Saturday, April 18, 2009

Medina Raptor Center

This is the Amazing Laura Jordan and Migisi.


Today, Laurie and I went on a hike sponsored by the Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society, the first group we became involved with when we started birding. They are a great group, truly involved in helping to save habitat for birds. We'll talk about them in a future episode...

Yep, this IS a Red-tailed Hawk, though it appears to be an albino, it is leucistic, it has blue eyes and a little coloring around the eyes.


Today, we went to visit the Medina Raptor Center. I've blogged about them before and have shown you photos of their birds, such as the leucistic Red-tailed Hawk, the Snowy Owl that I bored and Matilda the Turkey Vulture. This is an amazing place to visit and if you EVER have the chance to visit them, you owe it to yourself to do it.

This is Matilda and if you can spoil a Turkey Vulture, she would be the proof. What a princess, she's the star of "Buzzard Day" in Hinckley, Ohio!


It will really open up your eyes to what happens to so many birds because of our carelessness. So many of these birds are injured and can't be returned to the wild due to poisoning from pesticides and lead from bullets, becoming tangled in fishing line, unfortunate collisions with vehicles and gunshot wounds.

They also have a pair of Trumpeter Swans. He loves to harass the Canada Geese on the pond.

Laura Jordan and her husband, Bill, have been rehabilitating birds and other wildlife for twenty years now on their family farm. Though the farming has ceased and the farm is returning to it's wild state, they still work everyday, taking care of their charges. Everything is done with the help of many volunteers and donations from people that care.


They have a number of large cages out among the pine trees of their farm so the birds have plenty of fresh air and light. Volunteers clean the cages daily and inspect their charges to make sure they are on the mend...along with the feeding of the proper diets depending on the species. They have a few local hunters that bring in Muskrats and other fresh foods, along with shipments of mice and insects from outside suppliers. The kitchen is a very...a...different, shall we say, sort of prep center! Be careful where you lay your snacks...


Laura's dedication to our feathered friends is a wondrous thing.


This is the cutest little bird. This really shows you how small a Northern Saw-whet Owl is.


This Great Horned Owl has been a surrogate father for a number of orphans. He has serious vision problems and can't be released into the wild, like so many of the birds you see here.



Laurie-loo took this shot of a Great Horned Owl in the hospital. He's not very great yet, give him a few months, and a whole lot of mousies!


This American Kestrel is dreaming of soaring.



One of the outstanding volunteers and a Barred Owl. It takes many people to keep the cages clean and the birds fed and nursed back to health.



This sign really makes the right statement.


Please visit their website to get more detailed information and help them out if you can. The birds will thank you!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Laurie-loo's mad Timberdoodle dash...

My guest blogger tonight!:

Laurie-Loo!
(...and this is the shortened version...ed.)

Yesterday morning started out with a normal, uneventful bus ride to my job in downtown Cleveland. But then, when the bus was near 12th Street and Superior, I thought I must be seeing things!! I thought I caught a glimpse of an American Woodcock (aka Timberdoodle) running across the road towards a parked car!?!?

Scene of the "alleged" Timberdoodle sighting, taken one day later.



The adrenaline was pumping, the bird blood was a-Boylan...so I screamed "STOP THE BUS!" (not really)...then I jumped off at the next stop and RAN back to investigate (she doesn't normally run, ed.). As I approached my destination, a policeman who had previously been busy ticketing cars, was now trying to ARREST the Timberdoodle, as it ran in circles. But I held HIM up, and told the officer the strange creature would do him no harm. Other passersby curiously watched the scene unfold, and I took advantage of the time to teach them about this bird.

My one evidence photo. Please note the policeman's feet!

Luckily, I had a camera on my cell phone (which she doesn't know how to use, ed.). Out of twenty or so photos, only one turned out (and one video...huh...ed.). Oh happy day, I had my evidence.

DOODLEBOOTY! Now you didn't think I would let her blog all by herself without me adding one of my butt shots did you? This was taken at Crane Creek along the boardwalk.

The bird looked healthy, and I was worried he would run into the street again- so I told the policeman we had to DO SOMETHING! He very gently told me "Lady you need to let nature take its course"- so I then asked him to help me change the course of nature. He then helped me to herd the bird into a nearby city park.

I think the officer was happy to see me go after that.

I returned to the scene of the Doodle an hour later to try and show a co-worker the bird, but no bird was to be found. So in Laurie-land, he happily flew off on his merry way to doodle on some timbers.


Dave says: When we figure out how to get this pic and video off the phone, we'll post them for your edification...and you thought I was the silly one.

Monday, April 13, 2009

The Tail of a new life bird...

This is NOT the Eastern Bluebird we are used to seeing around here!


We heard about a Mountain Bluebird that had been in the Toledo area for the past week. Our luck with chasing birds is about as good as me getting a shot, in focus, of the front of a bird.

We saw the post on Jim McCormac's excellent blog first, then I met up with fellow Kirtland Bird Club members, Henry and Lucas on the boardwalk at Crane Creek Saturday. Henry saw it very near Toledo Express Airport at the Oak Openings Preserve in the Toledo Metroparks where it had been since the 4th of April. We thought, what the heck, first thing Sunday we'll go out and try our luck. It was only a 45 minute drive from the BirdMobile and our friend and neighbor Judy Kolo-Rose came along in the hopes of also seeing this fine little bird.

And he was kind enough to turn around for the traditional "Birds from Behind" shot!


This is the only the second record for the state of Ohio and the first for northwestern Ohio. I think he took a wrong turn on his migration route, but this place looked like a nice place to visit and he had plenty of fans admiring him.

These shots were cropped just a bit, I would have liked to have been closer, but I didn't want to frighten the bird away and ruin the viewing for other birders.


As you can see by the photos, we did, indeed, see the Mountain Bluebird. And I did do the life bird boogie...just for a second. Laurie-loo saw one once before on a visit to Nevada to see her eldest son, Gene. There were a few other birders we bumped into that saw this bird for the first time and they could be seen doing the boogie off in the meadows.

He was singing very faintly after he was done preening himself, which took about forty five minutes. Who's the fussy bird?


And he was right on Sager Road, just like Henry said...thanks Henry!

A new lifer!!!

Stay tuned, I have to leave for work...ick...but, when I arrive back at our humble abode...

The Tail of the New Life Bird!