…although it has slowed considerably. Only two new intakes this week, both nestling mockers. Mocker 1 came in a day ahead of Mocker 2 but both were so close in age that they’ve been nestmates since intake.
As is typical of mockers, when they fell from the nest, rather than staying near the nest so their finders might have a chance to renest them, they hopped along to explore Parts Unknown and ended up in the middle of a yard in one instance and the middle of a driveway in the other, with no nest in sight.
The hummer should be ready for release, weather cooperating, this week.
The hummer should be ready for release, weather cooperating, this week.
The screeches are…well…screeches. The female appears to be eating some on her own; her weight is holding fairly steady on one measly hand-feeding a day and “free-choice” mice at night, which is a good indicator that she’s feeding herself, finally. The male, as you can see below, still favors the “stink-eye treatment”. They’ll be going into the raptor flight this week.
And they’ll be able to roam that for-them gargantuan space because the red tail has been released! And oh, the look she gave me when I opened her box at the release site…if looks could kill, y’all’d be writing your eulogies for me right now. See the vid below; sorry for the lack of focus at the end—when I went to turn the box so she was looking toward freedom and not at me, she shot out of it like a rocket!
Of course, there are still moochers visiting regularly and irregularly. The red bellies are a constant; there are still five of them who’re convinced they simply cannot survive without handouts. A couple of the blue jays will take occasional advantage of the red belly handouts; the brown thrashers almost never show up anymore. The robins are hit and miss; for a day or two I don’t see either, then one will hang around, then both…Sheer luck allowed me to capture these gorgeous pix of one of the robins sunning last week. I love sunning birds!
And finally, don’t forget that we still have a fundraiser in progress. As of yesterday, your generosity totaled $1242, so we have $758 to go to meet our $2000 goal. Heartfelt thanks to those who’ve donated; for those still waiting, the fundraiser ends in 11 days, so time’s a-wastin’—don’t delay! Every donation helps! You can donate through the PayPal links on this website or by clicking on the photo below.
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