…in the form of two nearly-naked nestling red-bellied woodpeckers. Yep, baby-babies…in mid-August…Go figure!
The tree these babies were in fell and the family who found them tried to place a makeshift nest in its stead but the parents were having nothing to do with their replacement nest. The finders had them for four days before getting them to LWR, during which time their feeding schedule was extremely erratic, to say the least. Despite the extended period of insufficient feedings of inappropriate foods, they’re doing well now; however, the results of that period are likely to show as “stress bars” in their feathers.
The runt is developmentally behind his older sibling and would probably have starved in the nest, given his sib’s aggressive feeding habits. In rehab, of course, both have equal access to food, so Runt will have a better chance at life.
Three, sometimes four, of the released juvy red bellies are still sporadically strafing me for handouts. Below is a shot of one of the little beggars.
Three, sometimes four, of the released juvy red bellies are still sporadically strafing me for handouts. Below is a shot of one of the little beggars.
Both mockers from last week died with 24 hours of each other. Seems to me that happened with another mocker pair not too long ago. Weird…
The female screech is most definitely eating on her own now, so the screeches are now flight pen-ready. They’d’ve been in the flight already, except that in short order after the red tail’s release, it was overrun with three separate wasps’ nests and I had to find a bird-safe wasp spray and then wait 24 hours after each application for it to dry thoroughly. The goal now is to get them in the raptor flight this week.
Meanwhile, they’re pretty much little goofballs.
The female screech is most definitely eating on her own now, so the screeches are now flight pen-ready. They’d’ve been in the flight already, except that in short order after the red tail’s release, it was overrun with three separate wasps’ nests and I had to find a bird-safe wasp spray and then wait 24 hours after each application for it to dry thoroughly. The goal now is to get them in the raptor flight this week.
Meanwhile, they’re pretty much little goofballs.
No clue what she was doing here; I just grabbed my cellphone--closest camera I had access to--and snapped the pic.
The hummer was offered THREE chances at freedom last week. Apparently he really, really likes the accommodations at LWR, as he refuses to leave. Below is a vid of the most recent attempt, just this morning. Cage door wide open, me standing way off to the side using the zoom to film…and the brat preens unconcernedly, ignoring the open door. *sigh* We’ll keep trying…
It’s always nice to see a release weeks later and know it’s doing well. Last week I was at the release site for the green heron, who was released in mid-July, and guess who was in the trees? All I had was a limited-zoom waterproof camera, but I was still mighty pleased to get even this short albeit distant clip of him!
And finally, don’t forget that this is the last week for the LWR online fundraiser, which ends Friday, August 21. As of yesterday, we were at $1562 via online and offline donations, so there’s just $438 to go to meet our goal of $2000. Heartfelt thanks to those who’ve donated, and if you’re the procrastinating sort, time’s runnin’ out on ya! You can donate though the PayPal links found on every page of this website or by clicking on the photo below.
RSS Feed
