A satellite-tracked Super Whooper swan has lived up to his name and completed the migration between Iceland and Scotland, flying 800km non-stop over the ocean in just 14 hours. The aptly named Supersonic Bill was just three hours short of the shortest ever recorded journey time by a whooper swan.
Supersonic Bill arrived at Caerlaverock on Monday, with mate C9U, just in time for the morning feed. The satellite data received today not only reveals the very quick journey, but also shows that he seemed to accelerate towards the end of his journey to Caerlaverock, almost as if he knew when the morning feed was due and wanted to make it in time. Caerlaverock Reserve Warden Richard Smith said: “We know that Supersonic Bill was travelling at 114kph past Auchencairn Bay on the Solway at 8am on Monday. He covered the final 25km in just 15 minutes before flying onto the whooper pond here at Caerlaverock to be greeted by me with a barrow of grain! Not surprisingly he looked a bit tired, but otherwise not bad given that he was in Iceland only the day before!�

The unseasonably mild conditions in mid to late October saw a lull in swan migration following the arrival on 7 and 8 October of Baldur, a WWT Welney bird, and K9H, a Caerlaverock bird to Britain after spending the summer in Iceland. Baldur has since shed his satellite transmitter, but we are confident he will soon turn up at Welney where we will be able to identify him by his leg ring. But as well as Supersonic Bill and his mate, today’s satellite data download shows us that three more of our 50 Super Whoopers have taken advantage of the colder snap since the weekend. Y6K, a Welney visitor, and Y5T (a yearling) – both tagged in Iceland in August, completed their migration to Ireland at the weekend, and Sigrunn – a WWT Martin Mere regular – arrived in Northern Ireland on 4 November.

OK...so did anyone know there were so many...odd...chicken varieties?  I certainly didn't...

Extraordinary chickens blog post



 

Them are some wild looking chickens Ei. Remember the one I found in my backyard a few years ago, in the middle of a circle of cats? No one knew what it was but it turned out to be a chicken of some sort. Raptor trust said chicken, so it's a chicken.  ???

he's still eating all her food..

This is mine and you can't haz any.

Brother comes back and Froona's Ho Hum..

["Oystercatcher"]

Here is the Puzzle of the Week 230

"Oystercatcher"



This Oystercatcher is shaking his butt.

Oystercatcher  (230) Jigsaw Puzzle

I love their beaks...great pic Aafke, thanks. 

http://tinyurl.com/l4c5dg

 

Froona still reluctant to leave the box.

I don't think she's quite ready yet, she just turned brown..was white 2 days ago. Remember little Linn, she was so hesitant to go, she just laid there all ho hum. LOL

I took a chance and emailed the Lennox Power Plant to ask if they could keep an eye out for Quest and also sent them the link to the Imprints page.   I got a reply today!!

"Thank you for the email containing the link to the website. Very interesting. I have notified folks around the station about this and they will keep any eye out for Quest. We have a falcon nesting box on the top east end of the Powerhouse. It has never had an occupant. We will watch to see if Quest visits it."

I hope you guys don't mind I did that?  I would go out there myself but I don't drive and it's about 2 hours from here so I thought why not just ask as they no doubt would notice a peregrine falcon hanging out there if she does go to the nest box.

Thanks Carly...good job... I hope Quest likes it there and it has a ready made nest...

["Where have all the falcons gone"]

"Where have all the falcons gone"


 

Where the FLOWERS went?

LOL Janet, yes, the song....

["Where have all the falcons gone"]

"Where have all the falcons gone"


 

2 more penguin pics and those 2 copters were just taken off the back of the C-17. WOW!!

Thank you all who have served and are serving.  For those who performed the ultimate sacrafice, Thank You and God Bless - Janet

Amen Janet 

A golden eagle held at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center will be transferred to Davis today for a checkup and possible surgery on an injured shoulder, officials said Monday.

"We don't know if it's a dislocation or a break," said Beth Brookhouser, director of community outreach for the SPCA of Monterey County. "But there is definitely something wrong."

The 8-pound male eagle was found Saturday lying in a vineyard near Soledad and was first reported as a hawk, said Rosanna Leighton, wildlife center supervisor. The person who found the animal took the bird home and reported the finding to the SPCA wildlife staff.

As of Monday, Leighton said, it's unknown what caused the injury to the bird.

The eagle, which officials said was not tagged, was resting in a large crate Monday, waiting to be transported to the California Raptor Center at the University of California, Davis, for possible "specialized" surgery today.

Bird is found near Soledad with possible broken shoulder

"It's OK. It's just resting," she said. "There's a rat in the crate for when it gets hungry. We just wanted to provide a nice, quiet, safe place."

The golden eagle is one of the largest birds of prey in North America; only the bald eagle and California condor get larger.

Leighton said it's not every day the SPCA wildlife group comes across an injured eagle.

In February, an injured adult female bald eagle was transferred from Pacific Wildlife Care in Morro Bay to be treated at the SPCA wildlife facility.

"[Treating the golden eagle] is very special for us to see and we're happy to help," she said. "We'll be rooting for it."

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx/1476084?UserKey=

Oil workers discover migrating bird

Published: 10/11/2009

SAFE HANDS: Oil worker Henry Ritchie with Ollie after his clean-up.
More Pictures

A MIGRATING owl caused a stir after landing on a North Sea oil platform.

Workers on Brae Bravo thought it was a hoot when they found the long-eared owl, which was covered in grease and oil.

Staff on the Marathon Oil installation cleaned up the owl, fed and watered it and sent it on a boat to be cared for at a rescue centre.

Today an RSPB expert said the nocturnal creature would have been migrating south for the winter – and decided to have a rest on the way.

Hywel Maggs, the RSPB’s regional farmland birds officer, described the bird as a “stowaway� on the platform, which is 130 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.

Mr Maggs said: “The long-eared owl is a resident species in the UK but also in northern Europe.

“Birds from Northern Europe and Scandinavia will be migrating during the Autumn to the UK and further south. And this bird would have been on its way to its wintering ground.

“The owl has ended up on a platform as quite often birds that are on route will stop off wherever possible.�

The bird, which has distinctive long ears and piercing orange eyes, was dubbed Ollie by staff on the platform.

Mr Maggs said the stop-off-point in the open sea would have been too much of a temptation to resist for the owl.

And he said the main reason for the bird’s stop would have been to have a break from its journey.