The moon and Venus, Plus First Wave Birds

The Moon and Venus-- Friday, February 27, 2009

Venus has been tremendously bright and she was delightfully close to the moon on Friday. So much so that people who rarely notice the night sky, stopped in their tracks to stare.


Friday was also special because though the winter birds such as the Juncos are still in residence, birds long absent since the truly cold weather set in have begun to reappear. The doves and juncos were out foraging when suddenly they scattered. Guess who? It's Blue Jay bombing in and taking over the feeding area.

He gives me a look through the glass and being a Jay, a species with a rather strong personality, he continues on with what he had in mind.

It isn't so much that the other birds took to their wings but rather took to their feet and ran out of the way on his arrival. At which point, he cocked his eye down at the ground, spied a sunflower seed, gripped it in his beak...

and swallowed it whole smartly. Time is not to be wasted.

Another quick cock of the head...

...another grab and quick swallow.

And in the meantime, a Starling landed on the bench. Also a species not seen here for some months, and also not a species known for reticence, she took the better part of valor, being on her own without species mates as she was, and stuck to the high ground until the Jay left the main feeding area.

I didn't see Blue Jay today, but the single Starling ran the sparrows out of the heated bath so she could take hers at her leisure. I've noticed that Starlings bathe at least once a day when water is available.



Venus...still brilliantly bright this evening.

How many birds might be using her, at least partially, to find their way back to their summer homes and nest sites.

Godspeed.

Donegal Browne

P.S. My apologies for the spotty postings, my health is unreliable at the moment.

The White House Raccoons

Courtesy of www.dnr.sc.gov
Photo of two raccoons for those who might live in areas of the world in which raccoons are not a familiar sight.


(Today's raccoon news update follows this back story, thanks to R. of Illinois.)

February 6, 2009


The Washington Post



A 'Raccoon Update' from the White House






By Michael D. Shear





The raccoons are still at large!
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said today that there have been no masked critters caught on the White House lawn today.
The raccoon issue exploded onto the political radar on Thursday with an exclusive Washington Post report that a single large raccoon and several medium-sized ones were roaming the grounds around the mansion and West Wing.






Here is the exchange with Gibbs at today's briefing:






QUESTION: It's Friday. Let's ask about the raccoons. Have you found the raccoons?



http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/02/06/a_raccoon_update_from_the_whit.html









http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/25/white-house-menace-caught/

Posted: 11:03 PM ET

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

(CNN) — After weeks on the run, officials have nabbed a fugitive who infiltrated White House grounds: on Wednesday, they announced the capture of one of the raccoons raising mayhem around the executive mansion over the last month.

White House spokesman Bill Burton confirms the National Park Service has captured at least one of the particularly ambitious mammals and released it safely in an "undisclosed location."

The pesky intruders were first spotted roaming the premises early this month, and have since proved to be a repeated nuisance for National Park Service officials charged with maintaining the White House grounds.

The matter even made its way to one of the White House daily briefings with reporters, when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged the difficulty officials were having in catching the animals.Several traps were set up around the White House lawn in early February after it was determined that one large raccoon and several smaller ones were the chief mischief doers.The traps had included peanut butter and apples as bait, but it was ultimately salmon that did the trick, Burton said.



D.B.

Venus, the Flying Object, and Help for Squirrel Mange

Photo D. Browne
Venus 2/23/09 (If you haven't gone out to look at her in her current brilliant state, get out there!)
After much scrutiny, I've decided that Venus is accompanied in the above photograph by a flying pig-in-a-blanket.


Photograph courtesy of Lysiane Ribeiro M.D. and www.mariewinn.com/

Contributor Karen Kolling brought the plight of the Riverside Squirrels to my attention on author and original Pale Male Watcher, Marie Winn's wonderful website and suggested that I contact Squirrel rehabber, Carol Vinzant for help in the matter.

Carol in turn, in the midst of nursing her cherished dog Jolly through an illness, forwarded this information on mange from another squirrel rehabber Vicki Puluso--

You treat mange w/ivermectin. If the squirrels can be treated individually, it's very easy to dose them. Just a drop on a shelled nut or other food, repeated again in 10-14 days. Overdoses are lethal, so you have to be very careful! These cases don't look that bad, in fact I thought the older pictures just showed spring molting. As you probably know, a healthy squirrel will usually recover from mange fine, so giving them good food is important. Toss out shelled nuts dusted w/Prime supplement, for instance.

(If you have afflicted squirrels, look online for ivermectin, or get in touch and I'll help to find a source.)

This is the second post of the day so keep scrolling down for more on the Tulsa Hawks!

Donegal Browne