HawkTalkGreatHornedOwlFrancisPT.MPG

Hawk Talk Rehab - birds of prey rehab facility

Tortilinni0711

Barred owl bathing071211

Barred owl babes Stretching071311

More monkey business

Barred owl babes 071211.MPG

BObabes bathing071011.MPG

Non-profit bird rescue needs your help

Non-profit bird rescue needs your help: "Hawk-Talk owner Monteen McCord fears if donations don't start pouring in, she could lose her business."

Meet Francis...

Still my heart is an open secret...

Hey y’all,

Here is a link to the Marietta Daily Journal’s coverage of HawkTalk. Wouldn’t it be nice if the local affiliates/CNN or AP picked it up…anyone know how to make that happen?

http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/14607641/article-A-soar-subject--Rehabilitator-is-seeking-help-to-save-birds-of-prey-center--home?instance=home_news_special_coverage

Comment to the above article:

That high number of rehabbers stated at the end of the article is quite deceiving when you actually start calling them for help. Some aren’t active at all; some are full, most aren’t falconers or have a flight pen that is 16x20x100 which means that they aren’t qualified for ‘long term’ care. Which beings us down to about 6 or 7 facilities in the state…


Thanks for the calls into Bank of America. Maybe Carlos is tired of all the calls because now he is refusing to say anything to anyone citing ‘company policy that unless I fax an authorization for EACH person who calls, he cannot talk to them.’ However, that is only required if you wish to receive third party financial information. It’s all a bit of silliness, really…you know I’m broke. :)

So, let us then concentrate on Pryana out of the Boston office. She is accessible and engaging. Here is her number again 631-847-8223. Please help us figure out a way to work this thing out so the young raptors that I have worked so hard to rear properly and hack, won’t starve to death.

Enough already!

Enough families have been displaced. Enough children have been uprooted from the only home they’ve ever known. Enough beloved pets have been given over to Animal Control to be put to death. Enough pets have been outright ABANDONED and left to starve to death outside AND inside the homes that now sit empty.

Enough is enough.

Still, my heart is an open secret; someone tell me, have I been gifted or robbed?

Just captured this shot yesterday. It’s rare to have all four in the same frame!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog....m.

www.hawktalk.org
http://monteenmccord.blogspot.com

Monteen McCord
HawkTalk
P.O. Box 130
Holly Springs, GA 30142

Calling campaign...

Thanks for the calls last week! But the more we have, the better. The squeaky wheel gets the grease! My attorney has suggested that I blog again and ask that you make a follow up call to one or the other or BOTH of the nice people listed below.

Carlos – 818-713-2841
Pryana – 631-847-8223

One of the Barred babes got down into the pond last evening. He was so funny wading around in the water. I wish I had my video recorder with me while he bathed because the stills didn't turn out so hot (what else do you expect from my action shots?)

Two Babes down at the pond...one bailed in, one's thinking about it.

What's grey and goes a thousand miles an hour? An owl in a blender? Nope...it's an owl taking a bath, late in the day with a flash that only syncs at 60...

This is what I do...raising babies is like a golf swing. There has to be follow-through, otherwise all your work's for nothing.

Please consider making a phone call to Bank of America on our behalf. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and if you would like to donate a little Mouse Money, you can go over to www.hawktalk.org and click on the 'donate' button.

Running down the hall with my hair on fire...

Good morning…

Thanks to everyone who has called Bank of America on our behalf. I really appreciate your emotional support and it’s not too late to call today in case anyone else is in the mood to kick-start their holiday weekend. As of yesterday, haven’t heard back from the folks holding my life in their hands, so perhaps no news is good news. But then again…it’s a holiday weekend and maybe they’ve gotten off to an early start. I know if I had to work for a bank, I’d have a bottle of vodka stashed in my desk drawer. :)

Carlos – 818-713-2841
Pryana – 631-847-8223

I’ll camp out on Brian Moynihan’s door step if I have to and handcuff myself to his gate. He’ll either make a phone call and help us or pepper spray me and have me arrested.

Someone asked whether or not the DNR or USFWS could step in and help…I was quick to inform them that if every rehabber went up in a puff of smoke, the two departments would join hands and do the Snoopy Dance all over the 110 degree parking lot. While our job is to end up making them look good, (like they actually care about the individual critter) we are nothing but a pain the shoulder for them. That’s why they make it as difficult as possible to acquire any kind of state/federal permit; they don’t WANT you to have one and they hope you’ll just give up and go away. It is what it is, I guess. That said, kudo’s to Michelle Outlaw with FWS, who is the only person who actually answers the stinkin’ phone if I need something, and even if it’s not her ‘department’, she’ll get the answer I need. Thank you for being there.

In the mean time, even though I am clinging to the edge of the cliff by my Lee Press-On Nails, I have to keep moving forward and caring for those animals that most people don’t think about…

I drove up to Pickens County yesterday to pick up a baby Broadwing Hawk that the nice folks at Appalachian Animal Hospital in Ellijay have been working on since Monday. Something tore into this poor dear and injured his crop area and damaged a large area on the outside of his leg. (Deep enough to damage the feather follicles, but maybe that won’t be a problem). The problem was that he was covered in maggots and fly eggs. I swear I hate those bloody things. Anyway, I think he’s on the road to recovery, but I can’t put him out with the other two for a while yet. He can use the leg enough that he can perch and self feed, which is a good thing.

Broadwing Hawks are actually the most common Buteo in North America, but you wouldn’t know it because you never see them. They are small, secretive hawks that spend their lives in the woods. Every once in a great while you’ll see them crossing the road in front of your car going from one patch of woods to the other, but unless you live next door to me J or spend time in a tree stand, you won’t see them. They make this really sweet Peee-WEEEEE call, unlike their larger cousins, the Red-shouldered hawks, whose call is obnoxious as all get-out and impossible to even spell.

Except for the size and call (and the eye color is slightly different), the BWH’s look a lot like RSH’s in their first year, which is why they get confused with each other when trying to ID them by sight.

Red-shouldered Hawk youngster “Yap, yap, yap…FEED ME!”

Cook ‘em for a while and they grow into this… RSH in First year plumage

RSH adult plumage

This is the BWH I picked up yesterday with the injuries…damaged crop area full of maggots

And the big boo-boo on the outside of his leg. At least it’s easy to get to…

I happen to have two healthy ones in the hopper right now…they are SO beautiful!

Haven’t posted Barred owl pics lately. I am successfully hacking 4 out of the 5 that I raised this season and 4 out of 5 ain’t bad odds…. It says so in the manual.

Thanks again for your help…I’ll keep you posted as to our fate. I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. If you are able to help us with Mouse Money, we sure would appreciate it and I’m still hoping to park this (otherwise wonderful) gas guzzling Land Cruiser, if anyone has something they are looking to get rid of.

We hope you have a safe and happy 4th! ….m.

www.hawktalk.org
Monteen McCord
HawkTalk
P.O. Box 130
Holly Springs, GA 30142