies out there," said Rebecca Dmytryk of the International Bird Rescue Research Center, one of the groups working to clean oiled animals.

The lucky ones end up in a cleaning center at Fort Jackson, a pre-Civil War historic site on the Mississippi River delta south of New Orleans.

Pelican chicks often come in cold because oil has matted down the fluffy down that's meant to keep them warm. They must be warmed quickly just to survive long enough to be cleaned. And the youngest must be taught to eat.

"They only know their parents regurgitating food into their mouths. They don't know how to pick stuff up," said Dmytryk, whose organization is working with Tri-State Bird Rescue, a company hired by BP to coordinate animal rescue and cleaning in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

That means tube feeding three times a day. Others, a bit older and accustomed to taking fish from a parent's throat, must be hand-fed until they can eat fish from a bowl.

Adults can be checked a few times a day, but babies needed two staffers' full-time attention to be sure they are eating and are warm.

Many adults and juvenile pelicans get coated with heavy oil diving for fish. That doesn't happen with the chicks, though they may wade into oily puddles or get smeared by oil from their parents' feathers.

In general, rescuers don't go into nesting colonies, said Mike Carloss, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist. He said most rescued chicks were near shorelines or were on nests so low that oil washed onto them.

Lightly oiled chicks will lose the oil when they shed their down feathers, he said. "We've seen a lot of those birds in those stages make it. A lot of them are fledging now. It gives you hope that is the right thing to do."

Nearly 60 pelican chicks and more than 600 adults were brought to Fort Jackson in June after oil washed onto a rookery on Queen Bess and other nearby islands in coastal Louisiana.

They're among more than 1,000 oiled birds and more than 100 oiled sea turtles rescued since the BP-leased rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. About three-quarters of the birds and all but a handful of turtles have been cleaned in Louisiana.

All but two of the sea turtles — a 150-pound oiled loggerhead dubbed Big Mama and an 85-pound loggerhead that was sick but free of oil — are juveniles, ranging from saucer- to dinner-plate size.

Doses of fluids, antibiotics and a mix of cod-liver oil and mayonnaise used to help break up the oil they've swallowed are administered based on the animal's weight. But the basic treatment is the same.

"The difference is it takes five people to lift Big Mama and her sister. It only takes one person to lift the little guys," said Michele Kelley, Louisiana's sea turtle and marine mammal stranding coordinator.

Baby turtles leave their sandy nests and head straight for the sea knowing everything a turtle needs to know.

Chicks need far more care.

Keeping them warm can be the biggest challenge, and tern chicks are among the hardest to keep alive because they're so small, said IBRRC staffer Mark Russell.

The birds lose body heat through their skin, and smaller animals have more skin in proportion to their size than larger creatures. Some of the tern chicks are smaller than a tennis ball.

The chicks also tend to be dehydrated and malnourished.

"If they're dehydrated, they don't want to eat because they feel sick," Russell said. And they're so small that it's hard to keep a tube down their throats to give water and liquid food.

In the week he'd been in Louisiana, he knew of two or three tern chicks that died, Russell said Friday.

Once a chick is eating on its own, staff have as little contact with it as possible.

"We don't want to be raising what is commonly referred to as a pier rat," said Wendy Fox, director of Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, the Miami rehabilitation center where the pelican chicks were moved Saturday.

The babies will be housed next to adult "role models," and eventually with adults, Fox said. Their pens also have pools deep enough to dive for fish. Pelicans take five to six months to reach independence.

At Fort Jackson, one of the youngsters perched alongside a pool and flapped its wings energetically.

"See that?" Holcomb said. "He's almost ready to learn to fly!"

All 3 fledged with no problems...2 males and a female. Of course, I had to write them and ask.....UPDATES people!! No names...pffft.

Have not seen or heard Warrior lately, but I have not spent any time looking since a week ago Sunday. I did, however, see both adults today. Cheyenne on his normal position as lamp-post sentry and Seneca on her favorite perch on the chunk of concrete on the nest ledge. She was staring with some intensity down the river, but I could not tell what she was looking at.

Elimac

Archer came in at 5:23 and left at 6:46 

  A hummingbird on its favorite perch near the feeder is getting ready to assail an intruding hummer

WHATEVER worrying I was doing about my hummingbirds is over.

The fussy, noisy little birds are out in force now, drinking nectar right and left and fighting over who has rights to which feeder.

It always happens this way. I see an occasional hummingbird in early April and then an occasional one or two at the feeders for most of the spring. Then I wait and worry.

Where are all the hummingbirds? Many of you ask the same question.

But not to worry. Summer and July arrive and it's like the birds have come out of the woodwork.

My theory is the females are not drinking nectar but are eating mostly insects in spring. Insects, full of protein, help the females build and maintain strength for the nest building/egg laying effort.

In the hummingbird world, raising young is all up to the ladies, from nest building to incubating, to feeding.

The deadbeat dads are off defending a feeder, perhaps, and flashing their handsome ruby throats for the entire world to see.

Because of the protein, insects are once again the top food when the youngsters are born. Females feed only insects to their youngsters until the little ones are able to forage on their own. This takes 10 days or longer after the little birds have left the nest.

So with that kind of schedule, if all goes perfectly well, there's about a month and half when females would not be coming to our feeders at all in spring. That doesn't account for courtship, nest building and failed nests along the way.

I recently learned that youngsters are usually bigger than their mothers because the parents have lost so much weight taking care of their brood. It's obvious our carefully tended sugar water is not the food of choice to sustain these hard working females.

By the time youngsters reach our feeders, they are no longer dependent on their mothers for food and they have the necessary flight and beak skills to extract nectar on a regular basis.

And that time is now. At least in my yard, it is.

One thing, it seems, the little birds take no time learning how to defend their territory. It appears the youngsters are born with sibling rivalry in their genes.

Generally one takes up a regular and familiar perch near a feeder and dive-bombs any other hummer that tries to come close, chattering its "zit, zit, zit" harangue as it zooms off after the intruder. I've heard hummers can fly up to 25 mph, but it looks like 100 mph to me.

This summer one hummer perches on a long, long bloom of a pregnant onion, a houseplant that's out on my deck now. The little bird also seems to enjoy feeding on the pregnant onion blooms, something I had not seen a hummer do before.

The pregnant onion is right near a hanging basket of Million Bells and the bird feeds on those blooms as well. The hummingbird nectar feeder also is close by, so this little hummer has taken it upon itself to be the protector of a triumvirate of foods.

From its perch on the pregnant onion stem my little vigilante defends its perch while keeping a steadfast eye on the Million Bells on the left and the feeder on the right. It not only chases other hummers off, but poor dragonflies and butterflies that fly into close get a tongue lashing, too. I've even seen it take off to chase a cardinal off the safflower feeder not too far away. As if the hummer cared about safflower!

It is said that one answer to the rivalry is more feeders, well spread out in the yard. One year I had three. This year I have two, but I compare them to spoiled children - the more you give them, the more they want, except these spoiled children are fun to watch.

To learn more about the little birds' life and habits, visit www.hummingbirds.net.

 

!!! Rescue at Holcim
July 11, 2010 - Mississauga - St Lawrence Cement
Marion Nash Reports:

Just wanted to let you know that we had to rescue one of our chicks last
night. He was seen by one of our shift crew hopping along one of our
plant parking lots near the maintenance shop. He was safely and carefully
rescued and placed in a box. He was then taken up to the top of a silo.
They left the box for the bird to hide in given the night skies and
potential for predators. As of 5:30 a.m., the chick was seen sitting on
the ledge of the silo. I am attaching a photo. He is safe and sound and
hopefully keeps air under his wings in the days ahead.

Barb Smith