This post contains one image of a long-deceased gull, just FYI. You’d think I would have learned my lesson last year, with the dead gull I found wrapped around a deterrent wire on a nearby warehouse … or the gulls we untangled last fall from a fish-pen net. But, in fairness, this location was difficult…
Derelict Nets & Entangled Birds
Note: All gulls pictured in this post, and other trapped birds were freed from the netting. Follow Up on 10/21/11: I phoned today and learned that an official went out to this net, confirmed what we saw in terms of bird entanglement, and holes in the net have apparently been fixed as a temporary measure,…
Lancelot-Guinevere: The Case of the Castle Pigeon
Lancelot (no, Guinevere) — lost himself (no, herself) — along the coast of Scotland, where Picts and Druids and Earls and Scots laid claim to the medieval stones of her landing. Just north of these stones lie the crags and cliffs that offer sanctuary for pelagic birds, the calls of whom may have drawn her…
The Wild Things Among Us (Wildcare Video)
Saw this video at the Wildcare website today– about the local wildlife that shares our Bay Area habitat.
The Animal Rescue Kit
Our “gear” began with a collapsible pet carrier and some work gloves. At that point, we could still transport a few pieces of luggage and one niece or nephew in the backseat. Years later, in the same two-door Civic, we can barely get a turnip in the trunk.
How to Untangle a Pigeon
When you’re helping out a pigeon, the reaction from people passing by tends to be polarized: “how sweet” or “disgusting.” Pigeons have such a lousy rap, some people are aghast that anyone would think to rescue one of these birds, let alone touch it.
No Room at the Inn: A Quail’s Tale
Japanese Quail are known for shooting upward like missiles, and they can even kill themselves by hitting their noggins on hard surfaces. A Japanese Quail can shoot up and out through a space in the bag that’s narrower than my arm . . .
A Turkey-Friendly Thanksgiving
Several years ago, Hugh and I started our new Thanksgiving tradition of adopting a turkey from Farm Sanctuary. We’ve always been urban dwellers, so adoption beyond our beautiful kitty isn’t an option. But, Farm Sanctuary offers remote adoptions of their rescued turkey folk. Although Farm Sanctuary has a reasonably high profile through their advocacy work…
Baby Booties For Birds
Last night, Hugh and I put baby booties on sea birds. Actually, baby socks made into bird booties. There were grebes and murres in our section of the hospital. More than 400 ailing seabirds were driven by van and flown by a Coast Guard C-130 to IBRRC in Fairfield, California. The birds came from Washington…
Learning From a Racing Pigeon
I think the pigeon people are trying to tell me something. Late last year, I took a rambunctious fledgling pigeon to a nearby hospital. In April, I drove two [very] baby pigeons to the same hospital. I’m always snapping pigeon photos even when other photographers sweep their lenses right over the pigeon landscape. So, it…
