Horvath and the Owlet, Blank and the Snapper, Sally's Red-tail Eyasses, and Owl Watching Gonzalez Asks a Question.

From wonderful wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horwath---
This was an easy one this morning. Just got home from a night tour and was loading up the truck with birds for a show today in Riverside Park and got a call for a baby great horned owl at a park about 40 minutes away.


I flew out there and some great bird watchers who have been following this nest for weeks told me where it was . Luckily not too high at all and was offered a ladder from the parks people so back this little guy went

There were hundreds of people 20 feet away all day long since it was a Sunday and 80 degrees so no parents ever came by to check but they were close by.

(See Bobby's fingers placing the Owlet back in the nest?)

I’m sure they’ll return tonight and the watchers are there every day monitoring him so if it happens again we'll try another reunion as long as he doesn't injure himself. Wish they all turned out to be this easy.

Indeed!

And now for another save--James Blank and his six-year-old daughter Isabella were leading me to the turn off that led to Clear Lake, (The local folks are very good to me knowing my penchant for misplacing myself.) when suddenly their car pulled over and stopped on the mucky verge. I looked around.

There in the middle of the left lane was Mrs. Snapping Turtle, stopped dead. Another look around revealed a very large pond on the right hand side of the road. Undoubtedly where Mrs. Snapper was going before she froze.

I grabbed my camera and Mr. Blank the snapping turtle and he carried her to our side of the road. The one with the pond.

Jim laid her down and she didn't move. I said, "Is she alright?"
We stared. There she was with all the meaty bits curled up within or under her shell.

Jim then said, "She's fine, she's just mad." And to prove him right Mrs. Snapper made a lightning, thick muscled nab for his hand. She missed only due to his very good reflexes.

Having missed, she pulled her neck back in but kept her jaws at the ready. And note the already open mouth. It is faster if your mouth is already open if you're going to stealth bite someone---it's faster that way.

Screen captures of the Portland Red-tail nest courtesy of Sally of the Tulsa Hawk Nest Forum and
http://www.kgw.com/raptorcam/?nvid=226982&live=yes

Here is what Sally had to say--

Hi Donna!

I find watching the nest in Portland challenging through the bars on the fire escape, but the view of the babies is so great anyway! Watching the female on them, fussing with sticks and greenery just like Kay make me both happy and sad. But the two little fluff balls are just irresistible!

I have sent some captures. One has the chicks looking up at Mama's tail as she stand over them in apparent awe, one as they are feeding and one of the little one saying, "Easy Mom, don't squish me!" as she nestles on top.
http://www.kgw.com/raptorcam/?nvid=226982&live=yes

She does look just a trifle squished doesn't she?

Pat Gonzalez who has been following the Great Horned Owl Nest In the New York Botanical Gardens had a question--

Do you think it is possible for a great horned owl to feel someones' "vibe". Can they sense bad intentions from humans? Also, can they get "used" to a specific person like myself who visits their turf?

Absolutely Pat, raptors know individual people, as do pigeons, and many other birds. Without question they recognize us. If Pale Male drops part of his prey on the ground while eating in a tree by the Bench and it is just the people he sees day after day, he'll drop down in the middle of things, get it, and get back up in the tree and eat it. If there are strangers or those he doesn't trust near by he won't.

Sweet Tristan of the Cathedral nest had a Pale Male disposition and I always believed he was urban hatched as he was so very calm and even friendly with people. He'd sit in branches very near humans without the least distress while hunting rats. Also if I'd been coming to watch everyday and then was absent as I was out of town for some weeks, when I returned, Tristan, comfy and relaxed with one foot tucked, seemed to give me a long look when I first appeared again, as if to say, "Oh there you are. You're back."

I’m sure that by this time the Owls recognize you, but being of a species that tends toward a rather take-no-prisoners disposition, they may let you get closer than other people but be on your toes. Who knows, if you watched this particular pair for several seasons, what sort of relationship might develop amongst you and the Great Horned Owl pair as trust accrued over time.

In Bobby’s save today, he didn’t really have to worry that much about the parents because of the huge number of people around. Raptors don’t like to deal with more variables than they can keep their eyes on at the same time.

Donegal Browne

Biological Mysteries: What's the Bite? What's the Beastie? What's that Bird? Plus Rose of Tulsa with her Local Hawks

All photographs by Donegal Browne
What insect, Arachnid, or whatever causes hematological phenomenon of this kind? Take into account that the photograph was shot some days after the bites were received.

Some spider bites can cause blood reactions but so far I've not found a photograph or a person that can ID this particular reaction.

Here's what happened. Near dark, a woman was mowing her lawn. Her thigh began to itch intensely under her jeans and there was a bit of a stinging feeling now and again. She finished mowing, went inside, and the next day in the shower discovered that not only had she been bitten by something three times in a row but the bites, approximately 1/2 inch in diameter each, had produced at their periphery, "bruises". Originally these looked like the kind of thing caused by intensely broken capillaries created in the skin by sucking on it, ie. hickies.

And ideas?

This little beastie, found near a brook in the Peekskills of New York State is ? I'm throwing out a vague guess due to the length and shape of the tail, that it's a young snapping turtle of some description. But which one?

And here is the little guy's environment.

And what about this bird, photographed from the platform of the Peekskill Train Station very near the Hudson River? He was at quite a distance but I noticed him because he was making a repetitive call. It made me rather think of a duck with a cold. And it was similar in intensity and cadence to a fledgling beg. Therefore as it rather looked like a Crow, I thought perhaps it was a fledgling Crow.

Yes, late in the season but things haven't gone all that well for avian babies this year in some parts of the country so there has been a good bit of repeat clutching after disasters this season for many species. But, you know what, the call had no similarity to a Caw, whatsoever. Then again Crows make many vocalizations besides Cawing.

Besides look at the ridge/fringe of feathers in the neck area.

Also the tail length in ratio to the wingtips seems more like a juvenile than an mature bird.

See the small black area at the tip top of the steel lighting fixture near the apex of the pole? That's our bird.

Then he just sat there for a few moments.

Looked up with focus and began his vocalizations with a vengeance once again.

Then he repeated his call toward the river.

Next he called to the sky over the river.

With the train pulling in, I could still see him going for it and interestingly that fringe of feathers round his neck looked very much like that on a Common Raven.

What do you think?

ENOUGH MYTERIES AND QUESTIONS FOR TODAY!

IT'S TIME FOR SOME RED-TAILED HAWKS.

KJRH Forum Hawkwatcher Rose Culbreth could hardly drive down the road, or go to the store for seeing Red-tailed Hawks in Tulsa. Here is her report of her first close look at a mature Red-tailed Hawk:

Donna,

I've hit the motherload. Two, Yep that is Two, Hawk sightings in one day!! I was driving between Sheridan and Memorial on 110th and from the side of the road on the ground a huge redtail flapped up and above my car. It flew to the top of a light pole and perched there. As I was trying to get to Conrad's before the Purple Hull Peas ran out, I did not stop and study it. It was an adult though, beautiful red tail.

So this evening, I am heading up to Whole Foods, by the longest route possible from my apartment, which is via Skelly Drive just north of I-44 and 51st at Harvard. Over to the right, on the Bridge that both Catgirl and KCActionphoto have taken pics of, there sits, another Huge Red Tail. I believe this one to be Gwen, the adult female, mom to Sebastian and Viola. Neither of which I have seen in several weeks. I am buzzing down Skelly towards Periora, gaze off to my right just in case I see a Hawk and there she is, perched up on that bridge, pretty as you please.

I pulled into the parking lot about 1/2 block west of the bridge and slowly edged my car around until I was parked parallel to the curb at the end of the bridge. It was maybe, what 15 feet, perhaps 20 to Ms Gwen. She sat and looked at me while I just starred at her. She is molting most definitely, or else she has a bad case of feather rot. She looked for a few minutes, then flapped, hopped to the closer rail to look at me some more. At one point, I got a really good look at her as she turned around so I could see the rest. She definitely has a lighter patch of feathers on the back of her head. And a brilliantly deep red tail.

I have not seen a hawk that close before. At least not an adult that is. She is huge.

As I needed things from the store for dinner, I only stayed about 15 minutes, and when I started my car up to drive off, even that near to her, she never moved, but rather just watched carefully as I drove away.

Rose Culbreth

Have you noticed that once you really start keeping your eyes open and being in the moment, that you just cannot avoid biological mysteries and discoveries in your daily life? I mean sometimes they just jump out and, well, bite you. D.B.