These might work

Al Denelsbeck

Just so you know, Thursday (February 22nd) is National Wildlife Day, so call in sick that day and go find wildlife, even if it’s captive wildlife in a zoo or nature park or something, but preferably really and for true in the wild, which means outdoors. Now, c’mon – how many of your coworkers failed to show up the day after Super Bowl or some such rot? Okay then – this is a much better reason.

I actually have plans to do some shooting that day, so we’ll see what happens, but at least there’s a little motivation and the weather may be good for it; it’s been remaining a tad too cold, though we have the occasional warm day, as the fella below attests (that was taken a week ago.) And I have a post already lined up, which means there might be more than one for the day. No promises.

Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis on wall of Walkabout Estates in mid-February
Plus there’s another holiday coming up on Saturday, I believe, though I haven’t figured out what it is yet can’t quite remember what it is. But I do remember that it’s cool.

I’ll drop another reminder in here, though I doubt you’d have missed it since all forms of media seem to be on top of it, but the total solar eclipse is coming up on April 8th, crossing a very large swath of the contiguous US and Mexico; the band of totality is quite impressive, but the band of partial eclipse can be seen by damn near all of North and Central America. Make sure you have your glasses and necessary filters, and your timing is bang-on – totality will only last a couple of minutes. I will be in Ohio within the path of totality and will be getting as many pics as I can, hopefully doing even better than the last opportunity.

The day before (April 7th,) the tiny crescent moon will occlude Venus during the day, for observers in much the same band as the eclipse – Stellarium will help you determine if and when this will occur for your area. While the moon will be extremely difficult to spot during the time (this will occur at roughly 12:30 PM EST,) Venus will be especially bright at a magnitude near -4, so with clear skies and knowing where to look, it will be easier to find than the moon, and hopefully will highlight that crescent as it draws near. I’ll be aiming for that too. I’m well aware that the weather may make either impossible to see, and that’s just how it goes, but I’m doing my best to ensure that if I miss either, it’s not through any fault of my own.

Stellarium plot of the occultation of Venus by Moon, April 7 2024
So there are a couple of things to chase, should you be inclined (and why wouldn’t you be?) As always, if I’m successful with any of them myself, you’ll see the evidence here soon enough.

Good luck!

Living in the past XXIX

Al Denelsbeck

Things are still slow on the nature photography end, and even I won’t post about hashing out designs for the 3D printer (there – we found a limit to what I’ll post; happy now?) So I’m bringing up one of the entries I had in reserve, if needed, to bring the count up last year and make a meaningless anniversary, while we wait for more current items of interest.

red-shouldered hawk Buteo lineatus finishing off a captured black rat snake
2016 was the year that a family of red-shouldered hawks were raised in a nest that, though a little distant, was in plain view off of the back of the property. Regrettably, I didn’t have a quality long lens nor the ability to do video at that time, both remedied now, though the hawks have not deigned to return. But as I was out there photographing the young squabbling in the nest, one of the parents (I tend to think it was the dad) returned with a medium-sized eastern rat snake, though he alighted on a branch a short distance from the nest to ensure that the snake was dead before it was introduced to the sprogs. I had to pick up the tripod and move it forward about a meter, turning the camera about 90°, but it gave me a nice view that was much closer than the nest itself.

Man, video capability would have been great to have at that point! I did create an animated gif (pronounced “JAW-fee-joe-fur“) from a long sequence of stills of the nestlings having a tug-of-war with a smaller snake, but this experience, among others, prompted me to obtain a video-capable camera body (because a camcorder wouldn’t have the reach of a 500 or 600mm lens) as well as a halfway-decent shotgun microphone. Those came in handy with the beavers and the woodpeckers so, improvements are being made.

Just once, part 7

Al Denelsbeck

summer tanager Piranga rubra peeking from foliage
This post has changed a bit. First, I had a subject that I realized would fit better later on in the year, and so I rescheduled it. Then I chose another subject, but as I was finalizing that draft, I noticed that it was going to post on a holiday, and thought I might be able to find something more appropriate, and pushed that one to next week. So at least we now have something red for Valentine’s Day, which is probably as close as I’m going to get.

This is a summer tanager (Piranga rubra,) and I probably would have missed it entirely had I not twigged onto the calls that I didn’t recognize, right behind the car as Mr Bugg and I arrived at the lake for a photo session. I could have stalled this for the first day of summer, which is also when I photographed it, but I didn’t have anything else that seemed to fit for today. Though if I find something later on, I’ll use that for the first day of summer. No, that’s on a Friday this year – never mind.

Jordan Lake has a tendency to feature more bird species than I see in my immediate area, despite being only about 12 kilometers away, though if we maintained a well-stocked bird feeder here, that might be different. My attempts to establish some plants that attract more birds have never panned out, but I blame that on the seed companies…

Nothing has evolved

Al Denelsbeck

Even his likeness gazing down at me from above my desk failed to inspire
Today is Darwin Day, celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin on this day in 1809, and I got bupkiss for it. I’ve known it was coming for over a week, even had routine reminders popping up in my calendar, and haven’t found a damn thing to actually post about. This holiday really shouldn’t occur in February (and February shouldn’t be spelled February,) and maybe I’ll make the effort to change this in some way. We could always use July 1 (1858,) which was the date that Darwin’s and Wallace’s ideas were first screened by the Linnean Society, or November 22 (1859,) the first publication of Origin of Species (or to be complete, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life,) though November 22 is only slightly better than February 12 for finding something that illustrates Darwin’s ideas decently. Or perhaps I’m just being close-minded and not contemplating the options available to me right now. I mean, there are two domestic shorthair felines asleep on the desk alongside me right now (though not alongside each other – they won’t let that happen,) and I could speculate about the factors that allowed and encouraged this state of affairs, but I’d be more blathering than informing, and certainly not reflecting Darwin’s meticulous examinations in the slightest.

So you’re on your own this time. Do a little research, poke around online, get out those books that you’ve been meaning to read, take part in a five-year sailing voyage taking copious notes on geology and obtaining specimens – whatever works. Just, like, do a better job than I have. I set the bar low for you; no thanks are necessary.

Wait, you’re not green

Al Denelsbeck

small American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus hanging out in backyard pond
While grabbing something out of the yard tonight by the light of the headlamp, I happened to check out the backyard pond, because it’s reasonably warm and raining, which is usually enough to stir any resident frogs. And sure enough, at least one was sitting idly in the shallows, but another might have skipped into the water at my approach. So I went back inside and got the macro rig, for the first time since the butterfly house, and did just a pair of frames before the frog spooked and disappeared back under the surface.

It was as I was editing this frame just before uploading it here that I checked an assumed detail, which was missing, and realized I had a different species than I thought. Generally, it’s been a handful of green frogs (Lithobates clamitans) that have made this little pond their residence, but green frogs have a ‘vein’ ridge that runs from the crest of the head back towards the hips – this one only curls around the back side of the eardrum. That makes it an American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) instead, only a very small one, maybe about 50mm in body length – that’s smallish for a green frog, but quite small for a bullfrog, which can get to be the size of my fist (and you know how huge that is.)

This is part on an ongoing and curious saga. Some time last year, the green frogs seem to have vacated and a bullfrog, a big one (compare the pine straw,) moved in – I have not ruled out the bullfrog eating the greens. This remained the case for a few weeks I think, then the bullfrog was no longer able to be found, and this occurred quite close to the time that a red-shouldered hawk was hanging out suspiciously close to the backyard. They’re fond of frogs, and not in a decorative ceramics way, so I suspected that the bullfrog may have been consumed. I couldn’t recall if I had seen any new green frogs after that or not, and so I went back through the stock folders to check: nada. This might actually be the first frog that I’ve seen in the pond since the bullfrog left last September – it’s certainly the first I’ve photographed.

(If you’re thinking this might be one of the young-uns deposited in the pond by last year’s bullfrog, I’m going to burst that bubble; there would have been dozens to hundreds of tadpoles, probably far too many for a little pond liner, but I certainly would have seen evidence of them more than this, especially since I cleaned a lot of the debris out of the pond in October or so. I know it doesn’t look like I did here, but the winter deposited a buttload of stuff back into it.)

Anyway, I shot a picture! Yeah, it’s been that kind of season…

Walkabout recommends: Under Fire

Al Denelsbeck

Yes, the DVD cover art really is this color, though slightly better elsewhere
For our second obscure sleeper, we have Nick Nolte again, with Joanna Cassidy and Gene Hackman, in a 1983 film about the civil unrest in Nicaragua in 1979 and the American journalists assigned to cover the events. The film is not billed as “based on a true story” and is distinctly a dramatization, but the events that are covered are historical, and there’s a key bit that mirrors a significant development within – to say more would be to give away too much.

What promotes this to the level of our recommendation here, however, is the portrayal of the journalists thereof, their attitudes and motivations in a country not their own and not really impacting their lives – immersed yet professionally distant. Journalists are (or at least were) often given free rein in such situations, serving as neutral parties and impartial observers of the conflicts, much like medical personnel being permitted to aid the wounded and civilians while distinctly prohibited from being targeted. Allowing journalists to witness firsthand what is going on is a measure of, to put it bluntly, righteousness – “You can see for yourself, we have nothing to hide and are doing nothing wrong.” It is often in the interests of all parties within a conflict to permit free access by journalists – until and unless there really is something to hide. Yet the journalists are also on their own in such situations, in as much danger as they dare to put themselves, and this is immediately evident in Nolte’s portrayal of photojournalist Russell Price right at the very beginning of the film, clearly driven more by snagging the dramatic image than by remaining safely out of the line of fire. Dedicated? Foolhardy? That’s a perspective up to the viewer to determine.

Neutrality and mere observation is a key factor to these pursuits, however, and many journalists have struggled with the internal conflicts that occur when their social, compassionate nature reacts to the events unfolding – it isn’t possible to entirely shut off such reactions, no matter what their career demands. The handling of this within the film is superb, allowing the viewer to realize what changes are taking place without being heavy-handed about it, and one can begin to understand that there may be a disconnect between ‘proper’ and ‘right,’ and even how those terms are defined by individuals.

The background is the efforts of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to depose the ruling regime of Nicaragua under Anastasio Somoza, who was aided and backed, at least diplomatically, by the US. Like far too many of our affairs in Central America, the American public had a poor understanding of Somoza’s actions and policies, and it remains hard to believe that US diplomats were just as unaware; more likely, the US government was willingly aiding and supporting a rather nasty dictator and keeping the knowledge of such behavior from the US public. The film remains fairly distant from most political commentary, despite the fact that the events therein had already passed, but the intrigues and actions of the Nicaraguan government and military make things more evident as the film progresses.

As an interesting historical aside, the Sandinistas/FSLN did in real life gain control of the Nicaraguan government and ruled for many years. The infamous Iran-Contra Affair in the US, breaking around 1985 and thus two years after this film, revolved around the private funding of the Nicaraguan Contras, a rebel group opposed to the FSLN, by covert monies from the US, obtained by selling arms illegally to Iran. While in the hearings that followed, the attempt was made to portray the Contras as noble freedom fighters, the evidence of their behavior firmly belied this, to say nothing of why our government should be inclined to hide its involvement. The history of US/CIA-backed puppets in both Central America and the Middle East is a disturbing one, while at the same time, trying to determine which side is more “just,” or even to fully comprehend the politics of any foreign country, is far too complicated to reduce to simple black-or-white perspectives.

Getting back to the film, the acting is almost all excellent; director Roger Spottiswoode brought out the best from the cast and there is nothing that takes you out of the film. Ed Harris is notorious for playing diverse roles, and his portrayal as a mercenary here becomes more captivating as the story progresses. Joanna Cassidy is one of those actors that deserves more recognition, and here she carries the part of an American journalist far beyond the ‘love interest’ that many writers or directors would have aimed for. Jean-Louis Trintignant delivers some of the best lines in the film, yet while he identifies the FSLN derogatorily as the “poets,” implying that they are more about rhetoric than about politics, he and Somoza’s representatives offer the only meaningless platitudes, while the Sandanistas express a bitter practicality; a line from a nurse within an aid station is brutally poignant. The one exception in these performances is the character of PR representative Hub Kittle (Richard Masur,) who is too superficial and clumsy. I feel obligated to mention that Nolte’s camera equipment and handling is entirely believable – real photojournalists should find little to annoy them.

Despite some heavy-handed ‘tension’ music at a key part, Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack fits well, unique yet expressive; I am not one to speak of notes and chords and how they work on our emotions, but the underlying feel that I get from the music seemed to express the mood of a country sundered from within. There is not the triumphant fanfare or the grim resolve of a typical ‘war’ film soundtrack, but more of a plaintive despair as the people find their government has no concern for them.

Overall, the entire film makes you think as well as portraying believable and nuanced characters, that still do not overwhelm the story itself. Definitely worth checking out.

[For the time being at least, this is available to stream for free from Tubi.]

Just once, part 6

Al Denelsbeck

Mottled sea hare Aplysia fasciata swimming
It’s not particularly surprising that this critter has only been featured once here, since I stumbled across it at the beach along New Topsail Inlet, coastal North Carolina. I’ve been to the inlet itself several times, including one short snorkeling excursion, but it appears that vagaries of currents and conditions drove several examples of this species close to, and onto, shore on one particular day. To the best of my ability to determine, this is a mottled sea hare (Aplysia fasciata,) and if you ask me, “Yeah, but what’s a sea hare?” I’ll simply reply, It’s one of these. Basically, it’s something that Charles Darwin worked up when he was trying to create evolution, about the time his wife had been out of town for a couple of weeks and he was a little distracted.

Mottled sea hare Aplysia fasciata swimming
All right, the Walkabout Fact-checkers are on my case again, so I have to inform you that the above sentence may not be entirely true. But sea hares are gastropods, like slugs and snails, and are specialized for their marine environment despite reminding you of how explicit Hustler magazine was. And it was not little, estimated at 20-22 cm in length. While this one had actually been on-shore when found, I did not know what it was at the time and slid it back into the water with my sandaled foot, so I did not handle it nor examine it for a mouth or tracheal ovipositor or anything – there’s a limit, even for me. I have only rudimentary knowledge of aquatic species and no idea how many things have nasty little defensive mechanisms, though granted this one was more camouflage-colored than many of its cousins the nudibranchs, which are often brightly-colored as an indication that they do indeed possess nasty little defensive mechanisms.

But wait! We have video!

[You can just mute the audio – it’s a smutphone video without external mic or wind protection, so all you’ll hear is thumping anyway.]

So can we expect to see more of these show up in later posts? I wouldn’t be watching anxiously for it; I don’t get out to the beach as often as I should, and don’t see too many aquatic specimens when I do, plus as I said, I think these were extenuating circumstances. Nor am I particularly motivated to chase these as a photographic subject – I think we’ve just about exhausted their potential right here. But, you know, I won’t rule out finding an exciting, agile, and considerably more cuddly example, say, with big eyes and plush fur…

Better to be prepared…

Al Denelsbeck

After realizing that I could use some enhancements to my shooting rig for a particular topic, I ended up designing and making them in record time. And to my own surprise, they work quite well, with fewer issues and modifications than I thought I’d need. I present to you the tactical special ops night stalker imaging rig, the Beav Team Six:

distant night shooting rig with long lens brace, focus ring extension, and focusing flashlight holder
Actually, it’s missing the Vivitar 285 strobe unit on top, because I forgot it for these photos, so it’s not as ‘complete’ as it should be. But here’s what you’re looking at.

The Canon 7D and Tamron 150-600 are obvious, but then we have the focusing ring extension, visible between the lens barrel and tripod plate here – this allows the focus ring to be turned while still supporting the lens farther out towards the end, for more stability. This was only practical because the lens has ultrasonic, real-time focusing, so the focus ring itself is decoupled from internal lens arrays and does not spin during autofocus. This means that the ring extension lever can be moved exactly where it can be reached best, or even out of the way atop the barrel (which is especially useful in that I often carry this heavy rig upside-down by the tripod mounting plate, directly underneath the lever here.) It’s attached by a pair of zip-ties that are quite tight, because there can be no play in the add-on with the leverage that’s put on it out away from the attachment point. Additionally, it is close enough to the lens that the lenshood will fit over it when stored reversed, so it does not need to be detached when returned to the case.

Then there’s the flashlight holder, which despite making a stupid mistake in the design of, I was able to modify enough to fit, and it fits snugly and aims that flashlight right where it’s needed, centered in the viewfinder even when the lens is extended to 600mm. It is not bright enough to allow autofocus at night, but it is enough for manual focus, thus the extension lever. This add-on fits right over top of the long lens grip, visible protruding from underneath the flashlight, but is easily removed when it is not needed.

distant night shooting rig with long lens brace, focus ring extension, and focusing flashlight holder
Both of these, as well as the long lens grip, were designed in Blender software and then 3D printed. The initial design of the focus ring extension wasn’t quite adequate, so this is the second version, and I am contemplating one that will attach tight enough to the ring but not require zip-ties, thus more easily detachable.

While I’d been toying with the idea of a focus extension, these were created with one particular subject in mind: the beaver(s) at the neighborhood pond. So the very night that they were completed, I went out to do the acid test on a real subject, and saw absolutely nothing – the beaver wasn’t active at that time. So I tried again on a subsequent night – and then again, with the same results each time, and I’m not sure if this is because the beaver moved on or simply wasn’t active the specific times that I was over there. It’s a little frustrating not to find my subject when I’m this prepared, I admit, like getting a new dive mask for christmas, but the modifications are still useful for other subjects, so they’ll get their use even if I never see the beaver again.

Will I be uploading these for others to print and use? Very likely on the focus extension, less so on the flashlight holder, which is designed around the dimensions of the flashlight that I had handy and likely won’t fit too many others. The focus extension is designed around the Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 Di VC G2 (the second-generation version,) and may not even fit the first gen version, much less any other lens, so the application to the general public are limited to those with that lens. Before that happens, however, I may try out a few variations to see if there’s a better approach.

Anyway, when I get images with this particular rig, you know where to find them.

A trend?

Al Denelsbeck

I got out and did a little shooting today, by heading down to Jordan lake while the skies were clear and the temperatures reasonable (meaning about 15°c, but a stiff breeze down on the water.) I wasn’t expecting anything, though I was hoping, and as it was, things fell someplace in the middle. The skies were empty and quiet, but before too long I spotted a lone bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) manning, uh, birding its sentry post atop a dead tree.

solitary bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus sitting high in dead tree at Jordan Lake
This was quite some distance off, and the way the lakeshore curved around at this location, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get much closer even if the eagle allowed it, which was unlikely, so I simply waited to see if it set off to do some hunting, which might bring it closer. In the meantime, I followed a cormorant for a few moments – also none too close, and not doing anything of interest, just passing by. But when I turned back to the eagle, it was gone.

That was mildly frustrating, because the cormorant was a waste of time as it was, and I scanned the skies in all directions, trying to determine where the eagle had gotten to so quickly, knowing that if it decided to cut away from the lake I’d lose it within the trees in moments. But after a minute or so, three eagles reappeared over the trees and began circling among one another, still quite distant.

pair of adult bald eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus circling together
Only two of them came close enough together to get in the same frame, but those two seemed to remain in close proximity to one another fairly often – sometimes separating by perhaps a hundred meters, but then closing in again. I was wondering if I’d see mating behavior, because it’s about the time of year for it here, but my understanding was that this took place in midair at higher altitudes; my knowledge of eagle behavior is by no means comprehensive, so take that with a grain of salt.

After a short while, the pair (the third having vanished by now) circled around and came in low and deliberately, and I realized they were both coming in to land simultaneously in the tree with the osprey nest that has been featured here so many times before.

pair of adult bald eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus coming in to land in tree with osprey nest
It’s not the easiest to see here, but the entire sequence of frames that I took as they came in to land showed both with their mouths wide open, seemingly calling though I heard no sounds from my distance – maybe it was carried away by the wind, but I knew that I hadn’t heard a peep while the entire circling was going on, which is rare in my experience.

While eagles will take over osprey nests, they’ll inevitably build over top of them because eagles prefer nests at least three times the size. One of the eagles settled onto the nest, while the other picked a branch nearby, so it certainly seemed like they were considering this as their new place to raise a family. I would be exceptionally pleased if this were the case, because there are several vantages available, but I also know that this section of the lake is quite busy and I doubt that they’d be happy there. The only other eagle nesting area that I’m aware of is hundreds of meters from any approach by people, and commensurately too far to make photography worthwhile.

Jordan Lake lies in the approach corridors for the nearby airport, so I was provided a nice little framing opportunity at one point.

pair of adult bald eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus with airliner passing behind
This is cropped of course, so I’ll also provide the full frame, to give an idea of what I was seeing – all these have been taken at 600mm.

same image, full frame
And yes, that’s the same dead tree that the solitary eagle was sitting in when I first arrived, though I was a little further around the curve of the lakeshore at this point and so the relative positions have changed – I’m guesstimating that the dead tree is about 20 meters closer than the nest tree, but that’s only ballpark.

Little else was going on, and it seemed unlikely that the eagles would head out to do any hunting, so I started winding my way back. Just as I was getting to the point where I’d lose sight of them in the surrounding trees, I noticed that they were now sitting together on the same branch, possibly discussing decorating ideas.

pair of adult bald eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus just hanging out near osprey nest
My path back to the car actually took me a lot closer to the nest tree, though it remained out of sight due to the foliage, and as I approached I head a couple of singular chirps from that direction, the first sounds that I’d heard from them, but if this was typical of how they’d been communicating, I’m not surprised that I didn’t hear anything from the much greater distance; these were softer and singular vocalizations, not at all territorial or warning.

I knew I could get pretty close in underneath the nest, but also that the eagles would see me long before I had a clear view of them, not to mention that I didn’t want to spook them if they were considering taking over that nest, so I avoided going any closer and simply headed back home.

I had unloaded the memory card and was just starting to go through the images I’d obtained when I got a text from my friend at the neighborhood pond, who had spotted the visiting eagle cruising around out there again, so I immediately loaded back up and trotted over there. The eagle was nowhere to be seen by that time, having chosen not to find any perches, so I simply did a circuit and took a few frames of opportunity, like these turtles.

trio of turtles, likely yellow-bellied sliders Trachemys scripta scripta, basking on snags in neighborhood pond
Not quite enough detail visible to be sure, but I’m fairly certain these are yellow-bellied sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta,) both from the habits and because that’s what the pond is full of. They were taking advantage of the sunlight, and I honestly don’t know what it means if a turtle sees its shadow today – probably just that it’s sunny out. Or perhaps that we will have six more weeks of weather.

There was also about six double-crested cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) hanging about, but most slid off a little more distant as I approached – the turtles were far less wary of my approach and stayed put the entire time, which is reversed from how it normally is. But I still did a quick portrait.

pair of double-crested cormorants Nannopterum auritum perched on pilings in neighborhood pond
Just good enough to make out the green eyes of the closest. Both of these last images, by the way, were warmed slightly in post, taken as a cloud passed and thus the light had gone into deeper shade, too blue. I know they don’t look warm, but they’re improved over what they originally looked like without getting heavy-handed.

Anyway, off to an early start with the eagles – we’ll see how this trend pans out for the year.

Just once, part 5

Al Denelsbeck

American kestrel Falco sparverius perched on cassette storage shelf in apartment
The age of this photo is not just displayed by the condition of the negative (which has even been cleaned up a bit from the original,) but by the perch of the bird here, my roommate’s rack for holding cassette tapes – those are not my music choices. Are there even some cassingles in there? Anyway, I peg this around 1994 or so, and I believe it represents the latest image of an American kestrel (Falco sparverius) that I have in my stock. That’s annoying all by itself, because I think they’re fabulous little raptors, easily my favorite, and for some reason I haven’t seen one in the wild in ages. Like literally decades. They used to be fairly common in the area, but their numbers seem to have dwindled significantly, and while I won’t say that my experience is definitive – I may simply not be visiting the areas they frequent – not seeing any in such a long time does not bode well. I got excited last year down at Jordan Lake because I spotted a bird in the distance that immediately sparked recognition in my mind, despite its great distance from me, since its body shape and flight pattern was so familiar, but that turned out to be a merlin instead – closely related and actually my first confirmed sighting of that species, but not a kestrel.

The odd setting of this photo is courtesy of the kestrel, kind of. I was working then in a humane society, primarily admin but also animal rescue and rehabilitation, and in that last I largely specialized in raptors. This guy had arrived in poor condition but no broken bones and was being nursed back to health. Several days in when it should have been eating solid food on its own and wasn’t, I took the bird back to my place in a carrier to spend more dedicated time in coaxing it to eat something. This was where I discovered that reducing stress on the patient helped them respond better – seems obvious when I say it that way, but you have to consider the details. When attempting to introduce solid food to a wild patient, typically we bundled them up in a towel so they couldn’t try to fly off nor do any damage with talons/claws/beak/teeth/etc, and then would attempt to slide the solid food into their beaks/mouths. Just like infants, this was often met with resistance, and when attempting this for a short while with my patient here, I failed to notice that the towel was coming loose – but the kestrel didn’t. With a sudden shrug it burst free from the wrapping – and then seized the food and began eating quite readily on its own. And as long as it was unrestrained, it wasn’t bothered by my proximity and would take the mouse parts I offered. On the second day of this, it decided to try out its wings again and took a short flight over to the cassette rack, and I was happy to allow this both from not wanting to re-injure it through attempts at restraint, and because we had to evaluate its flying ability anyway – no sign of reduced capacity was displayed by this short flight at least. After a few days in a flight cage where it demonstrated plenty of mobility, my patient here was released, whereupon it flew up to the top of a nearby telephone pole and vented forth a solid minute or so of calling exuberantly, before then setting off determinedly in a specific direction and vanishing from sight. What the serenade was about, I have no idea, though I’m quite sure it wasn’t aimed at me in any way, because that simply isn’t how birds think nor what birdsong is for. But I was pleased to see it fly off so competently – with a little regret of course. Had I known I would see so few again after this point, I would have taken more photos.

A little later on, I was doing the same bundled-up feeding thing with a barred owl (which can be extremely nasty when inclined) and noticed how it watched me as I leaned over. On a whim, I shifted it higher than I was, feeding it (still bundled) while propped up on a desk while I sat on the floor beneath it, and it fed much more readily. Height and an open avenue of escape is security to birds, while looming over them is not, and I began suggesting this practice to others when it was possible – it did seem to help.

But yeah, man, I gotta find some more kestrels someplace…

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