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

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Corvids 101

Corvids eat a large variety of foods. They are pretty good at cleaning up our environment. Once they are big enough, you can feed a Corvid Mix (Corvids are birds such as Crows, Jays, Ravens). Make a food out of Science Diet Puppy, Iams Kitten, Cooked Brown Rice, Mixed Vegetables, Oatmeal, Finch Seed, Raisins, and wheat germ. You can also make a food which includes meal worms and Bag-O-Bugs along with a few other ingredients. You can scramble eggs  for the Corvids as well.  Introduce fruits as you go along. A big favorite treat is a goldfish cracker! Crow parents are very committed to their young. They take care of them for a long time and teach them how to find food and fly. They will go after a preditor if they think there is danger to their young. Jays and Raven's are equally protective of their young. Jays are the "clowns" of the bird small bird world.

Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human.