My 750th Bird Release

 

Friday September 01, 2023 was a very special day for me as I released my 750th bird for the Toronto Wildlife Centre.  The majority of these birds were FLAP rescues during spring and fall migration while others came from "unique situtations" like cat attacks, string-toed pigeons, oil spills and the list goes on.

I'm glad that I decided to keep track of all my drives in and out of TWC ever since I officially became a volunteer driver back in 2014.  Occasionally I will skim through the pages after entering something because some of the short notes take me back to one of these drives.  A stand out moment with a bird and sometimes a stand out moment with a person who found the animal.

I had booked the day off to go see W.A.S.P. with Angie along with some of my long time pals from high school days.  The lead singer Blackie Lawless has been struggling with some back issues and tried to finish this 40th anniversary tour but the pain and discomfort finally got the best of him.  He hopes to get back on the road sometime in 2024.  With this cancellation, I had the day to myself.  Angie and my concert buds were all working.  I decided to let some people at the wildlife centre know that I was available to help them with anything if need be.  They thanked me and said that they would get back to me by the end of Thursday if they knew of anything by then.  Great plan as if there's nothing, it gave me time to think of something else to do with my Friday off.  Then as you can guess, come later Thursday they asked if I could drive a couple birds down to the lake west of Toronto for release.  You know what my answer was.

I was pretty excited about this upcoming release opportunity as I knew one of these little birds was going to be my 750th release.  I asked what the species were, which normally I don't because it doesn't matter what they are, I will drive them (no picking and choosing, all birds matter); but I wanted to know for this milestone.  It is still summer and there's lots of leaves on the trees.  More often than not, during this time of year, the birds fly out of the paper bag and quickly disappear into the trees.  It's all over in a flash and I don't see much of them, let alone identify them especially fall warblers which are already a challenge as some really change their plumage between breeding season (spring) and autumn.  Then if it is a female or juvenile, that can make it even more difficult.  I was told there was a bay-breasted warbler and a Nashville warbler.  Here are the two species as immature or possibly females, there would be slight differences if they were males but nothing significant like if it was a cardinal and a blue jay.  I borrowed these images from the All About Birds website.  Bay-breasted is the top bird and Nashville is the bottom.  Looking at the images, you can see some differences; but if you have a split second while the tiny bird is in flight before it disappears into the foliage, you probably wouldn't pick up wing bars on the bay-breasted as one example.

I was doing this release solo (Angie joins me when possible) and wanted to somehow document it.  I always hope for a photo to share but with the challenges I expected, what else could I do?  Video?  Yes.  But how?  I had lots of time to think about this before the release moment.  

When the time came, I set up my phone close to where I was releasing the birds, propping it up against something and I hit record.  Here is the release and you can see how quickly it happens, how tiny that bird is, and that it disappears in the trees in mere seconds.  Knowing the bird was either of the two mentioned species made it much easier to look for the field marks in those seconds especially if I did lose it in the trees afterwards.

https://youtu.be/1kkRghTwCmE?si=i2V3yZIMuFY_0ZJ4

Luck was on my side and I was able to get two record shots of the bird as well.

The Nashville flew higher up in the same tree and I did not see it again.

It's funny thinking about the time building up to the release moment.  Then the actual release and how quickly that ended.  After the fact, I hung on to this throughout the weekend, having my own little toasts here and there.  Maybe some think this is silly but man that's a lot of birds!  I'm never bragging.  This is something I help with in my spare time, often before work.  The majority of the fall releases happen in the same area.  It is a 12 km drive from home to the centre, and usually takes me 30 minutes to get there because of city traffic.  Thirty minutes is good time nowadays.  Then from the centre to the release area is 29 km.  Again, another 30 minutes (it's mostly highway).  So I've got at least one hour of driving and just over 40 km of distance to release a bird, sometimes, two, maybe four or five the odd day.  Who knows until the day of pick up.  The actual time spent releasing can be mere seconds to maybe five minutes.  The birds don't go to our backyard or one of my favourite local birding spots like someone once suggested.  Weird how some people think and the drama they try to create.  

I've been asked how many animals have I brought in to the centre, followed by how many got back out to the wild again.  I know the intake is near 100 but I have no idea how many got back out.  It's a very busy place with thousands of animals coming in over the year and difficult to follow up on them individually.  I do try at times with some of the more unique situations, especially if they've come from our neighbourhood.  The people at the centre do their best for all of the creatures.

I tried to make a bird list of what I have driven.  Here it is although I may be missing a couple still.  The animal list is easier to keep track of and I can run it without much thought...  squirrel, skunk, raccoon, opossum and a couple bats.

White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, House Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Indigo Bunting

Downy Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker

Cedar Waxwing

Brown Creeper

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Least Flycatcher

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Yellow Warbler
Ovenbird
Blackburnian
Common Yellowthroat
Black-throated Green
Black-throated Blue
Tennesse
Orange-crowned
Northern Parula
Blackpoll
Nashville
Wilson's
Black & White
Bay-breasted
Mourning
Magnolia
Pine
Canada
Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Chestnut-sided

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Gray Catbird

Red-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk

Peregrine Falcon

Great Horned Owl
Eastern Screech Owl

Mallard Duck
Wood Duck

Long-tailed Duck

Ring-billed Gull

Canada Goose

Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson's
Veery

Robin

Brown Headed Cowbird

Woodcock

Common Nighthawk

Goldfinch
House Finch

Black-capped Chickadee

Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Brown Thrasher
Scarlet Tanager

Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove

European Starling

Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow Rail
Virginia Rail

Sora

There are roughly 300 bird species that nest in Ontario.  Just over 80 species here is a good chunk of them; and I am not aiming to get through them all.  It's just been fun to keep track of the species as I go along.  Odd to think that I have only released one white-crowned sparrow yet I have released at least five scarlet tanagers.  I see dozens of these sparrows throughout a calendar year whereas I am lucky if I see more than one or two tanagers.  That's just my Virgo brain overthinking things.  HA!

Okay, time to start my day.  The extra long "long weekend" is over.

Thanks for stopping in and giving this a read.

Have a great week!

Peregrine Post 2023

Like past years, I once again volunteered at the peregrine falcon fledge watch just down the road from us in Etobicoke at the Islington and Bloor nest site.  If memory serves me correct, I've been helping out since 2011.

It was an interesting year as we had a new set of parents.  I'm not sure if I mentioned about D'Arcy earlier in the year or not; but she was found on the ground a few kms away from the site and died on route to the wildlife centre.  Then the male, Lucky, was pushed out by a younger male named Romeo who was born just up in Rexdale at William Osler hospital, or Etobicoke General as I still refer to it as.  Oh, also, in between these two events, a new female arrived on scene.  She is not banded so we don't know where she came from and obviously she was never given a name.  One of the guys down at the site who has been amazing with getting photographs of the birds and helping us track them named her Ann (after his wife).

Romeo and Ann had a late start to the whole nesting thing and fledge watch started about a month later than usual.  They had 3 young.  Andre, Casey and Angel.  Two boys and one girl.

Andre was first to fly and did amazing from day one off the ledge.  He has stayed high off the streets, not needing any help from us at all.  Casey was next and he too was much like his brother, not needing any assistance.  Then there was Angel, which is what this blog is about. 

Angel's first flight was great.  She made it over to the next office tower rooftop.  Angie was with me at the watch this particular morning and we both saw her go.  What an exciting moment, especially seeing her have a successful first flight.  When you see birds take their first flights and bounce off windows, come to ground soon after, or worse, take that first flight and hit a window hard, and die on impact; that sticks with you forever after, with every other bird and their first flight from the ledge.  It's not something you get over, and for Angie, she hasn't helped at the watch in 10 years, ever since she saw a bird named Regatta slam into the reflective glass, and she had to retrieve the body from an upper mezzanine.  Heart breaking stuff!

The afternoon and evening watchers said Angel didn't fly too much until later in the day.  It was near close time (dark) when she did take a flight and they lost sight of her.  They said it looked like she lost some altitude and they could not relocate her.  With that last report, I made the effort to get down to the site even earlier than usual because past experiences have had me find these missing birds in peculiar places the next morning.  The fledge watch makes for a long day because of my work hours.  Being on site by 6 AM for 4 hours, and then at work from 2 to 10 PM, I don't make it to bed until at least midnight.  But since it's only for a few days, I deal with the lack of sleep, because it is worth it to me to try and help monitor these young birds.  Anyway, back to the story...

I get down to the site around 5:45 AM.  I spot two juveniles on the rooftops almost immediately.  I cannot tell who they are from ground level, so it's all about doing a head check.  I need to find the third bird.  I start my spot check route that I have in my head, looking in all the tight spots, crevices, etc where I have found young peregrines past years.  I am not spotting a bird along the stretch of Bloor St.  Then, as I near the corner at Islington, I see a young peregrine sitting on a bench out front of the Sobey's.  I can see the tape color on the leg and can confirm it is Angel.

There was a woman sitting on the steps further over.  She sees me looking at the bird and says "I'm terrified of birds so I let it keep the bench".  Thank goodness for that because if she shoo'd Angel away from here, who knows where she could have run off to.  She's right at the corner of a busy intersection, you can see the stop light in the reflection behind her.

As I approach Angel, she's getting into defensive mode.  Is it going to be fight or flight with her?  As I near her with my towel in hand, she decides it is better to try and get away from me.  First she tries to get around me but then quickly backs off, then trying to run away.  There is this glass partition behind her so her escape route is blocked.  She tries to jump over it and that is futile.  I have her wrapped up in my towel without too much of a struggle.  Wings pressed to the body and her head is covered, so she pretty much submits.  I'm relieved with this fairly easy "rescue" but my adrenaline is still pumping.  I don't know how these things are going to play out.  I try to handle them as quickly as possible.  In the moment though, it is still a rush.

I was told that there were 2 animal carriers at the security desk.  My carrier was misplaced last year, as in someone borrowed it from the site and never returned it.  I usually have a smaller carrier with me, which is fine for the male falcons who are smaller, but not always so for the larger females...  only this time it was with a neighbour who had borrowed it to help a little kitten the day before.  I'm jumping around a bit here, sorry.  You'll understand why in a moment.  As I get to security, I see no carriers.  It turned out that someone had moved them elsewhere and no one knew where.  Argh!  So no carriers with security and no carrier in my car.  What do I do with this falcon under my arm at 6:15 in the morning?  There's no businesses open where I could hopefully get a cardboard box big enough to contain Angel.  My brain says "go home, you have carriers at home!"  

I'm making that long walk, like 3 blocks to my car.  Angel is fussing under my arm.  This is going to be "fun".  I get to the car, now to get my keys out of my pocket and still have a safe hold of this bird.  Okay, done.  Now to get in the car, start it, get my seat belt on and still have a safe hold of this bird.  Not easy but done.  Okay, now to drive home, still having the safe hold on this bird, and to also call Angie.  I have hands free Bluetooth but it isn't voice activated.  I somehow managed that and Angie answers the phone.  I bet she wasn't expecting me to say "I need you to unlock the front door, then get one of the cat carriers and put it in the bathroom.  I've got Angel with me."  There wasn't much else said because we both know that talking adds to the bird's stress level.  The drive from the nest site to the house is 5 minutes but it sure felt a lot longer.  I get home, and in no time I am in the house, in the bathroom with the door closed and now containing Angel in a cat carrier.  She was like the Tazmanian devil in a crate in those old Looney Tunes cartoons, thrashing around, until I got her back out in the car and stable.  The carrier was toweled the whole time, but the movement was freaking her out.  I got back to the nest site, parked illegally as close to the security desk as possible and got her into the storage room ASAP.  Now we both can relax.

What a big day out for Angel, eh?  Too bad that wasn't it for her...

She was later released (I was at work) and apparently after some time she took a flight which did not go so well, the watchers saw her lose altitude and then all sight of her.  They searched high and low for her but she was no where to be found.  Long story short, she came down right on Bloor St and sat there in the left turn lane to a nearby side street, amidst the afternoon rush hour traffic.  A vehicle stopped in front of her, the driver honked the horn at her and she stayed put.  The man got out of his vehicle and quickly scooped her up.  He was not aware of the watch going on and took Angel up to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.  Nobody knew anything of this until much later when I am at home and an acquaintance of mine from the centre contacts me and told me how she was observing Angel at the centre late that day.  I was like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"  I was in disbelief until she confirmed Angel's band number.  OMG!!!  A whirl of emotions came over me but I had to remind myself that Angel was safe and she was in the next best place to be other than with her family high above the streets.  Angel was looked over that evening, ensuring nothing was broken, fractured, bleeding, etc.  She was hydrated, fed and had a rest for the night, or time out as I call it.  She was reassessed again the next morning.  I believe at some point x-rays were done, possibly the day before.  Everything looked good and they okay'd her to go home.  At this point in time, it is crucial to get these young birds back to their families ASAP, so they don't miss vital time, learning to fly, bonding with their siblings at this young stage, and any training from the parents.

I got the news that she was good to go home and also that I was asked if I would like to release her.  Hells to yes on that!  This would be my first peregrine falcon release at our nest site that I have been helping monitor for over ten years...  and my first peregrine release ever.  The release happened much later in the day.  Another watcher met me there and basically showed me the way to the roof and I opened up the carrier, and out came Angel after a few moments.  Doing the release at dark normally ensures the bird stays put for the night, gets its bearings and tries the whole flying thing again the next morning.

Everything has gone well for Angel since that release.  She's stayed high above the streets. playing with her brothers and learning how to fend for herself from her parents.  A friend of mine caught this image on the cam of all three young together again at the nest ledge where they were born.  How awesome!

Please wish Angel and her brothers well as they'll soon be leaving the site, if they haven't already, and going out on their own.

It is unfortunate that some people don't see the good in helping these birds during those first days of flight.  I got bashed by someone saying I've interfered with the natural order of things and stole a meal away from a coyote or some other predator by helping Angel.  It's one thing if you take a catch away from a predator like some people do, trying to save smaller birds and animals from the clutches of a coyote, fox, hawk, whatever; but picking one up off the street that fell from a nest or bounced off a glass window is entirely different.  I try to respect the opinions of others but not when they come at me so harshly, finger pointing and saying "you did a bad thing!"

If anyone is wondering why I do these falcon watches, here is a blog I did for Bird Canada a few years ago that should explain things and has way more photos that this blog that I just did.

See you all again soon.  Enjoy the last days of summer!

Longer Than I Thought...

Hello.  Is anyone still out there?  Thanks to Eva for the "poke" of sorts in way of a comment on an older blog, checking in.  Seeing when I last blogged, I have been gone long than I thought.

Life got pretty busy.  We went through a kitchen reno that took almost a month; and we still don't have a kitchen table to finish the room off.  I found myself being unwell a lot through the first half of the year as well.  I got pretty sick over Christmas and it went on for over 3 weeks.  Then in March I got sick again.  Then in May.  I thought I was finally better but then BOOM, sick again in June.  Knocking on wood that things are better for me health wise.  Plus, just not blogging for a while, I fell out of the want or need to blog.  One other reason, my 500 mm lens is acting up.  I had it in for the auto-focus and then not long after I got it back, the image stabilizer started acting up.  It's temper mental and frustrates me.  I've debated on sending it back in for service.  Angie is pushing me to get a new lens.  But, the thought of dropping over $3,000 for a new lens weirds me out.  That's a lot of money!

Okay, enough rambling...  let's catch up a little bit here.

I recall blogging about finding a dead screech owl on the main road by us.  I was sad, thinking it may have been our backyard visitor Little Al as he went MIA.  Did I ever blog that he came back sometime after me finding that dead one?  He spent less time this past winter with us as it was fairly mild and we didn't get much precipitation.  Little Al seems to visit us when it is bitter cold and especially if the weather is crappy.  I was sooooooooooooooooooo happy to see him back at the box; and yes, I was still sad about finding that other one.  Here's Little Al late this winter.  The Master of Camouflage!  He disappeared sometime in March and we hope returns again later in the fall.

More recently, we just got back from a trip to see Angie's brother and family in Okotoks, Alberta.  It was a mix of seeing family and taking in some of what Alberta has to offer in way of nature.  Angie hired us a guide for one of the days, taking us out to various spots and trying to see birds that we do not get to see in Ontario.  I ended up with over 15 life birds!  I haven't stayed on top of my life list so while we were out there, I had a feeling I was nearing my 300th bird, but not sure how close I was to it.  I ended up surpassing the 300 mark and figured things out after we got home and reviewed my list.  It turns out my 300th bird was a Swainson's hawk.  If only I knew it was my 300th when seeing it, I would have been more excited to see this bird species and I would have tried for a better photo than this one from down the road, shooting out of the car window.

One of the bigger thrills for me on that trip was seeing male mountain bluebirds.  I had seen a female here in Ontario a few years ago.  It was a terribly cold and windy day when we went to see that bird; but seeing the stunning males on a pleasant summer morning sure was better.

Another lifer was the American white pelican.  I saw these birds as a teenager down in Clearwater Beach, Florida; but didn't add it to my list until I saw one as now being a "bird nerd".  We saw about 16 at Frank Lake and another half dozen at a park called Douglasbank in Calgary.

Golden eagle was another life bird.  We saw adults flying and this juvenile still in the nest up and in a cliff.  The views were okay but not great for photos.

A few hundred feet over there was a prairie falcon.  The bird sat on top of the cliff and occasionally took flight, screeching as it circled above us.

I will spare you more crappy life bird shots.  How about one, not a lifer, but prior to this trip, I had only ever seen these birds down in Nevada.  Yellow-headed blackbirds.  A dime a dozen in Alberta but only a few small pockets here in Ontario that I know about.  Stunning birds!

A real highlight from the trip was seeing some bears.  I haven't seen a wild bear since I was 6 or 7 years old when we would be up north and stop in at a dump after dinner.  The bears were all black bears even though a few weren't black; they were cinnamon colored black bears.  Who knew?!?!  Not me, that's for sure.  We saw a "cinnamon" mother with two cubs, one of which was also cinnamon colored.

We also saw a large male black bear on our last full day in Alberta in the foothills.  He was on the other side of the road from us.  I spotted him as we were driving.  I quickly pulled over and we got out.  I slowly and quietly walked along the road, staying on the other side from him and kept going until I was pretty much directly across from the bear.  I wanted a better photo than just "bum shots".  Once I got that photo, knowing the bear was aware of my presence, I backed away, not making too much noise or fuss if you know what I mean.  I have almost no experience around wild bears, and he probably had little concern about me, but I played it extra cautious.

Here at home, Merry and Molly are doing great.  It's hard to believe we just had our 8th anniversary with them.  Where does the time go?

Frankie our rescue budgie is just fine.  We are at 9 months with him here living with us.

Sadly, our rescue leopard gecko Norbert suddenly, and unexpectedly, passed away earlier this week.  Even though he made no sound, the house seems quieter without him.  We enjoyed his company in the living room for nearly 9 years; and we had no idea how old he was when we took him in.

There's more in my head to throw in this blog but I will stop it here.  Hopefully this will entice me to get back on here soon and share something else, like our recent Etobicoke peregrine falcon fledge watch.  I do have a unique story to tell about a rescue I did; but all the rescues are unique.

Anyway, if you happen to catch this blog, please say "hello" in the comments.  It may also help me get back in the swing of blogging more regularly.  

Cheers!

Heart Strings

Man, this past Sunday sure was a difficult day!  Around noon I noticed a small raccoon in the backyard.  "Oh cool!" I said to myself.  I don't see raccoons out during the day very often, but to me it isn't that unusual either because it does happen every now and then.  He was a bit of a mess, sporting an injury to his left eye, his tail looked almost like it had been broken at some point, and overall his fur was quite a mess too.  I felt bad for the little guy and assumed he was looking for food, so I threw his some shelled peanuts (no salt of course).

He took his time to eat them all up.  I like watching them feel around everything as they eat.  Their paws are extremely sensitive.  It is said that they have four to five times more sensory cells compared to other animals.

I took a few photos and then went back in the house.

He'd disappear for a while, then come back, and this repeated over the next few hours.  A couple times I went out to check on him and he was no where to be seen; but then suddenly he's behind me and tugging on my pant leg.  It startled me each time.  Then I'd turn and look down at him, looking into his eyes, well the one good eye and silently go "awwwwwww".

The pant leg tug, what's that all about?  Was he tamed by someone in the area?  Or was he unwell?  Signs of distemper include a loss of fear of humans and wandering about aimlessly.  He showed no fear of me and he was seemingly wandering about aimlessly.  Other signs include a rough coat of fur and an emaciated appearance.  Two more check marks.  

While I was in the basement with Angie having lunch, as our kitchen is under renovation, we saw him going back and forth along the walkway up the side of the house as he passed the basement windows.  Then he went up on the porch of the house next door.

After lunch I sought him out again.  He wasn't in the backyard.  I went out front and I found him like this at our front door.

Oh, those runny eyes.  Another sign of distemper.  I'm glad that I went out the back door when I decided to go look for him as opening the front door may have had him accidentally enter our house.

I started contacting "wildlife friends" who work with the Toronto Wildlife Centre seeking their opinion on this raccoon.  I suspected distemper, perhaps an early stage; but I wanted other opinions with more experience in this.  I sent photos and videos of him.  There was a lot of humming and hawing about it.  Nobody wanted to say it was distemper without being very certain.  So there was more monitoring of the animal and his behaviour.

Sadly as the day progressed he seemed to get worse; but with small moments of clarity in between.  I'd have another interaction with him and he'd be killing me as I was pulled into him emotionally through these "unique moments".

It was looking like I needed to trap him.  <insert sad face>  I have a live trap but it was at a friend's place who has been trying to catch a mange squirrel.  The trap may have been too small for this raccoon anyway; even though it has caught raccoons when I was trying to catch a sickly squirrel.  I ended up borrowing a larger live trap from TWC.  The drive there and back, being only 22 km in total, still took me an hour to do.  Gotta love traffic in Toronto!  I was getting antsy as with the daylight soon to be disappearing, it would be more challenging to catch him when the other animals may awaken and start to roam in search of something to eat.

I set the trap with a chicken leg inside.  The raccoon went for it.  He was pushing the trap around, and he triggered the door to shut.  I went out to reset the trap and the raccoon returned while I was doing this.  He was at my side for a moment before going around to the other side of the trap.  He put his front paws on the cage, like he was helping me move it.  Here we are almost face to face.  Yes, a good hard pull on my heart strings.  I reset the trap as he was sniffing around it.  He poked his head inside and I gave him a tap on his backside with my foot.  He ran into the trap, triggering the door, and that didn't seem to bother him at all as he ate the chicken.  I put a sheet over the cage and brought him out to the porch.  Then I made some phone calls.  I won't drag this last bit out but someone came for him within the hour.  I'm glad his time in this trap was quite short.

I'm no veterinarian; but this really did look like an early stage of distemper.  The disease is not treatable and I have seen it in it's later stages with raccoons and skunks.  It is horrible.  Euthanasia may seem cruel but it is the humane thing to do for them.  Canine distemper is highly transmissible to other animals including family pets like dogs and ferrets (not that I can see anyone letting their ferret outside).

I assume there will be some different emotions from people who read this tale.  I wasn't out to make anyone feel sad.  I just hope there's not too many saying "good, one less raccoon out there".  They're living creatures and just trying to live out their lives like the rest of us.  We can coexist with these very clever animals.  I'm always willing to talk with someone seeking advice on how to share our backyards with raccoons and the rest of the local wildlife.  My one line gets most...  "I'd rather look out to our yard and see a raccoon wandering around than seeing some stranger (human)."

Enjoy a few of my backyard raccoon photos here from the last number of years.

This one below is one of my favourites.  She was such an awesome mother and we were like baby sitters with her young one summer.  She laid out on the grass for a nap and let her kids monkey around the yard.  It was a memorable day.

I have fun adding words to some of my raccoon photos.

Raccoons, what's not to love?

F******************

Hey there.  Just a warning that this isn't a nice happy blog.  Something crappy happened recently.  Well, actually two crappy things.

I was out running some errands one morning and driving along our main road just down a bit from us, I passed a feathery lump in the middle of the road.  I instantly knew that it was a small owl.  I pulled over and picked up the body, which was whole and complete...  I wouldn't pick up a bloody mess is what I am trying to say.  The owl was an eastern screech owl.  >insert sad face<

We haven't seen a lot of our screech owl this winter and I've "blamed" the mild winter for that.  I don't know if this owl that I found was our backyard visitor or not.  Either way, it sucks!  Poor thing.  It must have been hunting roadside and was going for something, flying low across the road and got clipped by a car.  It probably hit the windshield and then bounced off, falling to the middle of the road.

We've not seen our backyard owl since February 2nd.  I found this dead owl on February 10th.  As I write this blog, it is now February 22nd.  We're supposed to be getting some really awful winter weather starting this afternoon and maybe we will see "our owl" again during it.  We can hope.

It's weird that in the days after that sad find, I've felt grief.  Grief over a little bird that surely didn't think much about me.  Grief over a little bird that may still be alive out there somewhere in our neighbourhood.  It's just that having an owl on one's property, and spending quite a few days here since December 2021, you can't help but get attached somehow.  It's been fun wondering some days if he was here or not.  There were days we didn't think he was here and then he would surprise us at the end of the day, suddenly popping his head out of the box.  So many mornings while having my first coffee and sitting at the kitchen window, I spotted him flying into the box to roost the day away.  Both Angie and I certainly felt blessed to have him here.  He owned the yard for the most part when we knew he was home.  We gave him all the space and I was able to occasionally take pictures of him from the deck because of my 500 mm lens.

I took this photo of Little Al on January 29th.  He showed up at the box after we got some accumulative snow overnight.  I remember how I was willing to bet anyone about his return that morning.  No one took me on that bet.

I'm debating as to whether or not share the photo I took of the owl's body on here.  It understandably upset most but they got why I shared the picture.  A few people really lashed out at me for sharing it.  So perhaps it is best I don't post the photo here.  If you look for me on Instagram at robandtheanimals, you can see it there (if you really want to see it).

Then the other sad thing is how we went from 3 backyard opossums in the fall to 1 opossum through the start of the new year.  Sadly he too crossed the main road last Thursday and was hit by a car.  I am sure it was him as my trail camera has not picked up an opossum since the night before.  Why must they cross the road?  He's been taking the gala apples that I have been leaving out for him along with some random piles of cat kibble.  Sure he must compete with the skunks and raccoons in their waking moments but he was getting a feed, at least with the apples regularly.  UGH!  There was no trying to get his body off the road though as it was way too messy.  I swear our main road here is like death valley for the wild ones.  There's a park on one side and a golf course on the other and the creatures do go back and forth.  It is heart breaking for any wildlife enthusiast to see this.  Raccoons, skunks, opossums, a few deer over the years, coyotes, foxes, owls, geese and various birds.  Blech!

I had an encounter with this opossum a few weeks ago.  He was frozen on the back fence for quite a while one night.  I got home from work and noticed the big lump.  I passed him a few times while doing things out back and he never moved.  After 20 minutes or so, being done my little chores, I walked right up to him.  He was motionless.  I put my hand on his back and gave him a few light strokes.  He turned his head slightly to give me a look but did not move otherwise.  

After I went back up to the house, I saw him climb down the fence and go under the shed.  Why did I touch his back?  Because I could!  Opossums are generally slow moving animals and don't react like other creatures.  Would I try to pat a raccoon?  Hell no!  Even my little backyard pal Ripper I wouldn't do something like that with.  He's my little buddy and sits nicely on my hand; but I know how "squirrely" squirrels can be and he'd bite me in a heartbeat if I spooked him and not think twice about it.  Oh Ripper, we all love you so!

Sorry for this rather negative blog but it's a bit of therapy for me.  I know the wild ones have a world of their own and it's unfortunate how we live ours and provide far too many dangers for them.  I embrace the time they spend here with us as they make my days (and life) better.

Lastly. a reminder that blogger made some changes and they took away the email notification option for whatever reason.  So I guess it is up to anyone who wishes to follow my blog posts to stop in periodically and not expect a notice from blogger about me sharing a new blog.

Also, someone asked about how long it has taken me to get Ripper and these pigeons to come to my hand.  Ripper showed up here over 5 years ago acting like this.  Someone else in their neighbourhood conditioned him to come to people for food.  Is that person still in the area?  Only Ripper knows.  As for the pigeons, it all started years ago with Pierre who also just appeared in the yard one day, totally cool with humans and he basically forced himself upon us that first weekend.  As the years went by, other pigeons took notice of Pierre getting good grub from my hand and some braved up, also coming to my hand, and continued to do so.  This is a continuing "thing" to this day.

Thanks for stopping in.  See you all again in a few weeks.

January Blahs

How's everyone doing (whoever may still be catching my random blogs)?  

It's been pretty blah here this past month.  Dark and dreary sums up January around our area.  I think we've had 3 days with some sort of sunshine and not a full day of it either.  Sure the spring like temperatures are nice in a way but the rain and cloudy skies just drain and depress me.  Our backyard has suffered with this mild weather.  Odd to hear male northern cardinals belt out their spring song just after Christmas, and the robins soon followed with theirs.  These "bird tunes" are usually a treat for me in mid-February as we are two thirds of the way out of the winter season.  They won't be nearly as special since I have heard a fair amount of them already.

Our visiting eastern screech owl has been MIA most of the month.  Through the end of 2022, he was here 25 of the last 53 days.  In the first 25 days of the new year, he has been here for 4 of them.  It is clear to me that we are his cold crappy weather day roost.  I've predicted his last 2 visits just by the weather.  We are supposed to get about 20 cms of snow this afternoon and through the night; so I am betting he will be back tomorrow.  Here he is late one afternoon watching the birds in the holly bush below.

Early in the winter our doghouse behind the shed was getting some tenants.  An opossum had been using the house and it would appear some days a skunk shared it with him.  Then as winter took a break from us, the animals stopped using the house.  I set the camera up down there some nights to keep up on the activity.

I just deleted a lot of the trail cam photos, which had both of the animals in the house on the same early morning, so you will have to take my word for this.

We're delighted to be seeing an eastern cottontail rabbit around the backyard some days.  It has been a couple years since we last saw one.

Here he is from this morning.  Great camouflage!  Maybe he has been around more and I've not been seeing him?  Can you spot him?

I haven't been out for many walks this past month.  The few I have been on have been void of anything cool and unique to share.  The owl sightings this winter have been nil.  All my usually good for a random sighting every winter haven't had any owls.  I recon I need to expand my searches elsewhere and probably will in February.

Snowy owl sightings on my way home from work really haven't been a thing either this winter.  I had a few encounters before Christmas and then nothing except for one night last week where I had 2 snowys about 500 ft from each other.  One was on a highway sign in between the east and west bound lanes; the other was on a service road off the highway and I made my way over to have a look at him since I hadn't seen one in over a month.  I wished I had my camera with me as the owl was rather relaxed about my presence down on the street below him and he just sat up on the lamp post,  mostly looking elsewhere, perhaps out to his friend on the highway or maybe the field across the highway.  I watched him for many minutes before getting out of the car to try and take a picture of him with my phone and even putting it up to my binoculars for a closer view.

Here is my view of the owl from the street.

And the owl with my phone up to my binoculars.  A cool ghostly out of focus effect.

Ripper still comes to visit.  What can I say other than he is awesome!

Gulliver too although her visits are very brief because of the hawk activity.

Maybe "January Blahs" isn't the best title for this blog?  I have much to be grateful for with the animals, don't I?

How has your January been?

One More for 2022

Hey there.  Lately I've been pondering doing a blog but with the holiday season quickly approaching, time just keeps getting away from me.  It's a very windy morning here in Toronto with some kind of storm rolling in that I will be glad to get through only because I am sooooooooooooooooooo tired of all the talk about it coming, be it on the television, the radio, people in my travels.  Funny how a potential of 10 centimetres snow can be such a conversation piece.  But enough about the weather though it may get one last mention in my first photo here that I took about 30 minutes ago, around 8 AM on December 15th...

I was just putting the coffee on when I spotted this Virginia opossum looking out from under our shed.  I've been seeing opossums fairly regularly this fall in our backyard.  Mostly through our trail cam but every few weeks I do seem to cross paths with one out there.

Hopefully he stays under our shed today.  It's rush hour as I key this and, *gasp*, there's a storm rolling in.  It's just starting to rain now.  His bare toes, tail and nose will surely feel the wrath of winter.  Poor guy.  The doghouse is packed with fresh straw if he chooses to use it.  UPDATE - 8:42 AM and he is still down there.  This blog may take me a little longer to do as I keep looking out the window, checking for him.

Little Al the eastern screech owl is also quite regular this fall.  Last winter we would go a week or more at times without seeing him but so far this time around, it's a day or two without a sighting and then he is back.  Since I don't see him weekdays because of my work hours, I find myself glued to the kitchen window on the weekends at dusk.  Silly since he doesn't do anything for the most part, maybe watch the last birds of the day flutter around, or the cardinals chasing each other, and then as it is just about dark, he flies out of the box and heads to the nearby cedars.  I guess it is still just so cool to have a little owl hanging out during the day in our backyard, and gives us a bit of bragging rights.  LOL!

Thanks to Facebook memories, I learned the other week that Gulliver and I had just passed one year since she first came to my hand.  It sure seems a lot longer than that but now I know.  She's still a regular visitor although lately there's been some MIA spells most likely due to the hawk activity.  I've seen a few cooper's hawks flying in and there's also a red-tailed hawk hanging out on a tower near us, which has also come through here on occasion looking for a meal.  Here's Gulliver and I from a couple mornings ago, being all festive.

Ripper still comes around most days.  I remember last year around this time I was missing him as he had been gone since the summer.  What a gift it was when he suddenly reappeared over the Christmas break; or was it New Years?  Doesn't matter, all I know is my jaw dropped when he ran up to me after being gone for 5 months.  I spoil him every time I see him but we've not had many up close and personal moments.  Not sure why really.  I see him and set a big pile of food out for him.  But he's always willing to come to hand if I put it out.  The other week he scared the heck out of me as I was feeding Gulliver and he came up from behind, climbed part way up a nearby tree and then jumped from it onto my shoulder.  Gawd, give this older guy a heart attack why don'cha?  He's awesome.  Here's us a month or so ago also being festive.  I'm not sure what just happened with this paragraph after doing an edit here.  Oops...

Our rescue budgie Frankie is doing well.  He's adjusting to life with us and is slowly coming around to trusting me.  I an put my hand in his cage now and tend to his seed and water dishes without him freaking out now.  That's a big step forward.  He tweets much of the day and smooches his friend in the mirror.  He's seldom alone with me being home all morning and then Angie home later in the afternoon.  He gets table time at the back window which he really enjoys.  I've been leaving his cage door open at times but so far he has no desire to step out of it.  Back in mid-November we had a really warm morning and I took him out on the deck with me.  He got very quiet and seemed nervous about the whole thing.  Maybe he thought I was going to let him go?  Who knows how he ended up outside back in early October, what his former life with whoever was like?  He is quite happy and really loves being put to bed at the end of the day.  I still think he came from a breeder, like all those others that were flying around here this past summer.  Maybe they all lived in someone's shed or garage?  If only he could tell us all about it.

I'm starting to see snowy owls on my way home from work again.  The first one was 3 weeks ago and I have seen two this week.  They are a treat to spot even if I am just passing them doing 110 km/hr on the highway like many of my winter sightings but occasionally I will find a place to park where it is safe to do so and watch them, try for a picture.  I'm going to try and track how many sightings I have this season since it would be too hard to track individuals.

Well, I better stop this blog now and get my day started.  The opossum is still here an hour later.  I put some cat kibble out for him as he has been going to this spot which is under the bird feeder.  I keep that sheet of ply wood out so during the winter it is a spot that I can easily shovel for the ground feeding birds.  There's no grass in this spot anyway so it's all good.  I took this picture from the window as he is a very skittish animal and I don't want to spook him out of the backyard.  Not everyone in the neighbourhood would appreciate seeing an opossum wandering around.  Odd, despite all the promotion from so many wildlife organizations about all the good these animals are for us, some people are still really freaked out at the sight of one.

Okay, off I go.  Wishing you all a very merry Christmas, however you spend the holiday season, and all the best in 2023!  Cheers!