Blog for the Birds

Woman Steals Bird and Cuts off leg

The leg off the bird that is! To remove the ID tag. This woman, Pamela Worden of Warwick, RI, stole the bird from a pet shop and took it home, then amputated its leg. She is not getting away with that. A prosecutor is going to ask for prison time for her. She’s due in Court 11/5/07.

Court hearing delayed for woman accused of cutting off bird’s leg

Squirrel Gets stuck in Bird Feeder!

Hahaha! A certain squirrel in Christchurch New Zealand, doing what squirrels always do, squeezed into a wire frame bird feeder. But it ate so much of that delicious food that it became bloated and couldn’t squeeze back out! I didn’t know squirrels did that. I was always under the impression they ate until they were full but continue to raid food supplies long after they’re full. They usually simply hoard and stash the remainder away. This squirrel’s ‘hoarding sense’ must have been out of whack!

Squirrel stuck in bird feeder

Parrot Saves Family from Fire

A certain Parrot, always the great imitator, saved this man and his son. The parrot named Peanut alerted the dad and his son who fell asleep on couch by imitating the smoke alarm. Apparently the smoke alarm itself was not loud enough. If this guy didn’t appreciate the bird before, I’ll bet he does now!

A parrot’s alert may have saved the life of a Muncie, Indiana father and his son. Their house burned this weekend, leaving them without a home. Shannon Conwell and his nine-year-old son fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie. They were soon awakened to find their home on fire after hearing the family’s parrot, Peanut, imitating a smoke alarm. “The bird just started squawking, and he mocks everything he hears,” Conwell said. “He was really screaming his head off.” While the smoke alarm was going off, it was the bird’s call that caught Conwell’s attention.

Parrot Saves Family

Fall Bird Watching

Many bird watching texts and birders will tell you that fall is a time of departure for many birds and you won’t see them in your backyard again until spring.  This isn’t necessarily the case.

For example, in the Southeast US, birds that ordinarily leave for the winter don’t leave at all.  There is even some evidence that points to regularly stocked feeders changing the habits of some bird flocks. So they might just hang around for the steady chow! This is particularly true of the seed eaters.

At any rate the fall is generally a slow migration so there is still time to many of them before they go.  So Fall is not necessarily a bad time for birding. You might be surprised who you see hanging around late in the year!

Bird Murders in Frankfurt!

Who would do this? This sounds like the work of cruel pranksters (probably kids). College Frat initiation perhaps? Decapitate the birds and you’re in! I hope they catch whomever did that and make them do birding service for several years.

A grisly murder case has shocked staff at Frankfurt Zoo. Keepers found the bodies of four murdered flamingos in their pen on Tuesday morning. Three of the birds were decapitated while a fourth was strangled to death, police said Tuesday. The four birds were all over 30 years old.

Flamingos Decapitated in Frankfurt Zoo

President Bush enjoys some bird watching

President Bush showed that he is not anti-conservation at a retreat with Vice President Cheney. The President was at Patuxent Research Refuge and gave a rousing speech that shows his birding side. Excerpt:

My administration has supported the National Wildlife Refuge system. We’ve expanded some of the existing sites, we created 10 new ones, and we restored and improved hundreds of thousands of acres of habitat for migratory birds. In other words, we recognize the refuge system is an important part of preserving our bird populations. And we’ve set a goal that by the time I leave office we will improve another 200,000 acres.

Bush, lunch with Cheney, speaking up for the birds

Grenada Developer Respects Bird Life

A developer for the Four Seasons hotel chain is ordering up a survey to study a rare bird -  the endangered Grenada dove.  The hotel chain plan a high end hotel in a nature area, but this study will be geared toward ensuring the dove is not further threatened by it. It’s good to see developers actually caring enough to study the issue although I would like to see a conservationist involved in the study.

Hotel developers in Grenada promise to protect rare bird

Pet Bird Alerts Homeowner to Buglary

Dennis Baker of Dallas has a friendly Mexican Redheaded parrot named Salvador who always says “hello” when he sees someone.  When an intruder passed by the window of the home, the bird kept saying hello repeatedly, alerting Mr. Baker to the intruder. The rest was history — at least for the intruder.  He was shot and later died.

Man Kills Intruder After Alert From Bird

In Hawaii 2 more Birds near Extinction

A national bird protection group and a Hawaiian bird expert are petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend protection to two increasingly rare birds found only on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai.

Two More Hawaiian Birds on Brink of Extinction

High Island Bird Sanctuary Devastated

There is a woodland near the Texas coast call High Island just outside Houston.  The Houston Audubon Society maintained a wooded bird sanctuary there.   Unfortunately the heavily canopied area was devastated by Hurricane Humberto this year and the Audubon needs help restoring it. Full story below.

After hurricane, area bird sanctuaries need help