Sunday Miscellany: White Red-tails, Alex & Me, Golden Eagle, Turtle with Wheels, Eleanor's Cormorant, and the Headless Bunny

Photograph courtesy of Dr. Ruth Boll, DVM
A beautiful "white" Red-tailed Hawk in Utah, being treated for gunshot wounds. Notice her white beak, though still with black eyes. Which is a good thing because beyond being an easily seen target for idiots with guns, the only other issue in being white, is the possibility of unpigmented eyes which reduces the birds chance for survival. Probably because eyes without pigment are more sensitive to light which may interfere with hunting.


These photos come our way from a heads up on the "white" Red-tail site from Jackie of the Tulsa Hawk Forum--

Donna,
Here is a site we've been exploring; it reports on a number of white/albino/leucistic red-tailed hawk sightings, and offers some wonderful photos. The various degrees of "whiteness" are interesting.

http://www.diversityinutah.com/albino1.html

Enjoy!
Jackie (Tulsa Hawk Forum)


Alex & Me
How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence--and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process
By Irene Pepperberg

Harper has released some teasers from Alex & Me on their website. Check it out.
http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780061672477

SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
Dr. Todd Cecil treats a sick golden eagle that was found on the ground on the Viejas reservation.

Socal from the Tulsa Hawk Forum sends this:

Has anybody read about the Golden Eagle that was rescued here in San Diego County recently? It was on our local t.v. News shows. Poor thing had kidney problems and was very sick. It was delivered to a veterinarian who was nursing it back with I.V. fluids etc., and there were plans to eventually transfer the bird to Project Wildlife, a local wildlife rescue foundation. I haven't heard how the eagle has fared since, but I'll try to find out more and get back to you... Meantime, here are some links to articles and videos:

Ailing eagle rescued on Viejas reservation

By Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
5:29 p.m. September 29, 2008

EAST COUNTY – A golden eagle with kidney problems is recovering at a La Mesa veterinary clinic after it was rescued Saturday night on the Viejas Indian Reservation.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080929-1729-bn29eagle.html

http://www.10news.com/news/17591006/detail.html

http://www.news8online.com/features/special_assignment/story.php?id=141954

R of Illinois sends us news of Tonka the Turtle

BAY AREA TURTLE GETS NEW SET OF WHEELS

KNTV-TV

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A screwdriver and some Velcro has changed the life of a once-homeless turtle living on the Peninsula.
When handyman Kohl Williams fitted a three-legged tortoise with a set of toy wheels, suddenly Tonka was off a rolling -- slowly.
Peninsula Humane Society workers think Tonka was bitten by a dog

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27010640


A gorgeous shot of a Double Crested Cormorant at the Model Boat Pond
by wonderful Central Park Photographer Eleanor Tauber.

The next photo is not for the squeamish, so if you are, don't keep scrolling down.

I went out to the front yard this morning to see if any of the plants had been nipped by the frost last night and discovered this-- A neatly decapitated upper de-pawed bottom section of a Cottontail Rabbit. The head was no where to be seen and I looked for it. I also looked for tracks of a possible predator but the ground is very dry so no luck.

My first thought was that a cat had done the deed. But why would a cat take the head and leave the rest? And it's so neatly done.

A Red-tail flushed off the kill? So she just took the head? Does that make sense? But it doesn't really look like the work of a Red-tail if the technique for rabbits is similar to that used for squirrels. Though as Manhattan hasn't many rabbits I've not seen the leavings from a Red-tail Bunny kill.

As far as I know we have no Prairie Wolves in the neighborhood. And I sincerely doubt it was Rocky the Raccoon, or Fluffy the Opossum.

Any ideas?

D.B.

A Turkey Perspective, Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrel, Brewer's Blackbird Rides Hawk, Dr. Irene Pepperberg Coming to NYC

A Turkey Perspective-photo by Bob McCargar

I asked photographer Bob McCargar just what kind of neighborhood the Berkley urban turkeys were foraging in, and here's the answer. The vegetation looks quit lush and I'm betting there are many turkey tasty tidbits amongst the vegetation.

I looked out under the feeder today as I was passing by, and thought, "Oh there's Chewy." Then, "No it's NOT. That's no Chipmunk, that's a Thirteen lined Ground Squirrel. A first for the Rainbow Drive feeder. What's he doing here?"

Not that Wisconsin isn't full of Spermophilus tridecemlineatus. There are no worries about their conservation status, but one just doesn't usually see them browsing on the patio. Here is their scientific classification courtesy of Wikipedia.

Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Rodentia
Family:
Sciuridae
Genus:
Spermophilus
Species:
S. tridecemlineatus

The answer to the question, "How do you tell the difference between a Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrel and a Chipmunk?", is often answered around here with--"Chipmunks climb trees and Ground Squirrels don't". Well, yeah, but with that ID you have to wait around for somebody to clumb a tree. Personally, I don't really think they look alike at all. The GS has clear multiple stripes, while the Chipmunk doesn't. Not only do their ears look totally different but most everything else as well looks different.


See? Now of course they're both little rodenty guys, but the Chipmunk runs with his tail up, the Ground Squirrel doesn't. Okay, they both have rather slanted ovid eyes, they're small and reddish brown but that's about it.

Note he's stuffing his pouches. According to the literature, this time of year is when they start fattening themselves up for hibernation in a big way and also stash a little food in their burrows for possible snacking.

By the way, this guy can run at 8MPH, which is a good many rodent steps per minute. There also seems to be quite the difference between a small member of the species and the larger ones.

Biological statistics
Length
6¾–11⅝ inches (170–297 mm)
Tail
2⅜–5¼ inches (60–132 mm)
Head
1–1⅝ inches (27–41 mm)
Weight
3⅞–9½ oz (110–270 g)

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Some GS's weigh three times more than others do.

I decided that his name was Pancake, for obvious reasons. Look how he flattens himself as he forages. Their home range is 2 to 4 acres. They live and hibernate in extensive burrows and eat weed seeds, grass, insects, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. Plus they might also eat the errant shrew or mouse plus possibly bird flesh when it's handy. ( And here I thought they were straight grainivores.)

I noticed that The Genome Project had finished the genomes of Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrels. First question, "Why them?"


Here's the answer--"Although rodents represent nearly half of all mammal species, their genomic diversity is represented by only two relatively closely related species - mouse and rat. The genome of the thirteen-lined ground squirrel will expand rodent sequence diversity to another family within the suborder sciurognathi. The other distant branch of the rodent tree, the suborder hystricognathi, will be represented by the guinea pig, Cavia porcellus, genome sequencing project. "

They were chosen as a representative. Here's the lineage courtesy of The Genome Project.
Eukaryota;
Metazoa;
Chordata;
Craniata;
Vertebrata;
Euteleostomi;
Mammalia;
Eutheria;
Euarchontoglires;
Glires;
Rodentia;
Sciurognathi;
Sciuridae;
Xerinae;
Marmotini;
Spermophilus;
Spermophilus tridecemlineatus

And as one might intuit, they're distantly related to the mouse and the rat.


Pancake wasn't particularly cooperative about giving me a view in which you could count the stripes. Here's the best effort.

A head's up from long time Hawkwatcher Katherine Herzog: Dr. Irene Pepperberg, of The Alex Foundation, one of the giants in animal intelligence and communication will be speaking at the 92nd Street Y at 7:30, on November 2nd.

Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle

(Brewer's Blackbird harasses hawk much the same way the Red-wings do it here in Wisconsin.)

Sky Surfing on a Hawk Above Golden Gate Park

http://sfcitizen.com/blog/tag/red-tail-hawk/
Thanks to R. of Illinois for the link.

Donegal Browne