Did you see the picture of the guy from Nebraska shoveling snow in shorts? 

I've done that but NOT in 52 degrees below ZERO!!  but I know I'm 

MORE than 1,000 sheep are being kept in British prisons, shock figures have revealed.

But the 1,374-strong flock of woolly lags are just part of a mind-boggling menagerie of creatures in the jail system.

Among the bizarre animal collection are hundreds of birds of prey, including a peregrine falcon.

The odd assortment also features donkeys, goats, horses, bulls, chinchillas, tortoises, budgies, lovebirds, quail and bearded dragon lizards

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said the creatures are kept for job training purposes and to help reduce self-harming.

The scale of the animal population in Britain’s jails was revealed in a freedom of information probe by the Daily Star Sunday.

In total, there are 4,309 animals and 147 different species within UK prisons – a critter for every 19 inmates

The majority, 2,439 creatures, are livestock housed in prison farms worth an estimated £1million. There are 18 different species of sheep, 15 species of cows and ten types of pigs.

All the livestock are subject to rearing programmes, which help preserve rare breeds. The livestock also help keep the grounds tidy through grazing, the Ministry of Justice said.

The 115 birds of prey include the exotic Turkmenian eagle owl, African spotted eagle owl, Bengalese eagle owl, the boobock owl from New Zealand and the Arabian saker falcon, which is endangered.

The birds help catch mice and other rodents, according to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which oversees the animals.

There are 736 caged birds, including 474 budgies, 68 cockatiels, 68 zebra finches and 15 Bengalese finches. Blue macaws, diamond doves, red rumps and rosellas are also kept in cells. Prison governors can give inmates permission to keep one caged bird.

Other small pets include guinea pigs, hedgehogs, ferrets, dwarf lop-eared rabbits and cashmere rabbits.
Shetland ponies, donkeys, pigmy goats, dogs and cats are also kept by inmates.

Julie Logue, of the NOMS Offender Employment and Skills Group, said the animals were the shared responsibilty of prisoners.

She added: “The introduction of recreational activities with a ‘common cause’ is felt to encourage both social responsibility and the ability to work as part of a team.�

http://picasaweb.google.com/libbymybird/AFourFalconDayInRochesterNYJanuary92010?feat=directlink

Please use this link instead.  Sorry about that.

Carol P.

Holy Falcons Carol!!!  I'm actually speechless. 

Joyce - glad to see a post from you.  Mom?  Janet

Welcome back Joyce, how was your visit?  You were gone a while.

Where's all the Twitters with the Falcon news??   

I saw this pigeon in my garden, first (a few days ago) I thought he was very wet, but I'm seeing him for a couple of days now and he still looks the same and he looks very bad. I looked at him for a long time and than I saw he had problems with walking and to turn around between the food.  It looks if he was missing a piece of his right leg. But he ate very well and flew away in a strong way. I will keep an eye on him. The last picture is of a good pigeon, to see the difference.

  greetings Aafke

He looks like my Cockatiel who never finishes molting. I hope he'll be OK Aafke. I know you will keep an eye on him. Let us know. Poor Pigeon....at least he's eating. 

I guess this marks the official start of Mystery Falcon Season.  I wonder how many birds we will get this year that are neither Mariah, Beauty, or Archer?

Paul

Maybe    <3 KAVER <3

http://golya.mme.hu/golyakamera/kamera.php?c=halasz

Looks like a nice view.

ooooo this is exciting.  I hope Carol gets a good look.

Could 1 be Mariah? Not sure if I can get excited yet...too many. Have to wait and see who all these falcons are. It's bad enough with just Mariah VS. Beauty in the same area. 

Message #105673

Check out the visitor at her sons house.. How cool is that?

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/kfalconcam/message/105673

Good eyes Janet.  Yes, the video included both the Powers Bldg and the Times Square Bldg (just left of the Powers Bldg).   

and yes Donna.  There was a small window of no snow and I took advantage of it.   

Did I see the Powers Building?  Just working on my ID skills

Great video - good thing you shot it during the 3 minute period when there wasn't white stuff falling from the sky!    

Here's a still from Carol's video of the Powers and TS building

HARWICH PORT — In the summer, Christine Omar loves to watch the bright, jeweled ruby-throated hummingbirds that hover, sipping sugar water from the feeder by her side door. By mid-September, they are gone, back to the tropics of Mexico and Central America for the winter.

But Omar leaves the feeder up a little longer in case a stray comes by.

On Oct. 1, one did. But this wasn't a procrastinating ruby-throated but rather something exceedingly rare on Cape Cod: an Allen's hummingbird. And the tiny bird has been coming back day after day, defying sub-zero windchill, high winds, and two major winter snowstorms.

Only three have ever been spotted in Massachusetts and this is the longest any have stayed and survived.

"It's quite a feat to survive there," said David Bonter, an ornithologist at Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University in New York.

Some birds have a broken compass that sends them off in the wrong direction when they migrate, he explained. They're known as "vagrants," and they pile up along the East Coast in the summer months, unwilling to challenge the Atlantic Ocean.

Usually, they end up in the Southeastern states. Cape Cod is way off course, Bonter said, especially for Allen's hummingbirds, which spend most of the year along the California coast. They winter in south central Mexico, where it averages 70 to 80 degrees, and are rarely found east of the Rockies.

As holidays came and went, Omar expected the bird would leave. But he was there for Halloween, then Thanksgiving. When a pre-Christmas storm dumped more than a foot of snow in her yard, and the winds howled more than 50 miles per hour, she saw it fly to the feeder, besting the winds and snow.

"It is an incredibly strong flier," said Bonter.

Around 2 inches long, weighing about as much as a penny, hummingbirds are tough, and can fly hundreds of miles without rest. But the price for beating their wings at a blurring 50 or more beats per second is the requirement for constant fuel. In summer, they visit more than a thousand flowers a day for nectar and insects.

At this point, Omar's guest is completely dependent on her feeder and visits it every five to 10 minutes from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"We're not going anywhere," Omar said. "At this point, I couldn't leave."

During the storms, Omar went out every half hour to brush snow off the feeder. She panicked one day when she broke the only feeder, and sent her husband, Richard, out to buy more. Two now hang inside as back-ups should the feeder water freeze up.

"At night, I wonder where he actually is and how he keeps warm by himself," she said. Local birders, some of whom recently trapped and banded the tiny bird, believe he may be finding refuge in an old juniper tree in her yard.

Hummingbirds are able to survive colder weather by slowing their body temperatures and metabolic rates, and going into a deep sleep that uses little energy.

Bonter believes there is just a slim chance the bird can survive the winter, but if he lasts until March, he'll be OK, he said.

Ironically, vagrants don't learn their lesson, he said. They'll return to the same spot the next year, no matter how bad the previous winter.

"They have a very high fidelity to that site," he said.

But even if this one doesn't return to her feeder one day this winter, Omar won't think the worst. "I would assume he's moved on to his next trip," she said.

They weren't supposed to stay so long.

But the flock of brown pelicans hung around Chesapeake Bay well past the time they were supposed to migrate south for the coldest part of winter. Now they are suffering from frostbite that has already claimed six of the big birds.

"Some species are adaptive to the weather. Pelicans are not," said Dr. Heidi Stout, a veterinarian and executive director of Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, near Newark.

The nonprofit wildlife organization is caring for the injured birds, which were brought in late Wednesday by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The 29 frostbitten pelicans were found in St. Mary's County in Maryland, where a team from the state agency rounded them up for transport to Tri-State, an internationally recognized rehabilitation center.

One of the pelicans died overnight and veterinarians euthanized five more Thursday after determining they were too badly injured from frostbite to recover.

"These guys are in such a weakened state," Stout said as volunteers helped staff veterinarians gently examine the birds. "It's a life-threatening situation and much of what we are doing is supportive care and pain relief."

David Heilmeier, southern region manager with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, believes the birds may not have migrated because they were following a food source -- some of the creeks off the western shore of the bay are swollen with bait fish that the pelicans find irresistible.

"It's such a prime food source and so easy and productive that they just, for whatever reason, don't migrate out like the rest of them do," Heilmeier said.

Frostbitten pelicans have been a problem for the past few years, so Heilmeier and his team know to watch for the signs. Suffering from exposure, the birds become listless and malnourished.

"When the weather got cold, I sent one of my staff out to check for them and, sure enough, they were there," Heilmeier said. "These guys were weak enough that some of my guys were able to walk up to them and pick them up."

Prolonged exposure to extreme cold does the same thing to birds as it does to humans. The extremities, wingtips, webbed feet and bill pouches lose circulation and the tissue begins to die. Sometimes the damage is minor and the birds can recover with a warm soak and other remedies.

Five of the pelicans brought to Tri-State were doing well enough Thursday that they were able to move to an outside pen.

Sometimes the frostbite is too severe for the pelicans to survive. They can lose their toes or wingtips, or their bills become too damaged to use for scooping up fish -- the only thing they eat.

Tri-State's goal is to rehabilitate the birds and get them to the point where they are healthy enough to be released back into their natural habitat. Stout said that could take months.

"If they are going back to the Chesapeake Bay, we might wait until the other birds return," she said.

Stout thanked the center's volunteers, who leapt into action Thursday when she put out the call for help. Rosann Ferraro was one of them. She came from her home in Earleville, Md.

"It is amazing to have the opportunity to be close to these animals and understand their form and function," she said. "And to watch all the hours and effort going into their rehabilitation -- it's a group effort."

THE BROWN PELICAN

THE BIRD: Brown pelicans are big -- about 4 feet in length. Brown as youngsters, they develop brown-and-gray feathers at 4 or 5 years of age. Their bill has a pouch of skin that can hold two to three times as much as their stomach.

RANGE: Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. Along the Atlantic, they are found from North Carolina south to Florida, but are sometimes summer visitors to the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia coasts.

DIET: Brown pelicans are plunge divers, dropping from flight to scoop up fish in their bill and pouch.

THREATS: Brown pelican populations declined when pesticides such as DDT were in use. They are still listed as an endangered species except along the Atlantic Coast and the Florida and Alabama Gulf coasts.

Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research needs donations to help care for the injured brown pelicans and other species there. Each bird eats up to 2 pounds of fish a day, creating additional costs for the nonprofit organization. Make a contribution at Tri-State's Frink Center for Wildlife, 110 Possum Hollow Road, Newark, which is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Donate online at www.tristatebird.org or by phone at 737-9543.

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A federal judge has sentenced Kristopher Graham, 28, of Leesburg, to serve one year of probation after Graham pleaded guilty to violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

In March 2009, two construction firms, Graham Brothers Construction, Inc., and Specialized Services, Inc., pleaded guilty to charges arising from the same incident. The firms were sentenced to pay a fine of $75,000.

According to court documents, Graham Brothers Construction, Inc., and Specialized Services, Inc. were performing contracting services for a residential real estate development company on the "Lake Jessup Woods" property near Sanford.

As early as November 2003, a subcontractor observed a bald eagles' nest on the property. In late December 2004
and early January 2005, as work on the project progressed, other members of the construction crew, including the defendant corporations employees, observed the nest, as well as at least two bald eagles. At least one employee talked to Graham, who was the on-site supervisor, about the nest and was told to stay clear of it.

In January of 2005, Graham and the defendant company reached an agreement allowing the development company's employees to use the defendants' heavy equipment to destroy the tree containing the nest.

In addition to his probation sentence, Graham was also sentenced to perform 75 hours of community service at a local Audubon Society center and pay a $10,000 fine.

Nowhere was it colder than in Bismarck, N.D., where wind chills hit a frighteningly frigid 52 below zero and the temperature reached 14 below.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/07/cold-grips-nation-as-crash-in-snowy-ohio-kills-4/   Article here

And I thought we had it bad. Hope all the Falcons out there are surviving this freeze.

Jan-08-2010
Zenaida Auriculata, The Eared Dove, Torcaza

Pigeons, who wants to know about pigeons? they are just peregrine falcon fodder, right? Or as Michael Ondaatje calls them, flying rats.
Zenaida Auriculata, The Eared Dove, Torcaza


(PATAGONIA, Argentina) - Today as my husband headed off to the organic dairy for our milk, cheese and yogurt, I stepped across the road to the bosque, camera in hand to catch a photo of the eared dove we see in Argentina.

A few posed nicely in the skeletal remains of a drought- killed native cypress tree. This pretty little cooing bird is a close relative of the North American mourning dove and like it, is a game bird that hunters shoot by the thousands when they descend on the grain fields of northern Argentina’s provincial estancias (rural estates, or ranches).

Of course the eared doves are related to the Passenger pigeons, long ago shot to extinction. With increased grain production in Argentina for biodesel fuels, there are increased opportunities for these birds to grab some fast food as they wing by, at times darkening the sky with their numbers.

So far, unlike the Passenger pigeon, the eared dove and the mourning dove seem to be holding their own. Although there was a virus contracted from domestic fowl in the 1950’s and these doves were brought so close to extinction, that in 1977 the Kovacs team in Rio Negro Province was only able to locate 16 eared doves a few miles away at Lago Puelo, Chubut Province.

Gradually, they made a comeback until in the late 1980’s bands were more numerous, up to 50 or 60 individuals in a flock, and are now seen throughout the region of El Bolson and Lago Puelo and Chubut Province. There has been some talk of cloning the North American mourning dove, to try to bring the passenger pigeon back from extinction. Perhaps the scientists should get going on their project now.

On the other hand, torcazas mate for life, work as a team raising their young and take alternate twelve hour shifts on nest guard duty. They build a very precarious nest. The male perches on the female’s back, passing her material while she constructs the nest I have not seen one of these nests, but I wouldn’t be criticizing its construction given the working conditions. The two eggs are very rounded and pure white.

After snapping a few photos I went home to do a little research. The more I learned of these birds the more interested I became.

Soon Eddie returned home with our milk products - but I had milk news of my own... It seems that although they eat primarily seeds, Zenaida auriculata feed their young dove’s milk. Milk?

They regurgitate for the squab (pigeon young) something very similar to the liquid produced by mammals for their young. And if you want to see it you can check it out on the YouTube video posted below.

In less then a week, squabs begin to get plumage and the parents begin feeding them seeds, worms and fruits half digested to augment the pigeon's milk. But even after fledgelings leave the nest, they are fed by the father bird for a few more weeks. I didn’t note any mention of the female standing on his back while he feeds them. I have to hand it to these doves, they have pretty darn good give and take.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60VJiE51Ul0&feature=player_embedded