Should have been posted 6/30/09 - Georgia's Home!

Hi kids,

Well, well, well…look what the cats have dragged in…?

Remember the pitiful little Red-shouldered hawk that the nice Georgia Power folks rescued after the Mother’s Day weekend tornadoes last year? She is the bird that I documented and made a slideshow of, chronicling her maggot-filled start to her blossoming into a wonderful specimen…

Well, she’s come to visit! She came in yesterday and was harassing the youngest of the two Barred owls that I’m currently hacking. I offered her some food and she remembered where both of the hackboards are and this morning, she’s chilling in the Dogwood tree and wow, she is SO pretty!

‘Georgia’ – taken 5/15/08 The hole is where that mean old fly laid her eggs… 33 of ‘em!

As she progressed during the early summer of ‘08 Already yapping! DEFINITEY female!


When she caught her first meal, the lights came on!


With the beautiful fall leaves behind her...


And now this year…taken 7/28/09! See how yellow her flesh is? That is due to their mostly aquatic vertebrate diet…

My, what a difference a year can make… I’m a happy bird mom today.

This is why the use of ‘operant conditioning’ when they are babes is so important to their survival rate after the first few months they are released. Since you can’t fly around with them like their parents would to show them what to do, the next best thing is to condition them prior to release to come to a certain spot for static food. Some rehabbers only do live prey testing prior to release, then they open the door, toss them out on their ear and call it George. Although that method is legal, I would bet the farm that my babies live longer than their babies. Hey nonny-nonny!

Take care of yourselves and each other and thank you for taking the time to read my blog….m.