Spending a Little Time in Rehab

Suz and I didn't have much time on our last morning in Florida and thought we would visit a bird rescue non-profit called Save our Seabirds or S.O.S. that was close by our hotel.  Seabirds in the Florida peninsula face many new and evolving challenges since mankind has made his imprint so firmly in the last one hundred and fifty years. What happens to a bird that is hit by a car or becomes tangled in mono-filament fishing line? Maybe a bird is clobbered by a golf ball and its leg is shattered. The scenarios are endless and the threat of oil spill disasters seems to be an event that must be preplanned for even while we hope it never occurs again. S.O.S. is a organization that rescues injured birds and rehabilitates them back into the wild if that becomes possible. They also train volunteers in the skill of cleaning oil saturated water fowl.

Picture taking was an odd experience here because their confines were built from fencing that had a small grid. You'll notice the patterned shadows often. I was able to step back a couple of paces and focus sharply on the subjects and make the fencing disappear. It was either that or jam my lens up to the fence. This group of Red shouldered Hawks sun themselves as they rehab.

                This Black Vulture was hit by a car and can not fly well enough to survive in the wild.

 

   "Unfortunately," the sign reads,"Sandhill Cranes inhabit areas which used to be open meadows but which are now golf courses and shopping centers. They are frequently hit by golf balls and cars resulting in leg and wing fractures. SOS developed leg prostheses for these birds and is presently working with a world renowned prosthetic designer, Kevin Carroll, to improve the prostheses so they are more comfortable and don't require replacement as often." 

Click here to visit Save Our Seabirds!

Suzanne and I made a donation on behalf of World Bird Wednesday and a brick will be inscribed and used in the construction of a donor wall. Many praises to the good hearted people of SOS!



World Bird Wednesday XIV

Welcome to World Bird Wednesday! My mind is awash with the beautiful birds Suzanne and I saw last week in the Sarasota area of Florida. True, we're back in Michigan and digging out from the latest blizzard du jour. No problem, we have our plows and warm pictures to fortify us. Just a week ago with the help of our mentors, The English's, we took a kayak adventure out into the tidal waters between Lido Key and the mainland. I felt a little silly being part of a tour at first, but our guide turned out to be Shane, a third generation local with a biology degree. His enthusiastic manner and informative dialog were first rate and in three hours we pulled back into safe harbor with a camera full of  memories aboard.

   Among the sights were Double-crested Cormorants. The lighter the color the younger the bird. They were not spooked by our kayaks thus becoming the perfect subjects for a  photo essay.

                     Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)

For a thousand years in China and Japan these these birds have been enlisted to harvest fish in a strange technique called Cormorant fishing. Lanterns are hung over the water from narrow, flat river boats the light of which attracts fish toward the surface. The hungry Cormorants, with rings fastened around their necks to prevent the swallowing of larger fish, are tethered to bamboo poles and allowed to dive from the sides of these crafts. The larger fish they capture are then plucked from their throats while letting the small ones pass through to nourish the bird. So the deed is done. Picture courtesy of Wikicommons. Click here for a one minute video of Cormorant fishing.

An announcement! We have put up an official site for WBW  http://worldbirdwednesday.blogspot.com/  It will archive all WBW posts. World Bird Wednesday continues to be graced each week with the best the blogosphere has to offer. This will be a showcase for the skillful writers and photographers who contribute to it.

         It's time for World Bird Wednesday XIV!

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday.

You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS.





                                                          

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W.

http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/ or http://worldbirdwednesday.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!


You don't have to be a Bird Watcher to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your explorations and adventures into nature.

The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

                                     Come on, it's your turn!



Under Florida Skies at Last!

   Standing on the brink of the tropical Ocean, with the infinite lapping at your toes,  instantly blows a winters worth of cob webs out of your head. It's the magnitude and the shear wildness of "The Deep" that effortlessly fills even the calloused soul with reverence.
   A serendipitous lens aberration added a nifty new moon to Earths heavens.





    Florida! Vacation at last! Toothache? Yep. Suzanne and I arrived at the Holiday Inn Lido Key Sarasota last Wednesday and wouldn't you know it, a thousand miles from home on day one and my jaw starts aching. That's about as pitiful as vacation karma gets. We put a call into our Dentist and between Motrin and penicillin I was able to keep a smile on my face in spite of a tooth that would eventually require a root canal.

   There was a lot to smile about.

    Suzanne and I huddle on the beach formulating our plans for the next five days. Fortunately for our shadows, the airline hasn't thought to charge extra to take them along. It cost three dollars to use the arm rest.  Just Joking!
    About the last thing we were expecting to see was an Amish couple beach-combing for shells. What did we know? We're only tourists, shy and awkward on this brave new beach.


                        Skimming For a Living

We began to meet the natives right away. This fine fellow is a  Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) who is built to fly low and drag his lower knife like beak through the surf in search of fish. Hardly a conventional design, the protruding lower lip fishing technique  has been copied by only the Indian and African Skimmers and of course, several million pouting teenagers. The Skimmer warrants our concern because we humans covet the beaches these birds nest on. Folk here in Florida have been known to form human chains around breeding sites during fireworks displays to protect the young from marauding gulls when the frightened parents take to the air. 

               A Wonderful Bird is the Pelican

     Another strange bird that is easier described with pictures than with prose is the omnipresent Brown Pelican. In the series that follows I hope to show some of the weird poses this miraculous animal assumes as it spends it's days dive bombing the surf for fish, the only one of the seven pelican species to do so. The fossil record indicates the pelican has survived as a coastal fish eating bird  for close to  35 million years. We pause to remember the scare we had with their diminishing numbers in the 1960's brought on by our clumsy use of the insecticide DDT.
     While a pelican looks like it was designed by committee, the brilliance of its functionality is awe inspiring. I have found a wonderful web sight that describes the California Brown Pelican if you are interested in its fascinating physiology and behavior.

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill will hold more than his belican,

He can take in his beak

Enough food for a week

But I'm damned if I see how the helican!

                           Dixon Lanier Merritt

World Bird Wednesday XIII

Suzanne and I are spending our last half day in Florida before getting back to the business of shoveling water instead of swimming in it. We have a beautiful hotel room over looking the  white sand Gulf of Mexico coast line. The birds we have seen from our fourth floor window could fill a thousand pages. Indeed, we skitter along the break water our heads on a 360 degree swivel trying to absorb our fanciful surroundings. "Look," I say,"A porpoise fishing!"
"A porpoise with a purpose," She responds. Right! I am super-tourist with my over sized lens hanging from my neck like a wacky medallion and my neck as pink as an embarrassed flamingo. This is how we roll.
These little Heron nestlings are residents of the Venice Rookery a tiny patch of bird paradise packed with a menagerie of exotic bird life. I will be spending hours identifying the treasures stored on my SD card.
Now, back to the beach for one last time!

   Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday XIII

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday.


You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS

                                                      


#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W.


http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!



YOU don't have to be a Bird Watcher to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your explorations and adventures into nature.


The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!


                  Come on it's your turn!

World Bird Wednesday XII



What's Up?
The White Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is a specialised bird that has carved its evolutionary niche by seeing the world upside down.When they're not hopping down trees head first looking for insects right side up birds may have missed, nuthatches will take larger seeds, stuff them into bark crevices and bang them with their strong beaks to "hatch" the nuts. Get it? These energetic birds like to fly in a feeding flock with the company of Chickadees, Titmice, and Woodpeckers. It is speculated they can interpret the sounds of the chickadees early warning signals for hawks and other predators.
                        When the sun sets over World Bird Wednesday this week Suzanne and I will be flocking south with the rest of the snow birds for a brief respite from winter in Florida. We have a few birding activities planned for the week besides sunning our shinny white legs on the beach. I am excited to have rented Canons new 70-300L lens to take along. It is advertised as a great travel lens and indeed it is amazingly compact for such quality glass. What strange new birds await us? I am full of anticipation.

Look out Florida birds, the Michigan bird Paparazzi is on its way! 

 The iconic pose of the White Breasted Nuthatch his head bent upward at a 90 degree angle perusing it's surroundings.

Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday XII

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday.





You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS


 
 

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W.
http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

YOU don't have to be a Bird Watcher to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your explorations and adventures into nature.

The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

                                  Come on it's your turn!

World Bird Wednesday XI

                   We Won't Get Fooled Again!

      Suzanne and I were out at the local ponds this weekend looking for eagles and we did get a few really good looks but I was all thumbs with the camera and blew every chance. Humble pie was on the menu yet it is my belief that if you make the effort to go out into the world, nature will show you something special if you keep your eyes peeled and stay sharp. The hour was getting late and we were pulling away when I spotted a strange looking bird on the water. "Ah!" I thought, "Here is nature, and just in time." Suz waited patiently while I sprinted down the hill knee deep in snow to get a little closer. This time I didn't foul up the camera settings and we retreated to home for an early dinner. As the salmon baked away I checked out the days images and my excitement grew. I was sure one of my mystery birds was a Snow goose, a first for us, but that wasn't all. A second mystery bird was captured in the frame. I tried to remain calm. "I think we have a White Fronted Goose!" I finally exclaimed.
  "That's nice Dear," came the response from the other room. I am used to being patronised and the lash barely stings anymore. Already I was mentally preparing my WBW story and I wondered if I should contact Cornell University's Birding researchers. I tried to explain to Suzanne the significance of what we had experienced that day. "Take a little break Honey, dinners ready!" came her reply.
    Later that night as Suzanne slept next to me I found the fateful article that quickly let the air out of my bird watching balloon. And I quote, "Whenever I hear about a report of a Greater White-fronted Goose in upstate New York, I always want to hear a few details to assure that the observer (especially a novice observer) did not confuse a domestic goose. If you just look in most field guides and try to match plumage patterns, the only option for the following geese are White-fronted Goose. But they're not!"
     I learned much. To my sorrow the Snow Goose and the White-fronted Goose I now knew were impostors, domesticated farm animals escaped into the wild and not sojourners from the arctic. I turned off the laptop and looked over at the snuggled form next to me and said softly so as not to wake her, "They're domestic."

   A little voice came from under the covers, "So are we Honey, so are we."


            Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday XI!
 
This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday.


You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS

                                                      

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

      YOU don't have to be a Bird Watcher to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your    explorations and adventures into nature.




 
      The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!


                 
                                                       Come on it's your turn!