Thanks for all the "safe journey" wishes, everyone. I'll check back in as soon as I can. Altho we all miss Mariah and Kaver, I have totally fallen in love with Archer, that Tiny-Little-Super-Guy! Look after all of them til I get there! Haha! As if!

Slainte!
Bobbie

I just came across that Iroquois reserve recently as I was looking for a few new birding places while I am home. What a shame!

[Media helicopters force Gulf birds to abandon nests]

Media helicopters force Gulf birds to abandon nests

Come ON, people!!! I swear, you would have to wonder...

[Osprey Diary 10th Mayby Osprey Team]

I am still following this Osprey webcam... the ranger's report from this morning is so enticing! The young male seems like a bit of a comedian as he learns his parenting role, while the more-than-expert mother continues to take her job very seriously... here's the news... (how DID he manage to bring in a 'sizeable rock'???)

Slainte!
Bobbie

--------

Osprey Diary 10th May
by Osprey Team


It is hard to believe that it could be as little as ten days until our first osprey chick might hatch! Things have progressed so fast, and there has been so much drama this season - we can only hope that it’s smooth sailing from here on.

In the last couple of days, we’ve had some interesting observations. The female osprey has a damaged talon on her left foot (second toe) which isn’t a big problem right now, but hopefully will regrow by the time she has to feed herself again. The male has brought a sizeable rock to the nest, along with his talons full of moss. The male has a distinct dislike of the Canada geese near his nest, and on Sunday morning he was seen dive-bombing one in the water no less than nineteen times!

Elsewhere on the reserve, our Blue Tit female has started incubating at least six eggs - the male is starting to bring her food in the nest box. There are more new Mallard ducklings on the loch, and the grebes are nesting. The woods around are carpeted with white flowers of wood anemone and sorrel, and the meadow is brightening with primroses and cowslips. The willows and alders around the loch are in full leaf, the hawthorn is in blossom, and even the sleepy old oaks are budding. The wonder of spring is upon us.

Emma Rawling

Perthshire Ranger

Morning, Everyone!

Assuming all is well and the volcanic ash does not thwart my plans, I will be offline for a while as I head home to Rochester to visit my family. So cross your fingers for me on Tuesday!! I'd love to join some falcon-watchers at some stage during me stay, so if anyone can tell me when and where they usually meet, I'd like to know. Gonna miss everyone on the forum, tho! How long will it be "live"? I'll try to check in from home but won't always have computer access... how odd is THAT?! (My Dad reckons that, if you've got a phone book, you're all set!)

Slainte for now - thanks for all the fun!
Bobbie

That's me, that's me! A Critter-Mom! I have found my calling...

The saying in our family is: Her sisters and brothers do kids... Bobbie just does dogs!!

Me too, Patti! Me too! Have a wonderful day!!!

Slaine!
Bobbie
 

More about the wonderful Corncrake here...

http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=311

Donna, I am pleased you are enjoying the BirdWatch Ireland website... I hope others will log on to see what kinds of birds we have here. Check out "our" Robin, for example!

Their home page is:

http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/

And you singled out the Dunnock - or Hedge Sparrow. I must tell you - these little lads and lassies have a verrrrry sensational sex life! Still waters and all that - haha!

Slainte!
Bobbie

I should have mentioned that BirdWatch Ireland, Ireland's largest bird conservation group, has been involved in the Corncrake Conservation Project for many years. Here's the link.

http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Ourwork/SurveysProjects/Corncrakes/tabid/192/Default.aspx

Slainte!

And welcome to any of you who check this Irish website and who learn more about Ireland's birds and the work of BirdWatch Ireland in bird conservation. (They are affiliated with BirdLife International.)

Bobbie

The corncrake is the most amazing bird! With their habitats shrinking in the western part of Ireland, farmers are being paid "compensation" to postpone their mowing times so that these ground-nesting birds can rear their young. Farmers have also been encouraged to adopt a different mowing pattern, working from the inside outwards - thus parents and chicks can flee to field edges and are not trapped in the centre as mowing proceeds.

If you looked at a corncrake, you would not be able to believe that these little critters, with their tiny pin-wheel wings, could possibly migrate from Northern Africa to their breeding grounds in Ireland and the British Isles. Traditional meadow-lands are fast disappearing, so corncrakes have been shoved out onto the margins of Britain and Ireland, and to offshore islands.

I have had the privilege of seeing and hearing corncrakes on the River Shannon, as well as on the island, Inishboffin (north of Galway), where they are holding their own. To attract them for ringing (banding) and attaching transmitters, registered ringers are permitted to use sound lures on tape, as well as "bones" - two sheep bones which, when rubbed together, imitate their dry and rasping "crex-crex"... the origin of their scientific name, Cres crex. It is the males which hold the territories and which make this call.

(For anyone who would like to book some truly amazing natural history entertainment, I have been known to do a pretty passable corncrake imitation myself... Timing and conditions, however, must be perfect...)

I will try to find a website which provides better info for those who are interested. I think the best comparison might be to a very little bittern... at least in appearance.

Slainte!
Bobbie

first 

second where is Cumbria?

third  Oh Bobbie I am afraid they aren't human, oh they look human and they blend in with the rest of us, but something is missing in their psyche

BC, Cumbria is in north-western England, south of the Scottish border.

And yes, something is very sadly missing from their souls... perhaps it is the soul itself.

B.

Bad news - the Peregrine is already the national bird of Angola.  Puts it out of consideration, by their lights.

Lucky Angola.  Should have figured that the Peregrine would be someone's national bird.

Don't think I would leave the Peregrine's fate to Angola...

I'm guessing that many of you, like me, receive a number of newsletters from a variety of environmental groups. (I have no idea how some "unsubscribed" ones reach me but they do...)

In the past few days, groups which I would (perhaps naively?) classify as bona-fide have been calling for a complete ban to offshore oil drilling... for obvious reasons.

I would be very interested indeed to hear what other members of the forum think about this. I certainly do not have all the necessary information - nor do I always react objectively, especially when I see oiled birds which will probably never recover, in spite of all the best efforts.

Any input? Thanks!

Bobbie

Doesn't this just break your heart?? Here we are, awaiting every word and image that comes from "our" falcons, and somewhere else, this happens. How do "people like us" get the message across to "people like them"?

B.

[Now tell me that isn't cool. Yes, I saw the clip Bobbie..It was Bittern Sweet!]

Now tell me that isn't cool. Yes, I saw the clip Bobbie..It was Bittern Sweet! 

Good one, Donna-Girl!!