The eagles are eating something....probably a carcass or whatever. Do they feed the eagles Aafke or do they catch their own? Kinda weird they always eat on cam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOofkxQ-V8w#watch-main-area   Cute little guy.

[Wounded ducks in Davie OK -- for now]

MELBOURNE, Fla. -- Birders are flocking to a central Florida county where two duck species have made rare appearances.

A Harelquin duck was spotted in Sebastian Inlet in Brevard County. Meanwhile, a masked duck has been seen in the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Viera.

Experts say Harlequin ducks usually don't migrate much farther south than New England. The birds are usually found in Iceland, Greenland, western Russia and Canada.

Masked ducks are more commonly found in Mexico and typically don't migrate this far away from South America and the Caribbean.

The two ducks flew in just in time for this week's Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.

Wounded ducks in Davie OK -- for now

Well here we go again...how could people be so CRUEL 

A group of ducks riddled with darts at Davie's Wolf Lake Park might be uncomfortable, but they can still swim, fly and eat, say a group of would-be rescuers.

But if not treated soon, the ducks run the risk of infection, said Sherry Schlueter with Broward County's Wildlife Care Center.

Efforts to treat the injured birds have been hampered by the animals' skittishness, she said.

``Some monsters have done horrific things to them and they're not as trusting as they may have been previously,'' Schlueter said.

Davie police and the Wildlife Care Center were called Tuesday after residents found darts littering the park grounds and noticed darts sticking out of the Muscovy ducks' bodies.

Wildlife workers visited the park, 5400 SW 76th Ave., Tuesday and Wednesday to capture the ducks and remove the darts, but the animals were too scared to let anyone close.

The group plans to give the ducks a respite and will regroup later on trying to capture the injured animals.

Schlueter said they have a better chance at treating the ducks if well-intentioned people don't feed them.

``We have wildlife veterinarians on hand who can provide them with the help that they need to be healthy and strong again, but the longer it takes to get them in here, the more they risk infection from the darts rusting,'' she said.

In March 2009, two Muscovy ducks hit by darts in Miramar had to be euthanized because their injuries were so severe.

As to whoever injured the ducks in the first place, Schlueter said punishment for unnecessary or cruel treatment of an animal could range from a misdemeanor crime to a third degree felony carrying up to $10,000 in fines and possible jail time.

The number of Florida scrub-jays—the only bird species that lives only in Florida—continued an apparent decline in 2009, according to The Nature Conservancy’s 2009 Jay Watch report.

The species is in trouble at small- to medium-sized scrub sites particularly, the report says.

The Jay Watch report’s findings highlight the role of habitat degradation—seen as the biggest threat to the scrub-jay—in the threatened species’ struggles and show the need for more controlled burns to help restore scrub-jay habitat to appropriate condition.

More than one-third of surveyed sites had vegetation too tall for scrub-jays, according to vegetation survey results. More than one-half of the sites had too little bare ground, which scrub-jays use to cache acorns to eat during winter.

Florida Scrub Jay
Florida Scrub Jay © Mark Hows, from the surfbirds galleries.

While the report suggests the scrub-jay population overall is declining, it also draws attention to sites—including sites in Manatee and Polk counties—where Jay Watch data have guided controlled burns that helped expand the scrub-jay population.

“Scrub-jays are a threatened species and an indicator of the health of a rare habitat,� said Jay Watch program coordinator Cheryl Millett, a biologist with The Nature Conservancy.

“There is so much work that needs to be done to restore the habitat these amazing birds need to survive, and controlled burns are the main tool for doing that,� she said.

The scrub-jay was designated as a threatened species in 1987 due to loss and degradation of the Florida scrub habitat upon which it depends. This habitat, occurring in peninsular Florida, is fire-maintained oak scrub on well-drained sandy soils.

Jay Watch is a citizen-science initiative started in 2002 and is coordinated through The Nature Conservancy with direction from Archbold Biological Station in Highlands County.

The Jay Watch coordinator and staff at conservation lands train Jay Watch volunteers to monitor scrub-jay populations. Volunteers follow specific protocol, obtaining information that provides accurate status and trend information. The program added vegetation monitoring in 2004. Find out how you can volunteer for jay Watch.

The 2009 Jay Watch data show a decline in the number of scrub-jay groups at 60 percent of the sites surveyed in the early 1990s by the Archbold Biological Station and again last year by Jay Watch. There was an overall decrease from 529 to 384 groups, a 27 percent decline.

“While not a representative sample, this suggests continuing threats to scrub-jay populations,� according to the 2009 report, which will be distributed to Jay Watch volunteers and staff on Saturday at a recognition event at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales.

COCOA — So many gulls forsake fishing for free-but-foul lunches that last week's international birding festival featured field trips to the dump, as well as the beach.

Gulls gobble up garbage there, warm up from the rotting trash and thrive beyond what nature could otherwise support.

"The dump is great because you see so many in a compact area," Woody Bracey, 73, of the Bahamas said during a gull-watching tour of Brevard County's main landfill west of Cocoa. "It really helps to hone one's ID skills. Trying to sort one from another is a challenge."

Bracey was among the birders who paid $30 each to bear the stench and marvel at countless gulls that scavenge the county's landfill off Adamson Road each winter.

But while birders delight in the bounty, biologists are just beginning to explore some downsides to luring so many of these raucous birds to our trash:

# Gulls and other birds can pick up, ingest and become reservoirs for human-derived pathogens from landfill trash. They airmail them long distances, to beaches and other recreational waters. Some studies suggest they also might spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

# Gulls bully other less plentiful species such as terns out of roosting and nesting areas, forcing them to become rooftop nuisances. They also eat their eggs.

# Too much crowding around garbage increases risk of disease among the birds themselves.

"It's like a lot of things. When you're exposed to salmonella or even botulism, quite often it kills the birds," said Jim Rodgers, avian research leader for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Gulls and other seabirds also often get blamed for elevated bacteria levels in water at Cocoa Beach, Jetty Park and inside Sebastian Inlet in Indian River County.
Gull explosion

The 50 bird species that winter only in coastal habitats in North America have increased by about 20 percent since 1968, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. The large increases in laughing, Heermann's and western gulls, northern gannet and common eider contributed to the overall trend.

 

The rare bird that attracted hundreds to West Point Lake this week has died.

David Barr, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ranger at the lake, said the Ivory Gull died Friday evening. The bird, which is typically found in the Arctic-area, has been secured by rangers and is now in a cooler awaiting pick up by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contacted us and requested once the bird did pass we retain it so they could do basically an autopsy of the bird and determine what kind of illness it had and try and determine how it got down here," Barr said.

He said during the week between 100 and 150 people came from all over to catch a glimpse of a bird that had made its way so far south it had set records. The only other sighting in the southeast was in Tennessee in 1996, and its southernmost spotting until Monday was in Orange County, Calif., also in 1996.

Toward the end of the week, though, the bird was weak and wasn't eating. Birders, who visited the area, also said the gull had a broken wing.

Jeff Sewell, a lifelong bird watcher who operates the Georgia Rare Bird Alert and visited West Point Lake this week, said somewhere between 6 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday the gull had gotten a broken wing.

"There was rumor going around a Bald Eagle had attacked it," he said, adding the information could not be confirmed, but wouldn't be unusual.

Walt Chambers, who was the first to spot the Ivory Gull on Monday, said via e-mail the incident is sad since this weekend would have been the first time many would have had the opportunity to see the bird.

He added the fact that the gull died unfortunately wasn't surprising. Since the bird was so far from its usual habitat, and typical food sources, it's survival rate was low.

Cam 1 is back...though a bit Monet...

LOL was just gonna post the same thing Ei.

[If you’re lucky you’ll see a buzzard or even a golden eagle, peregrine falcon or osprey; otherwise pipits are plentiful.]

The Angus glens are a Scottish tourist attraction little known south of the border, forming the eastern edge of the Cairngorms National Park, with hills reaching around 3,000ft, all no more than an hour’s drive from Dundee.

Part of the attraction of this walk is the improbable names – of course Clova has nothing to do with the three- or four-leafed legume and the beautiful Loch Brandy is not really full of distilled wine. Start from the Glen Clova Hotel, where you can leave the car if you’re going to eat or drink there; if not, use the public car park across the road. A path starts from the right of the hotel leading through a small birch wood. When you come to a wooden footbridge and a kissing gate, follow the path up the hillside. It’s quite steep, but there are man-made rock steps. Flat-topped rocks provide convenient resting points.

Head straight up the north side of the glen for expanding views of the chunky, broad-shouldered hills and the lovely South Esk valley winding below. It’s mostly heather, grass and rock, so particularly colourful in August but lovely in a different way in winter. If you’re lucky you’ll see a buzzard or even a golden eagle, peregrine falcon or osprey; otherwise pipits are plentiful.

The path becomes slightly easier as you approach Loch Brandy, nestling in its corrie or circle of hills. Here you can either stop, swim (an extremely icy choice) or take the more challenging option by taking the left-hand path up the steep slope of The Snub (2,746ft). From the summit there are great views to Lochnagar. You can then walk around the top of the corrie surrounding the loch, reaching Green Hill (2,854ft) before descending down Broom Shank, and then retracing your steps back to the hotel for a drink or dram at the rustic Hollywood-Scottish bar.

Good place for Patti & Jeane to explore!

I think probably because it's a part of google, I'm automatically signed in when I go to a Picasa page. I have a gmail account but never use it. Could be eh?

Carol, the album won't let me comment...

Anyway, great pictures as always.  I think it was crow-mobbing-red tail day...saw the same thing coming out of work earlier.  I think Beauty was just playing with the pigeons-her crop looked pretty full!

Thanks for braving the   !

Hmmmm, I wonder if you have to be signed in to leave a comment?  I'm just getting used to Picasa since KGallery has been giving me problems.

You do have to sign in to comment & I did...looked like it wanted me to "subscribe" to you first.  I'll try again later with another sign in-I may have not used the one it wanted.

I didn't have to sign in....comment bar was right there. Strange.

Um...maybe I'm not seeing it.......but I'm not seeing it. Where did you get that pic from Ei?

Oh sheesh, I found it....NICE. Sorry.

Check out the archive button!  Shaky's archive viewer is embedded now!



COOL!

Um...maybe I'm not seeing it.......but I'm not seeing it. Where did you get that pic from Ei?

[She's a tough gal, she made it through last years storms also. So dedicated.]

I hope she will be all right.

She's a tough gal, she made it through last years storms also. So dedicated.

She is and this snow is easier than those HEAVY Rains!  Only a few more ugly hours and then the parents might be able to do a switch.  Fingers Crossed (Shaky, we need a Smiley for fingers crossed).

  Her ya go Janet.

[She's a tough gal, she made it through last years storms also. So dedicated.]

I hope she will be all right.

She's a tough gal, she made it through last years storms also. So dedicated.