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April 29, 2006
The Eagle Babies Hatch?
It's 9:14 now.
I've been watching the Eagle Cam, and just spotted the two eggs. As of last night, both eggs did have pip holes in them.. I kind of expected babies by this morning.. but guess it's different than the chicken egg hatching display at the Boston Museum of Science!
Will Keep you posted.
Two Links..
http://array.galaxytelevision.net/hh001
and
http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/
3PM..
ok, still eggs. They both do have good size holes in them, but those have been there since sometime late thursday. Had no idea the hatching process was so long for eagles!
The server it's hosted on, it crashing under the bandwith requests.. you may have to reboot the media player over and over. When yu can connect, it does a lot of buffering. I did find another link to use, and it seems to be better for connecting....
mms://array.galaxytelevision.net/hh001
copy and paste that and Windows Media Player should open up.
baby watch, continues!
Posted by sue at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2006
Dalmation Rides Bike =)
A Dalmation rides a bike by itself somwhere in Japan. Apparently this dog was always interested in bikes since is was a puppy, so the owner trained it to ride by itself!
Video at Google:
Posted by sue at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2006
Eagle Cam Update!
The projected hatch dates for those eggs were listed as the 26th-28th I believe.. so here we are.. waiting! I have not watched the Eagle Cam in a while, as I found I got not much done! Addictive..
One of the sites, was talking about charging a fee to guarantee connection for viewing during what will definitely be one of the most sought after times... Not sure if that has happened or not.
There are a few ways to watch the eagles, the best I have found, is a link directly to the video. It will open directly to your Windows Media Player.
I cannot make it a click-able link, for some reason the blog software wants to add the site info into the link.. and that breaks it. So you will have to copy and paste the link into a browser window.. hit go, and your media player should open right up!
I'm hoping they will hatch this weekend, so I can knit and watch!!
here's the direct link to copy and paste:
array.galaxytelevision.net/hh001
exciting!!!!
Posted by sue at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2006
Such a Beautiful World...
A friend of Natures Corner Magazine sent me a link this morning.. was perfect with my morning coffee! Beautiful pictures of our Planet Earth taken from Space..
North America at Night
Images ranging from The Alps to an amazing view of a Hurricane bearing down on Florida.
Sound on, full screen and some coffee will enhance your viewing.
"As you live and breathe on this earth,
remember you are on a beautiful planet in a beautiful universe."
Posted by sue at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2006
Bird Web Cam links!
If you find the Eagle Cam as addictive as I do.. then these will make your day! =-)
peregrines - http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/peregrine_cam.htm (streaming)
peregrines - http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml;jsessionid=IV1OORYWT3ZHXFW4FBCXWEMW1YUEQ4L4?pq-path=2017&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=18361
eagles - http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html
osprey - http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm.html
Italian bird of prey webcams - http://www.birdcam.it/bird01.html
robins and blue tits in the UK - http://birding.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=birding&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwebsites.cable.ntl.com%2F%7Edavid.jones23%2F
falcons - http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/ (2 min. refresh)
western bluebird - http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/
purple martins - http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/
a PLETHORA of webcams in CA! -http://www.jamesreserve.edu/webcams.lasso
barn owls - http://www.wirral-mbc.gov.uk/barnowls/ (5 minute refresh)
Posted by sue at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2006
Biggest Birdie Fest Ever Held; Enormous Bird Rescue Effort Takes Flight in Georgia
(check out Feathered Friends Forever for more info)
/24-7PressRelease/ - ST. PETERSBURG, FL,
-- Thousands of Parrot lovers will descend upon the historic town of Harlem, Georgia this Memorial Day. Previously this obscure community had just one major claim to fame as the birthplace of Oliver Hardy, famous for the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.
"Birds arrive at our sanctuary daily from states as far away as Alaska," says Ronald Johnson who is rapidly putting a sleepy-eyed community on the map. "Some birds are rescued from abusive homes, others are staying temporarily while their owners are deployed to fight the war in Iraq."
The idea for a refuge came to Johnson as a young Marine recruit when he searched dishearteningly for a home for his pet parrots. Today Johnson and his wife each work 12 hours per day, 365 days a year, without pay, just hoping to save birds in need.
"Birds are the third most common pet in the U.S., but it seems like cats and dogs get all of the rescue attention," says Johnson who is known as the Bird Whisperer, because he regularly heals birds deemed terminal by vets and rejected from other rescue facilities. "Hopefully the opening of our expanded 8-acre parrot park is helping to change that."
About 15,000 parrot lovers are expected to attend Biridie Stock a four-day festival, which is planned for May 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th. Two nationally sanctioned bird shows are drawing the majority of attendees from a variety of states, including: Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas. However, entry to the park is just $15 dollars per day, and with more than 40 hours of live music already in the works, the crowds will boom...
"I can't wait to get there and rock out," says Florida resident Ryan McCloskey who is planning to drive to the charity event.
Artists like former Spiritual Writer of the Year Lisa Firestone, last years' Dixie Dreg Best Band winner Knowface, Diva Tribute artist Joanna Maddox, the RandB group Twin Towers, and many others are slated to perform. Meanwhile, Fortune 500 companies, wild comedians like "Pony-Horse of a Different Color", and semi-pro wrestlers are donating resources and time to make the event successful.
"We're just hoping all of this attention helps the birds," says Johnson about the event. "Usually when people hear about us we get a huge influx of birds but no money to feed and shelter them!"
Feathered Friends Forever is already housing almost 500 birds. 47 of them are from the endangered species list. In addition, the rescue serves as the official retirement center located in the USA for Amazon Parrots backed and sponsored by the Amazona Society (the international group dedicated to the welfare of Amazons).
To purchase tickets to Birdie Stock or to read more about the activities, please go to www dot Feathered Friends Forever dot org.
Feathered Friends Forever Rescue/Refuge, Inc. is a tax exempt 501(c)3, not-for-profit company.
Posted by sue at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2006
Man Accused Of Cutting Dog's Ear Off
Man Charged With Animal Cruelty
CHICAGO -- Police arrested an Aurora man Tuesday for allegedly cutting the ear off of a dog.
Officials said that officers were called to the 100 block of North Anderson Avenue at about 4 p.m. where they found Gregory A. Balano "standing over a bloody pit bull that was chained to a tree."
According to a news release, Balano ran away but was later taken into custody.
Police said that Balano admitted to heating up a pair of scissors over a fire and cutting the dog's left ear off. Balano stated he used this method so it would not hurt so bad and that he felt the dog looked prettier with no ears, the release stated.
Blano was charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a Class 4 felony.
Animal control officers took possession of the 1-year-old female pit bull. She is being treated at a local animal hospital.
Posted by sue at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2006
Internet radio station is the cat's meow: cat radio!
(catgalaxymedia.com)
To say that Nohl Rosen is a cat lover is a bit of an understatement.
This guy loves his three cats so much that he has made them his bosses. Well, they are more like consultants, but they hold considerable sway over the music he plays on his Internet radio station, Cat Galaxy.
"Everything is run by my cats first," said Rosen, who on Friday celebrates the fifth anniversary of his radio station for cats.
Yes, you read that right. Rosen's station is aimed at feline listeners. The idea for the station came to him in late 2000 when his cat, Isis, was meowing constantly. She didn't want food, water or attention, so Rosen popped some funk music into the CD player.
Isis immediately calmed down, and Rosen realized that cats enjoy music.
"She relaxed, and Cat Galaxy was born," he said. "And it has grown like wildfire."...
He made Isis station manager, while Jade is her assistant and Icarus is program manager. Since he started streaming the music over the Internet on April 21, 2001, Rosen's Web site, www.catgalaxymedia.com, has gotten more than 1 million hits. He figures that at peak times, as many as 60 cats, and presumably some humans, are listening.
Rosen does live broadcasts in the mornings and weekday evenings from his Scottsdale apartment, while the rest of the time the station just plays swing, funk, pop, alternative rock and smooth jazz. There also are commercials, but mostly for his computer business, Panther TEK.
His goals for the next five years include growing his audience, broadcasting from cat shows and boosting advertising.
"I have heard some broadcasters say that you can't really make money from Internet radio, but we like to think we can beat those odds because our station is unique," Rosen said. "We are a station for cats, by cats, and that will not change."
Posted by sue at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
Global Warming? Caribbean reefs ailing from bleaching, disease
Deadly diseases are attacking coral reefs across the Caribbean Sea after a massive surge of coral bleaching last summer, a two-pronged assault that scientists say is one of the worst threats to the region's fragile undersea gardens.
The attack, which is killing centuries-old corals, is the result of unusually hot water across the Caribbean region that some scientists argue is a consequence of global warming.
Healthy Coral
Coupled with a recent bleaching event that whitened and weakened coral on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Caribbean epidemic has biologists fearing for the future of the habitats that serve as spawning grounds, nurseries, tourist attractions and, some believe, alarm systems for the health of the oceans.
A catastrophic loss of corals, which grow in vivid colonies often likened to flower gardens, could be a body-blow to the Caribbean islands' multibillion-dollar tourism industry, which sells scuba, snorkeling and fishing along with sun and sand.
The unprecedented assault started last summer with some of the highest water temperatures on record in the Caribbean, which caused coral to bleach from Panama to the Virgin Islands. Hot water stresses corals, causing the tiny animals to expel their symbiotic algae, which give corals their bright colors.
Bleached Acropora
Scientists believe bleaching weakens corals, leaving them susceptible to disease. In some Caribbean locations, 90 percent of corals were bleached, according to reef monitors.
Coral can recover from bleaching when the water cools and the algae return to their hosts. But last year's bleaching event was followed by a devastating attack of black band disease, white plague and other ailments.
"It's one of the worst we've ever seen in the Caribbean," said Dr. Mark Eakin, coordinator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch.
SITUATION COULD WORSEN...
Researchers are uncertain how widespread the disease outbreak is and they fear it could get worse as the waters warm again this summer. Some preliminary observations in the British Virgin Islands show mortality of 20 percent to 25 percent, Eakin said.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, disease has killed some of the slow-growing corals, like brain and star corals, that build a reef's foundation, said Jeff Miller, a biologist with the National Park Service.
"At one of the study sites near St. John ... the preliminary results show about a 30 percent loss of coral cover," he said.
The Caribbean contains two of the longest reefs in the world -- the Belize reef, which ranks behind only the Great Barrier Reef, and the Florida Keys reef, which stretches beyond the length of the 110-mile island chain.
Billy Causey, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, said bleaching was less severe on the Keys reefs because the area was hit by a swarm of hurricanes, which gain their power by drawing energy from warm sea water.
Divers have seen some plague and black band disease on the Keys reefs but it has caused less damage than on the Caribbean reefs, he said.
While some scientists decline to link record high water temperatures to human-induced global warming because they have relatively few years of good records from which to draw conclusions, others are less reticent.
"I'm calling it heat stroke. I'm calling it an underwater nightmare," said marine pathologist James Cervino, a professor at Columbia and Pace universities.
"If we don't control atmospheric CO2, we're putting the nail in the coffin right now," he said. "You're going to see isolated patches of sick, sorry corals, trying to hang on."
Posted by sue at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2006
Molly the Cat
Kitty’s tale turns joyous as she’s freed from wall
In a purr-fect ending, a miner with a heart of gold searched until he rescued Molly the cat last night.
After spending 14 days stuck in the guts of a 19th-century West Village building, New York's famous fur ball was safe and sound and eating sardines.
Store owner Peter Myer with Molly
you can read the full story here, if you have not heard about it on the news.
What I found interesting in this article, is all the things they tried to use, to get Molly out!
How to rescue a trapped cat!
That darn cat! Here are some of the ways rescuers tried to reach Molly:
Humane traps baited with mackerel
Entreaties from cat therapist Carole Wilbourn
Mewing kittens
Tiny video cameras
Recordings of whale and gull sounds
Pet psychic Maxine Albert
Removing bricks from landmarked building
Drilling holes in same
Animal Care & Control officers
NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers
Catnip
Posted by sue at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2006
Where be the Humming Birds at? ;)
Thought it was time to check in on the progress of the Hummingbird Migration.. They sure have come a long way!
Posted by sue at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2006
Fish Out of Water
Scientists have found a fossilized fish that may have been the first critter to crawl out of the water and onto the land. Dubbed Tiktaalik roseae, the species was 4 to 9 feet (1 to 3 meters) long and had the gills and fins of a fish. But its fins included shoulders, elbows, and wrists, like the limbs of land animals. Tiktaalik (say "tic-TAH-lick") also had a crocodile-style skull and the neck and ribs of an early land animal.
Missing link between land and sea?
The scientists say their "fish with elbows" represents a major link in the evolutionary chain leading from ancient fishes to amphibious land animals. According to lead researcher Neil Shubin, "Tiktaalik blurs the boundary between fish and land-living animal both in terms of its anatomy and its way of life." Study co-author Farish Jenkins adds, "This represents a critical early phase in the evolution of all limbed animals, including humans."
Drop and Give Me Twenty, Fish
The researchers found the 375-million-year-old Tiktaalik fossils frozen into stone in Canada, just 600 miles from the North Pole. Yet Tiktaalik made its home in a subtropical swamp, among the shallow streams of an equatorial river delta. But there's really nothing fishy about that. Tiktaalik's bones just drifted with the continent. The land mass that now includes Arctic Canada straddled the equator 375 million years ago.
Tiktaalik was a predator, with sharp teeth and eyes on top of its flat head. The researchers think it crawled over logs, stones, and other obstructions in its swampy home, doing a kind of "primitive pushup," like a seal on ice. Not graceful, perhaps, but you have to crawl before you can walk.
When Fish Ruled the Earth
All of this happened during the Devonian Period, which lasted from around 417 million to around 354 million years ago. That's roughly 140 million years before the first dinosaurs. Paleontologists sometimes call the Devonian the "Age of Fishes." The first jawed fishes and the first sharks date from the period. So do the first "lobe-finned" fishes--the type scientists say gave rise to us groundpounders.
The most famous lobe-finned fish is the coelacanth, a.k.a. the "living fossil" fish. Scientists used to think coelacanths were extinct. But coelacanths thought otherwise. In 1938, a museum curator in South Africa found a live specimen in a local fisherman's catch.
Posted by sue at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2006
Good Company..
Personable parrots rule motel roost and keeper's heart
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Ruth Dennin has worked at the Oh! Shaw Motel along Route 30 in Gap nearly every day since 1976.Business has dropped in recent years. Some days, the register on the counter is not touched.
Ruth, 67, reads the newspaper or watches television to pass the time — and chats with her parrots.
"Hello. Pretty. Hi bird," the three socialites say in human-like voices.
"Heeeere cat," Petey the cockatiel cries. It mimics Ruth's calling of a feline which used to pop in for a saucer of milk.
"Chester is a bad boy. Where's Chester?" inquires Baby, a yellow-headed Amazon. Chester Gehman, Ruth's father, who ran the motel before her, died six years ago.
Ruth often lets the parrots out of their cages so they can perch on her shoulder or the cash register.
She pets them, feeds them and cleans out their cages daily. But she thinks of them more like children than pets.
Tilly is Ruth's favorite — the 6-year-old African gray just seems to love her more than the other two parrots.
Tilly pulls her claws through her beak to get Ruth's attention.
At night, Tilly can't rest comfortably until she shares some orange juice with Ruth and then watches Ruth go to bed.
When Tilly got an upper respiratory infection, Ruth nursed her back to health.
Petey marches on the floor close behind Ruth whenever he can, but the 14-year-old bird likes Ruth's husband, Gerald, best.
He lets Petey clutch the back of his shirt for rides and peck at his teeth with his beak.
Sixteen-year-old Baby prefers Trudy Albright, Ruth's former daughter-in-law, who works part time at the motel.
Baby's loyalty to Ruth waned about 12 years ago, Ruth says, after a customer's daughter tormented the bird by sticking her fingers in the birdcage.
Ruth is convinced the parrot blames her for not being in the room to stop the affront.
Since that day, the unforgiving parrot has never again rolled over or played dead or stuck her feet up in the air for Ruth.
In fact, the bird turns commando at times and flies after Ruth as if to attack her.
"She would bite me if I let her," Ruth says, admitting the lost love between them upsets her.
Ruth enjoys meeting guests from other countries she likely will never get a chance to visit.
The only celebrity Ruth ever entertained as a motel guest was a man dressed up like Santa Claus.
Ruth hands out a set of keys and an alarm clock to the occasional customer, but she and the parrots spend much of their days just watching Route 30 traffic go by.
And talking.
When asked to cry, Baby wails, "Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh."
Tilly can barely get a word in edgewise.
After Ruth coughs, Tilly asks, "Ruth, you OK? Tilly's OK."
When the birds know all is well, they keep on chatting.
"Sissy go bye-bye. Pop-popcorn. What was that?"
When Ruth leaves the room, she says, all the parrots feel a little abandoned.
"Where is Ruth? What are you doing?" Baby blurts, as clearly as a human. "Hello. Come here."
They miss her and Ruth says she knows all too well why.
"They don't want to be alone."
Posted by sue at 08:38 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2006
Beep the Grey enjoys a dance!
Posted by sue at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2006
ASPCA 140 Years... Go Orange!
ASPCA 140 Years of Service
ARE YOU GOING ORANGE FOR ANIMALS ON MONDAY?
We’ve got our orange gear ready to go for Monday—in case you’ve just joined us, April 10 marks the ASPCA’s 140th anniversary of helping animals—and we want to invite everyone to help us celebrate the big day. We’ve been asking animal lovers all over the country to go orange for animals, and many of you have been planning some special celebrations. Brown Elementary School in Eastpoint, FL, for example, will be holding a Wear Orange for Animals Day, while the Animall in Morrisville, NC, is throwing an anniversary party in our honor, with lots of free information, orange dog treats and on-site adoptions. To find out what’s happening in your neck of the woods—or to let others know about an event you’re holding—please check out our 140th Calendar.
Posted by sue at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2006
Stolen Cockatoo found and returned home!
Squawks heard by smokers on break led to the end of a
purloined cockatoo caper with the $2,000 bird back on its
perch at a New Jersey pet store.
The noise came from a trash bin outside University MRI in
northeast Philadelphia. Technologist Nancy Hellmuth lifted
the lid and thought she had found a chicken, "because all
I saw was all these feathers."
Police said whoever stole the baby Moluccan cockatoo may
have dumped it because widespread publicity about the theft
on the region's TV airwaves made the bird too hot to hang
onto.
"It was, like, radioactive," Burlington, N.J., police
Detective Jim Barnes said.
A trash truck driver who arrived to empty the bin put on
his heavy gloves and carried the bird inside, and Hellmuth
wrapped it in her lab coat.
Workers who had heard the TV reports called Bird Paradise
in Burlington, N.J., and store manager Kristine Collins
soon arrived with a thermos of formula for the hungry
3 1/2-month old bird.
"She wrapped her all up in a towel and was hugging her and
kissing her," Hellmuth said. And she said Peaches was
"thrilled" to see Collins. "She stopped squawking and crying,"
Hellmuth said.
Peaches was back on her perch at the store late Tuesday,
resting after a checkup by a veterinarian, Collins said.
=)
Posted by sue at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2006
Mating of penguins slows down
Scientists blame climate change for later nesting, egg laying
Penguins and other Antarctic seabirds are nesting and laying their eggs later than they did 50 years ago, a response, scientists say, to global climate change.
While the effects of climate change on animal behavior have been well documented in the Northern Hemisphere, the effects are less well known south of the equator. In North America and Europe, cold-weather animals are generally shifting northward as the Arctic warms and the ice cap shrinks.
Emperor penguins, seen here in a photo from the hit documentary, "March of the Penguins," are among the Antarctic seabirds nesting and laying their eggas later than they used to.
A new study by two scientists at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France compiled data for Antarctic seabird nesting from 1950 to 2004. It reveals that nine species of birds are, on average, arriving nine days later to nest. The birds are also laying their eggs two days later.
This runs opposite to shifts in avian habits in the Northern Hemisphere, where earlier springs and increased food availability has led to birds migrating and laying eggs earlier in the season.
In Antarctica, the delay appears to be tied to sea ice...
Unlike western Antarctica, no major warming or cooling has occurred in eastern Antarctica since the 1950's. However, in eastern Antarctica, sea-ice range has reduced 12 to 20 percent since the 1950's, owing to global warming, scientists say. Yet localized cooling has caused the sea-ice season to increase by more than 40 days since the 1970's.
These changes have been associated with a decline in abundances of krill and other marine organisms that are food resources for most Antarctic seabirds.
This may partly explain the delay in seabirds' arrival and laying dates, the researchers say, since seabirds need more time to build up the reserves necessary for breeding.
The shift represents a seven-day compression of the prelaying period when birds set up territories, court, and females make their eggs, suggesting that the birds' reproductive processes have some plasticity.
However, the scientists caution, if the seabirds continue to become less synchronized with their food source, and the sea ice continues to block their nesting sites, these species could suffer if they fail to respond appropriately, either through microevolution or behavior changes, to climate change.
This study is detailed in the April 3 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The species affected: emperor penguin, Adelie penguin, southern giant petrel, southern fulmar, Antarctic petrel, Cape petrl, snow petrel, Wilson's storm petrel and the south polar skua.
Posted by sue at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2006
Eagle Cam!
*WARNING! ADDICTIVE LIVE CAMERA*
I got the link to this live Eagle Cam, and ended up leaving it playing for over 5 hours yesterday. Facinating!
A couple of links to the camera:
here
and here
and if you click here
the video should just open in your windows media player. This is the way I have been watching.
Excellent picture quality, even at full screen.
Some info on the Pair and the Camera..
This Streaming Video is provided by Doug Carrick and Hancock Wildlife Research Center.
Note: the broadcast system unfortunately periodiclly shuts down and has to be restarted manually. This seems to be the Telus ADSL highspeed line which is near the limit as far as distance goes. We have some friendly Telus people looking into the problem. When Doug Carrick notices this he restarts the computer and we are alive again. You may have to 'refresh' your browser or again click on the url again.
Background on the Hornby Island Bald Eagle nest:
This nest is located on Hornby Island in the Gulf Islands area of British Columbia.
This pair has been nesting in this nest for about 19 years -- usually producing 2 young per year.
Posted by sue at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)