Baby eagles rescuer faces year in jail + fines

Photo by Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation

An 18-month-old Bald Eagle, named Sam, has been released into the wild near Rock Island, Wisconsin.   In June of 2013, Sam and his sister, both baby eaglets, had fallen out of a tree, along with their nest.   They were discovered and rescued by wildlife photographer Steve Patterson (pictured at right) of Oglesby, Illinois.   The female, Patty (named after rescuer Patterson) is still receiving therapy for her more damaging injuries.   Patterson contacted the Department of Natural Resources in 2013 and was told to leave the birds alone.   He had already taken them home and then turned them over to the Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation.   Both birds had broken wings.   On January 1st of this year, Sam was released along the Mississippi River.   He joined a large group of nearby eagles.   Meanwhile, rescuer Steve Patterson, already charged and tried once in court, is still facing charges in a re-trial on Feb. 23rd.   Patterson faces up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine for each of his misdemeanor charges.   His first trial ended in 2014 with a hung jury.   Now, State Representative Bob Pritchard has filed a bill for the legislative session that begins  on January 14 (Wednesday of this week).   He is asking for the Illinois Wildlife Code, which Patterson violated by having the eagles in his home temporarily, to be amended to protect people like Patterson.   Patterson has a reputation of not suffering fools gladly and has had legal run-ins with wildlife officials in the past.   It is the price that sympathetic zealots must sometimes pay.   U.S. federal and state laws prevent people from touching or otherwise interfering with certain animals (no matter their plight) in the wild.   There is however a federal wildlife 'Good Samaritan' law.   Hopefully a sensible solution is near.
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BtheB       

Maybe it should have flown further south

Photo by Ian Plant/Solent News

Steaming Red-winged Blackbird

A Red-winged Blackbird is steamed-up as his breath is released into sub-freezing early morning air, in Virginia, U.S.A.

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Farewell Minnesota

Photo by Jeff Wheeler - AP Photo/Star Tribune

Hummer becomes a jetsetter

A Rufous Hummingbird has finally made its way south for the winter after accidentally ending up in Minnesota in November of last year.   The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota says the hummingbird was released in Texas after boarding a private jet in Minnesota, when a private jet was provided by an anonymous donor.   The bird had been taken to the Roseville Wildlife Rehabilitation Center after it ended up at a feeder of St. Paul homeowner and wildlife rehab center avian nursery coordinator, Jessika Madison-Kennedy. She rescued and cared for the hummingbird after she realized it was unlikely to survive the unseasonably cold northern weather.   The Star Tribune newspaper reported that windy weather had blown the bird off its migratory flyway.   The wildlife centre said there had been only 16 sightings of Rufous Hummers in Minnesota since the 1970s.

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More Snowy Owl miscellany...

This Snowy Owl is part of the latest collection of birds from Lego enthusiast, birdwatcher and professional tree surgeon, Thomas Paulsom.   He hopes to sell the toy company on the idea of making his birds into official Lego kits.

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Snowy Owls: more of us are seeing more of them

Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters

SNOWY OWL

Nyctea scandiaca

According to the National Audubon Society, the elusive Snowy Owl is appearing more and more frequently in Northern American winter skies.   Sightings of the raptors could surpass last season's record, according to preliminary data from the society's 115th Christmas Bird Count.   The count took place between December 14th of last year and January 5 this year and final results won't be available until June.   Numbers from just the first five days of the 23-day count showed 303 Snowy Owl sightings: a good indication that last year's tally of 1,117 owls will be exceeded.   There is speculation already that the irruption could be the the biggest in 50 years.   Southern Ontario, the Great Lakes and U.S. north-east contain the highest concentrations of sightings.   Locally, in King Township, north of Toronto, the Holland Marsh is a reliable spot  for sightings, but I have not heard of any yet this winter.

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     BtheB

Fewer finches ~ a lot more Juncos

More Juncos

Someone asked me a couple of days ago, at the Nobleton Feed Mill, if I had noticed there were a lot fewer American Goldfinches at the feeders so far this winter, in this part of Ontario.   I replied in the affirmative, but added I have had a lot more Dark-eyed Juncos than ever before.   I also have had more White-throated Sparrows and American Tree Sparrows than ever before, but fewer House Finches and Purple Finches.   These are somewhat different patterns than I am used to, but I do not know the reasons.   I'll keep feeding whatever shows up and enjoy it every day.   No doubt, at the end of the winter there will be observations and studies that will explain this winter's avian menagerie and range patterns.

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 Photos by BarrytheBirder

Fewer Goldfinches

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Threatened and endangered warblers

 Photo by William H. Majoros/Wikipedia 

CANADA WARBLER

Photo by Will Stuart/Wildlife South

PRAIRIE WARBLER

The bird species pictured above are two of twelve North American warbler species that appear on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List.   The Watch List was prepared by a team of scientists from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI).   The team identified the 233 U.S. bird species that make up the 2014 Watch List.   The goals of the Watch List are to promote conservation for species  and to highlight the species most in danger of extinction without significant action.   The Watch List is divided into four main geographic sections and warblers are included in the "U.S. Continental" section.   The Watch List is further divided into two categories for each section.   The two categories are the Red Watch List and the Yellow Watch List.   The Red Watch List includes species with extremely high vulnerability due to small population, small range, high threats and range-wide declines.   The Yellow Watch List includes species that are either range restricted (small range and population), or are more widespread but with troubling declines and high threats.   Three of the twelve warbler species appear on the Red Watch List: the Bachman's Warbler, the Golden-cheeked Warbler and the Kirtland's Warbler.   The Yellow Watch List includes the Golden-winged / Prothonotary /  Colima / Virginia's / Connecticut / Kentucky / Cerulean / Prairie and Canada warblers.   I have seen two the twelve: the Prairie Warbler and the Canada Warbler.   I feel my chances of seeing the other ten warblers are now slipping away.   I have not given up hope however and will do what I can to aid the situation.   I hope you can also.

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BtheB   

Whistling Ducks at Run*A*Round Ranch

I once had a male Ring-necked Pheasant land on one of the small bird feeders in my backyard, but I don't think it was as impressive at these Whistling Ducks at Run*A*Round Ranch in Texas.   Theresa, the "TexWisGirl" at Run*A*Round Ranch, has many more photos like the one above on her blogsite.   They are fascinating and charming.   Google this remarkable gal at: Run*A*Round Ranch.

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A Cardinal by any other name...

Photo: undermyappletree.net

The Guardian newspaper in England has a regular bird identification feature. A recent entry asked readers to identify a molting Northern Cardinal, similar to the one pictured above, with the correct answer to be given two days later.   The follow-up description of the bird went on to say the Northern Cardinal goes by many other localized names.   The list included Common Cardinal, Red Cardinal, Arizona / Kentucky / Florida / Louisiana / San Lucas / Santa Gertrudis or Eastern Cardinal, Virginia Nightingale, Virginia Redbird, Cardinal Grosbeak, Crested Redbird and simply as the Redbird.   There are nine other official names for various species of Cardinals and those nine species probably have several localized nicknames.   There are approximately 10,000 common bird species names worldwide.   God only knows how many nicknames there are for those birds around the globe.

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Close-ups by Bence Mate

Award-winning Hungarian Bence Mate, known as "The Invisible wildlife photographer", has earned a reputation for being able to capture pictures of birds and animals at very close range.

Eastern White Pelican on the Danube Delta of eastern Romania

 Keel-billed Toucan and Brown-headed Parrot at Laguna del Lagarto, Costa Rica

A Black-necked Stilt in mid-stride, in the Hungarian countryside

Grey Heron fishing in Pusztaszer, Hungary

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Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Photo by Steve Mills

The 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is underway in London, England for the next several weeks.   The gripping photo above was a winner for Steve Mills, of Nottingham, England, in the Bird Behaviour Category in the 2011 competition.   The WPY (Wildlife Photographer of the Year) competition is a co-production of the Natural History Museum, in London, and BBC Worldwide.   A visit to the WPY website is a must for any lover of nature.   Google it at wpy 2015.

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Four-eyed owl?

This is exactly the type of picture I wish I could take.   It's compelling, cute, and charming, all at the same time.   And oh those eyes!   I wish I could compliment the photographer, but I did not get the person's name when I stumbled across the photograph.   I've gone back through my Google sources but cannot trace the picture, for which I apologize.   Is there anything else like the stare of a wide-eyed owl?   I think not.

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Olive Toad escapes Hamerkop's clutches

Photos by Garth Thompson

African safari guide Garth Thompson, who was sitting in a hide waiting to photograph an elephant as it came down to drink at a waterhole, captured these photos at Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.   The Hamerkop bird thought the Olive Toad would make a tasty meal, but was foiled by the gyrating escape tactics of the toad, which finally made its way into the water.   The toad, when telling its mates of the escape later on, could use any one of nine names for this waterbird: Hamerkop, Hammerkop, Hammerkopf, Hammerhead, Hammerhead Stork, Umbrette, Umber Bird, Tufted Umber and Anvilhead.   Or, it might just be simpler to call it by its scientific name: Scopus umbretta.

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Half 'n' half cardinal

If you are curious about the photograph above, that has been showing up on Facebook lately, there is an informative piece about this gynandromorphic cardinal on the Care2 website.   Go to Care2.com and type in cardinal in the search box.
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Mourning Dove miscellany

Photos by BarrytheBirder

When they sleep, Mourning Doves rest their heads between their shoulders, close to the body (see photos above).   They do not tuck their small heads under their shoulder feathers, as many other birds do.   Mourning Doves are considered to be closely related to the extinct Passenger Pigeon whose numbers went from between three and five billion in the 1600s to extinction in 1914; mostly to hunting by humans. Although hunters in the United States take anywhere from 20 to 70 million doves a year, the species is not in decline or threatened in North America. 

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BtheB 

Pheasants few and far between in winter here

Photo: fstop_novo/Guardian Witness

Female Pheasants 

Phasianus colchicus

Pheasants are widespread in most of the world where they are usually called just Pheasants.   In North American however they are known as Ring-necked Pheasants and in Britain are called Common Pheasants.   They were introduced to North American from Asia in the 1880s and quickly became favourite game birds of hunters.   They are birds habituated to agricultural areas, intermixed with or adjoining areas of taller vegetation, which they use for cover.   They are found along country roadsides, in overgrown or recently harvested fields, in brushy areas and hedgerows.   In this part of Canada, York Region is the northern limit for Ring-necked Pheasants.   They are said to over-winter wherever they have habituated themselves, but it is my experience that I see fewer in winter than in summer. 

Photo: Terry Sohl

Male Pheasant

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BtheB

Looking for Snowy Owls

Photo by Ryan Schain

I drove around and about  the Holland Marsh today looking for Snowy Owls but did not spot any.   There are reports from many sources that there is a major irruption of these predators underway from northern Ontario and Quebec.   It is just a matter of time I'm sure before they show up in southern Ontario.   The reasonably wide-open Holland Marsh is a reliable spot to see these birds when they make occasional journeys south, because of heavy snow cover or cyclical rodent declines in the north.   My sister Denise lives on the east shore of James Bay in Quebec and she reports that they have had huge amounts of snow already this winter, plus the snow came early.   Today's Toronto Star newspaper reports that there are already Snowy Owls At Pearson International Airport and 14 have been captured for relocation so far this month.  

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Barred Owl battles Red-shouldered Hawk

The drama begins when a Red-shouldered Hawk perched too close to Barred Owl's nest in Sarasota, Florida.   Fearing it was looking for food, the owl glared at the hawk, flew after it, provoking a violent air-battle which left the owl's talons full of feathers.   Photographer Marina Scarr, who photographed the encounter, reported that neither bird was injured.   The battle included a mid-air collision (bottom photo).

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BtheB  

Big birds enjoy mild weather over Christmas

400 to 500 Canada Geese congregated on Seneca College's Lake Jonda over the Christmas holidays.   Melted ice left large patches of open water which were just what the geese seemed to be looking for.The building in the background is the old boat house that was once part of the Eaton Hall farm and estate, in King Township.   Sadly many of the old Eaton Hall outbuildings are no longer usable because of their ruinous state.   The geese don't seem to notice any of that however. 

The Christmas season was also kind to many flocks of Wild Turkeys in King Township.   They did not have to deal with snow-covered fields as they foraged for spilled remnant grain.   The 30 birds in the flock above looked sleek, healthy and hearty...plus, they had survived the fall hunting season.

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BtheB 

Guardian Animal Photos of the year

Britain's Guardian newspaper has selected its Guardian Animal Photographs of 2014. Below are three of the finalists.

 Photo by Rungroj Yongrit / EPA

A Bryde's Whale and seagulls feast on anchovies in the Gulf of Thailand.

 Photo by Ina Fassbinder /Reuters

An Eagle Owl fluffs its featrhers as it sits on one foot on a branch, in its enclosure

 at the Grugapark, Germany.

Photo by Mike Segar / Reuters

A Northern Cardinal sits on a tree branch in falling snow in the New York suburb of Nyack.

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BtheB

Birds and butterflies are in the same boat

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Monarch Butterfly in a Canadian garden north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Photos above and below: www.telegraph.co.uk

Monarch Butterfly-watching in Mexico is ethereal and mesmerizing.

Armed guards are now used to protect Monarch Butterfly habitat in Mexico.

A local guide in central Mexico is covered in Monarch Butterflies.

Monarch populations are declining drastically, thanks to a deadly combination of factors that include illegal logging in Mexico, wildfires, droughts, and an alarming loss of their crucial milkweed habitat in the United States and Canada.   Last winter marked the lowest Monarch Butterfly count ever recorded.   The North American monarch population has declined 90% over the past two decades.   Numbers dropped from 1 billion monarchs to about 35 million.   Scientists are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to classify the monarch as "threatened" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.   In 1996, monarchs covered 50 acres of forest in Mexico in winter.   This past winter they occupied a mere 1.66 acres.   One wonders how much longer we can afford to be always playing catch-up on pending environmental disasters.   And what of the dichotomy between butterflies and poor farmers?

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Audubon sounds alarm. Are we listening?

Young Common Loons, like the juvenile above, left high and dry when Wyoming's Bergman Reservoir was drained for irrigation, will be come an increasingly rare sight in the United States' northern lakes as the climate warms and the species' breeding grounds shift into Canada. (Photo: Michael Quinton/Minden Pictures/National Geographic Creative)

Croplands have been claiming North Dakota's prairie potholes for many years.   The state's current energy boom only adds to the pressures on habitat, especially for wild animals and birds. (Photo: Jim Brandenburg/Minden Pictures)

The photos above appear in Audubon's new study (A Storm Gathers for North American Birds) by Michelle Nijhuis, on the pending devastation that global warming will have on birds and their habitats. The photos saddened and shocked me, as did Audubon's contention that "Of the 588 species Audubon studied, 314 are likely to find themselves in dire straits by 2080".     Audubon says that only if the oil companies and every citizen begins to reduce the severity of global warming will this unprecedented threat be overcome.   As evidence of the scope of what is happening in just North Dakota, the writer states that every day companies use hydraulic fracturing to extract nearly a million barrels of oil from the Bakken formation, a layer of shale that lies two miles down.   Roughly 8,000 wells are operating already, and an additional 40,000 could be drilled and fracked in the next 20 to 30 years!   I can't recommend highly enough the reading of this Audubon document.   It is a few keystrokes away on the internet, at www.climate.audubon.org.
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BtheB 

My pick for best-looking stork? The Black-necked

Photo byPaul Thomsen

The Black-necked Stork

Ephippiorhyncus asiaticus

There are 15 species of storks in the world and I think the Black-necked Stork is the most attractive.   I'm sure I would get a strong argument for the rather garish Painted Stork or the quite impressive Saddle-backed Stork.   It's the dramatic black bill, head and neck that do it for me...and the red legs.   This dramatic-looking bird is native to south and south-east Asia and Australia.   It's numbers in Asia are low however and individual birds are few and far between.   It's numbers are somewhat stronger in Australia (between 10,000 and 20,000) but not enough however, to keep it from being listed as "Near Threatened" on the IUCN Red List.   This bird is strongly territorial and other birds such as the egret, seen in the photo below at Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary near Guahati, India, remove themselves quickly when the stork approaches.   The Black-necked Stork is a carnivore with a large diversity in its diet, which can include other waterbirds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, crabs, molluscs, turtle eggs and hatchlings, many species of insects and other creatures.

Photo by Anupam Nath / AP

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Pity the birds - pity Bangladesh

Photo: Zuma / Rex Features

A kingfisher (above) is washed with water to remove oil from its feathers after the Southern Star VII tanker collided with another ship and spilled thousands of litres of furnace oil into the Shela River, in the Sundarban mangrove forest in Bangladesh.   The collision occured on December 14th.   The Sundarban Forest is one of the world's largest mangrove forests and early reports said that 34,000 hectares of the fragile ecosytem had been affected by the spilled oil.   Bangladesh is hard pressed to supply the expertise and equipment to deal with an environmental disaster such as this.   The UN has now intervened in dealing with the aftermath.   It is not just birds endangered by the spill, but rare river dolphins and hundreds of tigers, as well as huge numbers of fish.   While the oil spill occurred in central Bangladesh, its effect, if not dealt with quickly, could reach all the way to the Bay of Bengal, in the Indian Ocean.   

Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images

Photo by Khairul Alam / Asociated Press

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