Richard's Release

Hey ya'll,

I hope everyone had the kind of holiday they wanted. I couldn't have asked for a nicer Christmas present than a successful release of Richard the Great Horned owl. I packaged up the little bundle of joy and took him over to the heavily wooded neighborhood where he was rescued all those weeks ago.

Let me preface this by saying I'm not into public releases. Tossing them up in the middle of the day so they can freak out and fly until they drop dead...ugh, I can't stand seeing that sort of footage. While it makes the people feel warm and fuzzy and makes the handler look cool, it doesn't do much for the bird's well being. For some of these animals that were GPS'd before a grand release like that have been found dead miles away the following day, having 'died of flight', as I call it.

That said, I employ the policy of allowing the Good Samaritan the option of being in on the release. After all, it's the least I can do for them since they went to all that trouble, as it takes HOURS out of their day. These many neighbors banded together on the day Richard was found and each took turns standing vigil to make sure nothing further happened to him while phone calls were placed. The reason I called him Richard, was because a nice man who works on motorcycles also runs a pet ambulance service and his name is...Richard. www.quickbikes.com and he came to the rescue that day and transported the wounded bird to me.

We set the time for 5pm, Dec. 26th. Not a good time of day for picture taking, but I wanted to make it late enough that the songbirds wouldn't give him grief after the release. This is why the pics are grainy. For the short video, you can go over to my facebook profile http://www.facebook.com/monteenmccord?ref=profile Scroll down and look for the links on the left side of the page.

Getting him settled after dipping him out of the box


I hold him up for a second so he can plug in his GPS and get a handle on his surroundings


And then...BOOM, off he goes!


There were probably 20 neighbors gathered and everyone followed the rules and was very quiet and respectful. Now, go forth and kick some bunny butt!

This was another fine present on the way home after Richard's release...this most beauteous sunset!


I snapped a few pics at the bird feeder this week, in between the clouds and raindrops...

American Goldfinch


Pesky Bluejay


Brown Thrasher - one of my favorite backyard birds...


And no blog is complete without a few pics of my lovely chickens! This is either Buffy or Barbie, the Orpingtons.

Chubby Checker the Dominecker - It's a girl with gender issues...


Who, me? I'm not the one with the problem, missy!


Good golly, gee! Do I feel better!


Church, the dead cat from next door stopped by to say 'Hi, what's for dinner?" today


Well, I guess that's it from my end of the swamp. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and feel free to forward it to your friends! And thanks for your continued support....m.