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maggies_lensSo I am guessing by now those of you that have known me for a while will have realised I am a total nature nerd, yes? Well, it's an inherited condition. My dad and my mum are the same. Both were forever bringing home THINGS when they were younger. In fact when they lived in Poland they at one stage had a hedgehog, a gerbil, a hamster, a Boxer dog and several birds going at the same time as my brother was a toddler. That should give you an idea how insane they are.
All through my childhood there was a steady stream of baby birds to raise and release (if possible), beloved family dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, fish, birds and, eventually, the horses. Well since I moved out my parents have down scaled a little. Kai the GSD is getting on in years now, and they have the Cavs which are smaller and less work. The fish tank is much smaller. Just the one old-man cat. They still have the lorikeets, a little flock of chooks, a retarded (I'm serious!) blackbird they raised after rescuing if from the wall cavity. And the latest addition: Vilk the Australian Crow. Dad does Children's School Crossing Supervisor duties. He arrived on site one morning to find a stunned baby crow in the middle of the busy rd with cars serving madly to avoid it. He stopped traffic, picked it up and set it in some bushes. Despite the common misconception, birds have a very weak sense of smell and won't leave their babies if you touch them, although obviously contact should be kept to an absolute minimum. He thought it unusual that there were no parent birds swooping him or calling out. Crows are VERY careful parents. He left the bird, hoping the parents would arrive once everyone was gone. He was back a few hours later for the evening shift. The baby was out on the pavement and looking very weak. Dad felt it's croup and realised it was totally empty. That's a disaster for a baby bird. So he popped him into the car and took him home. As I've said, we've raised more baby birds than I can remember so we know what to feed him. We want him to have a chance of release so we don't handle him much, but I think there may be something wrong with the little guy. He doesn't seem to want to fly despite being fully fledged. Slowly he is taking food by himself rather than need to be force-fed. And he's finally gaining weight. We're hoping he'll gain strength and want to fly. I named him Vilk which means Wolf in Polish after he almost took a finger off when I was feeding him; he's GREEDY once he realises it's food he's getting! Crows are HIGHLY intelligent so it could be he's realised being tame means a ticket to Easy Street :P
so, for number 17: Free Space, I present VILK!
Being hand fed by dad. He's being held in place or he hops away :P You guys should hear him complaining before he realises he's being FED! LOL!!! Oh and disclaimer: while crows and magpies are very easy to raise, a sound knowledge of their requirements and a HUGE level of dedication is required to hand raise ANY young bird. This is NOT a task to set out on lightly. They MUST be fed a couple times an hour and each bird has specific requirements and needs. Don't try this at home unless you REALLY want to and are willing to put in some very serious hard work.
7: A day in the Life. Taken at work at about 3am or so. My work station. The Teddy is there to remind me grin and BEAR it :P
10: Sunrise at the local park around the cnr from me. I walk the dogs there of a morning if I am not too worn out from a night shift. It's beautiful that early. All the birds are going mental, the air smells crisp and clean, no one else is out and about yet, and traffic noise is at a minimum.
16: Alien. I chose this one because so few people are aware of the enormous range of life that goes on around them, right under their noses. We see these guys every day, practically, yet how many of you know that a snail actually moves around on one giant foot? Or that these Helix aspersa are edible and commonly farmed in France? Did you know they can live for up to 35 years??? And that they have an extremely strong homing instinct thought to be keener than any birds; they can and will return to your garden even if you throw them over your neighbours fence ;) You can also judge an environments health by chemical analysis of it's shell as they absorb toxic metals. In fact scientists are just starting to discover uses for this talent now as an environmental checking device.The French like them with garlic sauce. In Latino countries they are commonly turned into skin lotion ingredients and are said to work really well on wrinkles, blemishes and lines. Many people also keep them as pocket pets. A baby snail hatches from anywhere up to 80 eggs laid in the top soil and takes about 2 years to reach breeding age. Betcha that's more than you ever wanted to know about the common garden snail, hey!
29: Signs. Or should that read: ignoring the signs :D Taken at the local train station where I pick up Al most evenings :D
All through my childhood there was a steady stream of baby birds to raise and release (if possible), beloved family dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, fish, birds and, eventually, the horses. Well since I moved out my parents have down scaled a little. Kai the GSD is getting on in years now, and they have the Cavs which are smaller and less work. The fish tank is much smaller. Just the one old-man cat. They still have the lorikeets, a little flock of chooks, a retarded (I'm serious!) blackbird they raised after rescuing if from the wall cavity. And the latest addition: Vilk the Australian Crow. Dad does Children's School Crossing Supervisor duties. He arrived on site one morning to find a stunned baby crow in the middle of the busy rd with cars serving madly to avoid it. He stopped traffic, picked it up and set it in some bushes. Despite the common misconception, birds have a very weak sense of smell and won't leave their babies if you touch them, although obviously contact should be kept to an absolute minimum. He thought it unusual that there were no parent birds swooping him or calling out. Crows are VERY careful parents. He left the bird, hoping the parents would arrive once everyone was gone. He was back a few hours later for the evening shift. The baby was out on the pavement and looking very weak. Dad felt it's croup and realised it was totally empty. That's a disaster for a baby bird. So he popped him into the car and took him home. As I've said, we've raised more baby birds than I can remember so we know what to feed him. We want him to have a chance of release so we don't handle him much, but I think there may be something wrong with the little guy. He doesn't seem to want to fly despite being fully fledged. Slowly he is taking food by himself rather than need to be force-fed. And he's finally gaining weight. We're hoping he'll gain strength and want to fly. I named him Vilk which means Wolf in Polish after he almost took a finger off when I was feeding him; he's GREEDY once he realises it's food he's getting! Crows are HIGHLY intelligent so it could be he's realised being tame means a ticket to Easy Street :P
so, for number 17: Free Space, I present VILK!
Being hand fed by dad. He's being held in place or he hops away :P You guys should hear him complaining before he realises he's being FED! LOL!!! Oh and disclaimer: while crows and magpies are very easy to raise, a sound knowledge of their requirements and a HUGE level of dedication is required to hand raise ANY young bird. This is NOT a task to set out on lightly. They MUST be fed a couple times an hour and each bird has specific requirements and needs. Don't try this at home unless you REALLY want to and are willing to put in some very serious hard work.
7: A day in the Life. Taken at work at about 3am or so. My work station. The Teddy is there to remind me grin and BEAR it :P
10: Sunrise at the local park around the cnr from me. I walk the dogs there of a morning if I am not too worn out from a night shift. It's beautiful that early. All the birds are going mental, the air smells crisp and clean, no one else is out and about yet, and traffic noise is at a minimum.
16: Alien. I chose this one because so few people are aware of the enormous range of life that goes on around them, right under their noses. We see these guys every day, practically, yet how many of you know that a snail actually moves around on one giant foot? Or that these Helix aspersa are edible and commonly farmed in France? Did you know they can live for up to 35 years??? And that they have an extremely strong homing instinct thought to be keener than any birds; they can and will return to your garden even if you throw them over your neighbours fence ;) You can also judge an environments health by chemical analysis of it's shell as they absorb toxic metals. In fact scientists are just starting to discover uses for this talent now as an environmental checking device.The French like them with garlic sauce. In Latino countries they are commonly turned into skin lotion ingredients and are said to work really well on wrinkles, blemishes and lines. Many people also keep them as pocket pets. A baby snail hatches from anywhere up to 80 eggs laid in the top soil and takes about 2 years to reach breeding age. Betcha that's more than you ever wanted to know about the common garden snail, hey!
29: Signs. Or should that read: ignoring the signs :D Taken at the local train station where I pick up Al most evenings :D
