Cooper's or Sharp-shinned Hawks

On Wednesday a was handed three baby hawks, thought to be Red-tails but were (maybe) Cooper's hawks, recovered by a logger after the nest tree was felled. His work to get them to me was heroic, especially after his boss told him to throw them in the bushes and get back to work. I haven’t done any rehab in years but for some reason offered to take them. They are currently in indoor and outdoor “nests” in a playpen, and are feeding themselves diced mice and ground quail, yummy. My plan is to hack them out here. I have seen Cooper’s Hawks around, a nest just over a mile away near where I fly the Peregrine. Below is their "hack site" as soon as they are all feathered, quail anonymously dropped through the tube. More news on the way.

Bannack Saturday!

Join us tomorrow at 2 pm in the campground - Bannack State Park and Ghost Town in the gorgeous Big Hole Valley. Sib the Peregrine, Nigel the Golden Eagle, iPod the Pygmy-Owl, and Jillian the Great Horned Owl for a group HOOT!

RIP-Nut

Peanut is so missed already and the last retriever to survive in this photo- the one on the left, and almost 15 years of age. A turkey was laying on her grave an hour after she was buried and had this dust bath. So Peanut will return as a Wild Turkey. Hunt 'em up, Pea.

Calliope Snapshot

Just now by the office.

Happy Dogs

Thanks all around - first to Andy and Melanie Puckett and friends for re-installing our bridge over the slough. Now we can walk down to the beach again. And thanks that Peanut our nearly 15- year-old Golden Retriever can join us. She was on death's doorstep over a week ago, perhaps had a stroke, and we said good-bye several times. She has bounced back and voila! Our Happy Place and a new spot since the Scenic Snag fell down in the flood, absent from the skyline in the background.

Sucker

One less sucker in the Bitterroot River.

Good Kids

Sibley and Max at the CRC Celebration

Seeley Lake!

The program Sunday for the Clearwater Resource Council in Seeley Lake, hundreds of friends and we were told, "You hit a big homerun yesterday - wow.  One of the people who raved about your talk and birds was Jean Maclean Snyder, Norman Maclean's daughter who brought her family.  I had several moms come up to me afterward to tell me how engaged both they and their kids were.  Others said they never expected to be so entertained!"  Thanks Teaching Team Birds - you are the best. Plus some deer in Mom's yard.

Bonner Peregrines

Today, and looks like the four Peregrine chicks are about to fledge. Eyrie at the Bonner Take-Out/Put In and the cliff nest is on the right side near the top - an old stick Raven nest. Dad is bringing in what turned out to be a a nice white bird for the babies. Not so baby any longer and soon to be swooping and begging. Check it out!

Nearby Nest

The Ospreys are close to fledging time in our pal and neighbor Kathy Price's yard. She watches them like a hawk and reported that the male left for a full day, no food for 24 hours when the chicks were much younger. Two nestlings are easier to feed than three, she observed - three the last few years. More news on the way and thanks, Kathy!

Burrowing Owl & Feather

Burrowing Owl & Bumblebee

Sunday Funday

River Activities

A robin crashed into the river before me and bathed as if in a bird bath until out of sight downstream. He looked like a tiny duck. Then what, mating Spotted Sandpipers? They have chicks by now...

Nest Tree

Yep, nest tree still intact. 

OH NO!

Tragedy for Kate Davis, River Photographer -the floodwaters took out our favorite tree. The "Scenic Snag" across the river is now laying in the Bitterroot. I was down there a minute and thought, something is wrong, then discovered what: the skyline had changed. I'll bet 75% of my photos are birds in that tree - eagles, Ospreys, Peregrines, Kestrels, Merlins, you name it. That' the ex-snag right under the eagle in this composition photo used in the Audubon Bird Festival. Plus featured quite a bit in the Birds Are People, Too book. Bummer, but at least the nest tree is still standing.

Bobolink!

They migrate to South America! Embrace the Bobolink as your favorite songbird.