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

Monday, June 18, 2012

Saved Mallard ducklings

Yesterday, a mallard and her day-old ducklings were found wandering a parking garage in downtown Watsonville Ca. The location is surrounded by heavily traveled roads with no way for the hen to lead her brood to a safe location without significant risk.

Under a special permit issued by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, WildRescue responders were able to relocate the duck family to a safer location, a short distance away.
Check out the video of the rescue, HERE.

Each season, WildRescue receives numerous calls from concerned citizens regarding mother ducks and ducklings. While we will offer instruction on how to safely collect ducks from a swimming pool or herd them from a backyard, most of the time our answer is to leave them alone.

As a rule, we only intervene when the ducks are in imminent danger or pose a significant risk to people, for example, by causing a traffic accident. This is when we use our waterfowl relocation permit.

Mallards, like other wild birds, are strictly protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It is illegal for anyone to pursue, capture, possess, or transport them without a permit to do so.