Saturday, June 28, 2014

Finally, Oregon bound!

I started packing yesterday and am getting the last of the items in the van, to include the recycables that will be dropped off in Tucson. It's going to be hot going, and it looks like my route will be the California route into central Oregon. I will go around the central part of the state, hike around, then hit the coast and finish Oregon along the Columbia River driving eastward to the Snake River.

The boys will take care of the birds for me. Hopefully when I get back I can set them free. One bird still has a weak leg, but both have tail feathers that are 3/4 of their adult length. Both have healthy appetites.


Of course, the exact route will depend on weather and our health. Sometimes a place is so nice it merits an extra day.

I'm about two weeks behind schedule, but taking care of the birds and watching the World Cup distracted me. They were both nice distractions, as I was hoping to be here for the start of the rain. Instead, everything is drying up and the forest is looking grey-brown again.

Netherlands, Columbia, Belgium and Argentia all have nine points, but Brazil, Costa Rica, Germany and France all are tops in their groups. This should be interesting.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Mockingbird fledglings

Three evenings ago, as I was walking Minnie by herself, I came across a little mockingbird that was sitting in the middle of the dirt road. The little bird didn't move when Minnie and I came up close. Its leg was injured, which explains why it couldn't fly or dart off. I picked it up and was determined to take it home. Then I discovered another little bird and picked it up as well. The parents were nearby but didn't dive at me. Perhaps they knew their fledglings were hurt? Needless to say, Minnie's walk was quickly aborted.

The birds were scared and wanted to get away from me that first night, but neither could get very far. I was worried they wouldn't make it that first night, but in the morning they were awake and took more food from me.

I placed them in the large dog carrier in the dining room. I took an old plastic tub and filled it with shredded paper and used that as their nest. I made some runny grits for them the first night, feeding them with an eye dropper. A lot of that missed the mouths and instead dried on the young feathers, making the birds look dirty and disheveled. On the second night I used saturated cat kibble, Nutrience, Ocean fish and Duck flavored, and that seems to be a big hit. I feed them the kibble by hand when it's not too gruely, but use a teaspoon when it is. The birds are liking this food.
It's now been almost three days and the birds have gotten used to my voice. When they hear me approaching the carrier in the morning, just before sun rise, they wake up. Once the first sun rays hit them, they start chirping and I feed them their first meal. I've gotten better at feeding them by spoon, and they are getting better at taking the gruel in without wasting too much of it.

I thought one had an injured wing, but its wing is fine. The other bird does have an injured right leg and can't use it for perching. However, I do see improvement in its mobility. While it's not as fast as its sibling, the injured bird does move around more and practices its wings. I hope both birds can be released back into the wild when they have all their feathers and can fly high. In the meantime, I'm really enjoying watching these two. The healthier one does comical "butt lifts" as if it were stretching itself. It seems to want to fly more. They are very vocal and a treat to watch!

I have already contacted a wildlife rehab center in Tucson to take these two birds. I'd rather raise them to maturity myself, but I do have road trip planned next week.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Record heat

All this week we have had triple-digit heat. We tend to get this right before the monsoon, and with the cicadas chirping louder each day, perhaps that means that our much-needed rain is near.

To fight the heat, I have been going to the foothills an hour before sunset to let the dogs romp. They are used to this now, and come by my office at around 5:30pm anticipating me to get up, grab the keys and camera, and yell out "Let's Go!" which always ensues in four dogs running into each other to beat one another to the front door.

Three evenings ago (yes, I know I'm late in writing this), a lone target shooter was at the former campsite, firing off rounds rapid-fire so I took the dogs to a nearby trail to get out of the line of danger. The man exploded what sounded like a bomb as a finale (Tannerite?) and then took off around 7:30pm. He had left a lot of brass behind.

The next morning I went back to the site with the dogs and the district ranger, Mark Ruggerio, came by around 8am and asked me if I had heard an explosion last night. Why yes, I had, and I even had the licence plate number in a photo I had taken. The ranger wanted that as proof for his law enforcement buddies, and he told me that starting on June 5th (today), the forest would be at Category II fire ban, which means no target shooting. It's about time! And he also added that the popular shooting areas in Hunter Canyon will be closed to target shooters to give the area time to recover from the damage. Several once-live trees, mostly oaks, have toppled from damaged bark from repeated bullet holes and will have to be cut down. The ranger seems to have changed his tune a bit since I spoke to him in March 2013 about the damage.

The closures will now mean more quiet walks in the forest for a while.