Birds and Nature

Owl-seeker's Code - ABA Blog I am pleasantly surprised to find this very pro-conservation post on the Am Birding Association's blog. Kudos to Don Freiday for his great 'owl-seeker's code.'

This just came from American Bird Conservancy today: >>American Bird Conservancy wrote: "This posting has generated a lot of interest so I spent a few hours researching the incident. I was able to contact the wildlife rescue center in Greece that received the bird. It suffered a broken wing and was immobilized for several weeks. It has been in rehab for over one year -- it still can't fully extend its damaged wing. It is now in a large aviary. It MAY regain full use of its wing in 1-2 years." This refers to the video posted below that shows this vulture being hit by the blade and falling to the ground. I am amazed that it only broke it's wing but am delighted that it not only survived but that there is a possibility it might fly again. HURRAY!!

After the Red-tailed Hawk fight I found this immature Snow Goose (in Basic I plumage) with a small flock of Canada Geese at Holcim Wetlands in Fremont County. White geese are quite uncommon here. I also saw 3 Golden Eagles earlier this afternoon--a juvenile soaring then a pair of adults flying circling together (possibly courtship behavior). Very nice afternoon birding. SeEtta

This afternoon I watched a pair of hawks engaged in some aerial courtship displays--first flying near each other at low elevation, then soaring in circles together at high elevation then a series of dives then ascents (like a roller coaster). They landed in a nearby tree as did a third Red-tailed Hawk so I drove closer as I didn't think this threesome would work. Right after I took the top pic the hawk on the top of the tree in that pic flew down and attacked the hawk just visible on the far bottom right which is shown in the second pic. The hawks moved away from the tree and continued their combat in the air as shown in the third pic. This ended quickly and the apparent victor flew off with the female. SeEtta

I was happy to find this Curve-billed Thrasher on my friend's property east of Canon City. It was near the location that a pair had nested 2 years ago. Since my friend had tore out the very large cholla where the nests (they successfully renested that same year in a nearby cholla) had been located I had not seen any Curve-billed Thrashers in this area until today. However the bird kept closing it's eyelid and it's nictitating membrane. The bottom pic shows the eyelid half closed. There were times that it had it's eyelid totally closed which is not very adaptive with me standing not far away and especially in the daytime (the nictitating membrane would not have been unusual). SeEtta