My husband cut our Spirea bushes about 3 weeks ago and there was a nest with 2 eggs-all its covering was now gone.  He felt bad but by that time, it was too late to do anything but watch.  One of the eggs hatched, the other egg disappeared and within a few days, the baby bird was gone too.    Maybe a predator-we'll never know.  Next time we'll wait a little longer before trimming.

Love your pictures, Shaky!  We've enjoyed the Cape Cod area but Bar Harbor and Acadia was one of our most memorable trips.  Thanks for posting!

Beautiful pictures, Patti!  Thanks for sharing them with us!

Thanks for posting this, Jeanne.  Very touching follow-up stories and good to know how well they are adjusting after being subjected to such horrible inhumane treatment.

Sat Aug 14, 8:10 pm ET
OCALA, Fla. – A black bear cub in Florida affectionately known as "jarhead" can finally enjoy a good meal.

A clear plastic container was removed from the 6-month-old cub's head after being stuck for at least 10 days. The cub poked its head into the jar when digging through trash in a neighborhood in central Florida.

Biologists say the cub was days away from death because the jar made it impossible to eat or drink. The team had to tranquilize the mother bear and then grab the cub to remove the jar from the bear's head.

The subdued mother was then put in a trap and the cubs followed. After she awoke and nursed the cubs, the bears were moved to a less populated area nearby.  

            Good ending!  

Update on Ranger posted on CMNH Forum posted August 13th:

We went out to the Medina Raptor Center to see Ranger on Tuesday. He looked good, as he was perched on the highest perch in the cage and was alert and responsive to movement as he tracked our hand gestures. We wanted to see him eating, so we observed him as Laura fed him, which is when his problems became apparent. As Laura dropped pieces of food into his cage, Ranger responded immediately by flying down to get the food. After he grabbed a substantial piece (not typical bite-size) with his beak he repeatedly picked it up and dropped it, pressing it in his beak before swallowing it whole. It was clear that he wasn't using his feet to secure the prey to eat, and Laura has had to cut the food into smaller pieces for him. After eating, he flew back up to the highest perch and very gingerly cleaned his beak on the perch (not nearly as aggressive in rubbing it against the perch as we have seen in the wild). And then he put his left foot up toward his head as if he wanted to scratch, but his foot froze in motion, then quivered, and then he lowered it again to the perch without scratching. We suggested to Laura trying to clamp the food to secure it to see if he's able to pull it to tear it and she plans to try that.

Laura has him scheduled for a reassessment appointment with Dr. Riggs next week, which will include checking the previously diagnosed eye lesion. She is encouraged with his progress, as she said that he looks far better than he did and he is improving.

Hey Lou!  Can you repost the link to your silly Watchers album?  You know the one I'm talking about.  I love that one and we could all use a laugh.   

Good idea. I like reruns.  I can't remember exactly which one you are referring to. Is it one of these?

This one was from 2005. My early attempts at doing composites

The Grandma Gladys album has some watcher pix from 2007

The End of the 2007 Season party from 2007 had two albums. This one was serious and the other was made for Larry to make him feel better because he couldn't attend.

And there was this one of the Blackberry Brandy Queen this past winter.

Let me know if it was one of these. Thanks

Hey Lou!  Thanks for posting these albums! Really fun to look at!

Annually we have Robins who build a nest under the deck of our pool and this year was no exception with 3 eggs being laid.  The unfortunate thing was that after 21 years, our FantaSea Pool bit the dust with the original liner blowing out and 10,000 gallons of water was all gone-this being discovered in February.  We ordered all new everything as this was the time to do it and had the people lined up to do the reconstructing when weather permitted in the spring.  Then the Robins came-nest building and egg laying.  When the workers came to redo the pool, I told the boss that there was a nest with eggs under the deck and to not let anything happen to the nest or the eggs.  The guy looked at me like I was nuts but relayed the message to all his workers.  The parents flew and squawked several times during the 7 hrs. they were here.  When day was done, even with boards being taken out and new ones put in with lots of hammering, liner and new coping being put in, all new water walls and the water truck coming to refill the pool-the nest was thankfully unscathed and as upset as they were, the parents continued to tend to the nest afterwards.  We had hatches of all 3 eggs who thrived and successfully left the nest.   

Dear Braveheart....Hang in there friend and I know Jemison has a "brave heart" too...I have faith he will have a good life and bring joy to all who come in contact with him.
I wish your friend all the best and many prayers....

               

We watched the show, America's Got Talent, the other night when she performed and she was amazing!  Truly gifted!

Wow, Sage!  Great video!  Poor BB trying to protect those eggs.  Lucky that only one egg was broken in that fight and that Yankee was not seriously hurt. Thanks for posting!

And one funny thing to add...every time I add an eyas I get a pop-up...this child's mother is only 4 years old!  Are you sure?    

Now THAT"S funny!! 

Archer and Beauty in the nestbox.

            

This one is really upsetting too.  The clip on TV said that the marinade contained large amounts of cayenne pepper.  The poor baby..



Man Charged After Marinating Cat for Dinner
August 10, 2010
 
BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) - Buffalo Police made a disturbing and timely discovery after stopping a Cheektowaga man for failing to stop at a stop sign.

Police heard the sound of a cat coming from the trunk of 51-year-old Gary Korkuc's car. When officers looked inside, they found a cat named Navarro covered in what appeared to be a marinade.

The 4-year-old cat, named Navarro, is now in back in the possession of the SPCA, where he was before being adopted by Korkuc in May. SPCA officials were told by police that Korkuc claimed he was going to cook the cat because it was greedy, selfish and had gotten pregnant, even though Navarro is a male.

Gina Browning of the SPCA says Navarro is doing fine after a few baths and she is hopeful he will find a new home very soon.

Korkuc has been charged with one count of cruelty to animals, and the SPCA has instructed staff to never allow him to adopt another pet from their facility.

Speaking of Huge NASA Balloons, how about this video of a cute little kitty cat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZSbC09qgLI

Lou

It reminds me of our Toby when he was little-into everything!!!  Cute video, Lou!  Thanks!