Saturday, September 19, 2009

Magpie Geese


The Duck/Goose hunting season opened up here a week or so ago. The geese are not stupid and promptly leave the wetlands and rock up in and around town where its safer. For a small number of unfortunate geese this is swapping one danger for another. So we have seen a number of geese with "urban" injuries. (dog attacks, hit by cars, kids etc). This is a photo from one of our staffs backyard fence.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Baby Birds


Its an often repeated message to put baby birds back. All to often with baby birds they are unneccessary rescues. They are either a fledgling learning how to fly or they are a baby bird who has fallen from their nest. Either way their best chance of survival is back with their own real parents. If you find a nestling, look for its nest and try to place it back if possible. If the whole nest has fallen from the tree, like the one in the photo try to replace the nest into a nearby tree or shrub, at about head height. If the nest has fallen apart, try making a new one using a plastic container, like an ice cream container (with holes in the bottom to let rainwater drain out). The parents will almost always come back to look after them and it is their best chance of survival. The nest in the photo was returned to its tree (secured with a cable tie through the bottom) and its parents came back to feed it. The second egg hatched the next day. Hopefully they should do well now.