Red-tailed Hawks past revealed

These photos here were taken a couple weeks before the Making a Scene incident. Before I was able to retrieve the full band #. Before I finally found out what happened to this bird that caused it to need rehabilitation.

These photos were also taken in our driveway while Mr. RTH sat on top of the basketball backboard. No sign of being afraid of us that's for sure!

So do you want to know what I found out?

After several attempts at contacting the correct person I was finally put in touch with the place that actually banded and rehabbed this RTH. Amy Titcomb from the York Center for Wildlife knows this Hawk well and was very excited to hear he is still alive:

Hi Sharon,
Thanks so much for contacting us about the red-tail!
We admitted this bird April 8 2008, after he was found on the ground at the Sagamore Golf Club in North Hampton. A full exam revealed that he had been shot with bird shot (they are protected and shooting them is against federal law, but there was no way of knowing who shot him). He had wounds to his shoulder, abdomen, leg, and toe. The toe was fractured and some tendons were exposed on the leg. We splinted the toe and treated the wounds for several weeks. By May 2, his wounds were healed and the toe fracture was relatively stable; the toe was fully healed by May 12 and we moved him to an outdoor enclosure. On May 20, we banded him and released him back to North Hampton.
We are all so excited to hear that he's still alive! Could you tell me more about him? How often do you see him? How were you able to read the band number?
Thanks again for contacting us!
Amy Titcomb
Operations Director
The Center for Wildlife

I have since responded to Amy's email but have yet to hear back from her. At least now I know a bit of his history and how he came to be banded. Hopefully he'll continue to live a long and healthy life free from wreckless gun owners.

When Nature Calls

There's nothing like a leisurely afternoon of fly fishing in a beautiful New England setting



That is until Nature calls . . .



'Hello? Can you hold a minute? I think I have a fish on the other line'









'Never mind. When I picked up no one was there. So you were saying . . .'

Now what do you think the other guy was thinking of all this?

Heron on the Exeter River

Heron in the Wind!

One Tree Hill

Janel Leigh and the Eastern Point Lighthouse

As seen in Gloucester, Massachusetts

Our neighborhood Red-tailed Hawk makes a scene!

On Saturday afternoon I pulled into our neighborhood after picking my daughter up from work. There were several cars pulled over and I couldn't figure out what the fuss was all about until I saw this ....

Oh jeesh, he's at it again!

The RTH that is always hanging around our neighborhood was sitting on top of someone's Volvo with a dead squirrel, holding a captive audience.

Immediately I pulled over and started taking pictures. I also told my daughter she would have to walk home because I wasn't missing this. It's okay though, our house is only next door.

I took a couple hundred pictures so there's isn't any way to show you as many as I would like on my blog. Plus some of them are rather graphic, so if you would like to see more please click on the photo album below.

Red-tailed Hawk

Just a side note. After trying for a year I was finally able to retrieve the full band # from his leg. Talk about exciting! I sent it out right away to a gentleman (Danny) who had been trying to help me ID this RTH recently. This is what he emailed back:

Thanks for getting the number. This is a rehabilitated bird banded in Maine in 2008. Its behavior suggests that it probably imprinted on humans during the rehabilitation process. This is an example of why we are not keen on the banding of rehabilitated birds. Often such birds get themselves into some kind of mischief or other and we end up getting a bad rap because the bird was banded.

What kind of mischief do you think Danny's talking about? He also recommended I report this bird to www.reportband.gov, which I did. They told me he was banded on May 20, 2008 to be exact and will email me a Certificate of Appreciation with additional information about this bird. When I find out more I'll let you know!

The Mrs

I photographed this lovely lady on Friday afternoon on my way home from work. This first shot isn't that great but she's still as beautiful as can be.



For some reason the Mrs. has no Mr.

Where he is, or what happened to him, I don't know, but to me she seems rather lonely without a family. I believe this is the second year she has been alone.






All her preening has paid off. The Mrs. is stunning!

Victoria magazine drawing is over, and the winner is ….

Thank you to everyone who entered! Since my husband bought the magazine I had him draw a name.  (The feather you see fell out of a Red-tailed Hawk sitting in front of our house last night)

 

This is when I told him, ‘Don’t look!!!’ so he didn’t.

And the winner is ….

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Di, if you could email me your address I’ll have the magazine out to you in the morning!

I so wish I could send a copy out to ALL of you! If you see it in the store I would highly recommend picking up this summers issue.  It’s very relaxing to browse through at bedtime.

Have a nice Sunday!

 

Gloucester Breakwater and the 'Pole'

As we reached the twin lighthouses I couldn't help but notice the huge pole sticking up out of the water. Apparently this is to forewarn boaters of the impending doom underneath. Looking at the fancy GPS Garmin Roy had on his boat I was amazed there was only 7 feet of water beneath us! And though it looks like we are fairly close to shore, we're not. Believe me it's an illusion.

I tried to find more information about the pole ... when it was set, if it has a certain name, how it was set, yada, yada, ... but I didnt' have any luck. If any of you Gloucesterites would care to enlighten me that would be wonderful!


As we came in around the breakwater/jetti the water became so still. My daughter had been quite nervous before when we were further out to sea so this helped her to feel better. And it quelled the sea sickness I was starting to feel.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And on a different subject ... my husband bought me the most recent Victoria Magazine for my Birthday at the beginning of the month. What he didn't realize was that I already had the issue on my nightstand, so I've decide to give it to one of my readers. If you're intested in being in the drawing please put a V for Victoria at the bottom of your comment. And if you could please be within the continental US it would be appreciated.

Sunday I'll put all the #'s into one of the random number gizmo's, or something like that, and let you know who won. Good luck and as always, thank you for stopping by!

*It's currently Sunday morning so I will no longer be accepting names for the drawing of the Victoria magazine. Thanks to those who participated!

Bird Post

This section of Portsmouth, NH borders on the edge of New Castle

Doesn't it seem like a great little garden to nest in?

He's got that sideways look. Or maybe he doesn't like Sparrows either.

A view from across the water ...

...at a wonderful little neighborhood

Little narrow Partridge Street that runs up between the houses. I can't imagine where they park after we've had a foot of snow!

Thatcher Island Twin Lighthouses

On Friday, I (along with my daughter and her friend) made my first trip ever to Gloucester, Mass. to spend the day with friends, Kristine and Roy, who had rented a house on the Annasquam River. Just driving along 1A and 133 through Newburyport, Essex and Ipswich to get there was scenic New England at it's best.

Over the past year I've seen so many images of Gloucester on Steve blog, Shooting My Universe, and Jay's blog, Cape Ann Images. Wonderful and amazing seaport pictures I couldn't wait to see it for myself: the old paint factory, the large fishing vessels, multiple lighthouses, guys working on the docks, it's all so romantic. I was not disappointed.

Roy first took us out to Thatcher Island to view the Twin Lighthouses. Though I took hundreds of photo's, throughout the day these are a few of my favorites of the lighthouses. You will see more of these lighthouses from a different vantage point on my blog in the future, along with other parts of Gloucester.

Solar powered lighthouse?

A big 'Thank You' to Roy and Kristine for showing us such a wonderful time! The weather was perfect and so was the company : ) Jay left a comment with the following info:Those lights are 133' tall and just about all navaids have solar power now.The island had been known as "Thatcher" Island for over 100 years until recently.It is now "Thacher" when old records were discovered with the correct spelling! Thanks Jay!

Sunset on the General Sullivan

Completed in 1935 and closed in 1984, this particular section of General Sullivan Bridge, connecting Dover, NH to Newington, NH is considered to be the second most historic bridge in the state, next to Portsmouth's Memorial Bridge.

This is the same bridge I remember going across as a kid on our way to Hampton Beach and my mom hollering at my brothers, "Just because we're on a bridge don't think I won't stop and let you out!" Man I was scared but she threatened that a lot. Oh yeah, those were the days. We made it to the beach without any stops.

For some reason I have dreams about this set of bridges but I don't know why. In my dreams I'm trying to cross the bridge but half of it is missing and I can't figure out how I'm going to get to the other side, or some of the pieces of the bridge are gone so I have to jump but I can't because I'm too scared. Who dreams about bridges? Weird.

Anyway, on this particular evening it was all good. Very serene and beautiful. Enjoy : )

What's done is done


The old and the new

Nuthatch Yoga

For some reason the fledgling Nuthatches seem to find our deck railing a great place to relax, spread their wings, and practice a little yoga ... or so it would appear. Usually they do this after having a few peanuts from the feeder, or are waiting their turn.

These photos were taken on 2 different days. Please don't mind the fuzziness as I had to shoot them through double paned glass, with a glare, and then work them up a bit in Photoshop. They are too cute not to share.

Needing a little break . . .

After all that I think he/she feels much better, don't you?