SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Spirit the bald eagle flies again on wings, prayers

BETHLEHEM — Named Spirit by the staff at The Animal Hospital in Slingerlands, the young eagle was near death when he arrived Oct. 12
Still bearing seven shotgun pellets from the blast that nearly killed him, Spirt the bald eagle flew free again Thursday to the cheers of those who spent more than two months nursing him back to health.

A surgically repaired and rehabilitated right wing kept perfect time with the other wing, and Spirit soared into a nearby tree, as Becker and hospital staff shouted with joy. After a few moments, Spirit took off again, wheeled around a stand of tall white pines, and disappeared into the wild, the calls of suddenly alarmed crows announcing his journey.

Now, in addition to the shotgun pellets, Spirit carries another bit of his encounter with humans — a leg tag from the state Department of Environmental Conservation so he can be identified if captured.

Both DEC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are continuing to investigate the shooting. A $2,500 reward is being offered by USFW for information in the case.
The birds are currently protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Maximum penalties are $100,000 and $15,000, respectively, with possible imprisonment of up to one year.