Animal Healing

My sister is here for Thanskgiving. It's her favorite holiday. Holidays have not been the easiest for her in recent years. I wanted to do something that would make this a very very good one. Once we got her bags settled into the guest room, we went to the park with some nuts and I parked us right in the middle of an area with tall trees that's heavily populated with wild squirrels.

At first we only found one, then two, but --as it always does in the animal world --word spread. Little heads were popping out of hollows and up from behind rocks. They began climbing down tree trunks and skampered up from all directions. We sat there in bliss, handing out nuts as fast as we could. She was amazed, as most people are, at how gentle they are in taking a nut from your hands, and how they do NOT bite, though each one has their own style.


I was hoping that she'd earn the confidence of the one or two who put their little paws on your hand, but she did one better. One started to crawl up on her knee and kept coming back until he was quite comfortable sitting there. I snapped a few pix for her to have forever, as it's a really special experience to earn the trust of these charming but skittish creatures.

As we were leaving I said, "If I ever get blue, this is where I go and it completely disappears."

By 2:30 we were at the zoo where I'd arranged for private visits to feed the meerkats and the giraffes. All I can say is, the look of pure joy radiated from her face, and, this Thanksgiving, I could not be more grateful for that. She looks beautiful, does she not?

My tall handsome boyfriend the giraffe that I wrote about here even gave my sis a long nuzzle. (though he immediately made it up to me by having a love fest in front of my approving husband!).

I have seen the roughest, toughest brutes reduced to a puddle over a puppy, and I often see the homeless buying a cheap bag of peanuts in the shell or a loaf of bread so they can go around the park feeding the birds, squirrels, the chicken (yes, there's a lone black hen in the park, a story I have yet to tell), the nutrias and the ducks and geese. I have seen that no matter what the creature -- be it a mole rat, a tarantula or a warthog, there are people who absolutely think they are the prettiest, most wonderful, loveable thing on the planet, and are devoted to them.

What is it about the power animals have to bring out our most innocent, open, loving selves, give our lives meaning in our care for them and banish any sadnesses from our hearts?

A Leetle Teeny Weeny Owl

Oh, this is a good little thing to watch. And not because this little Eastern screech owl does much. It's just because he is so mesmerizing. He blinks with an inner lid that's clear with a black edge, so it looks a little like each eye has windshield wipers. And while he blinks in unison often, they are independent of each other which you will see here.

If you listen closely as the vid begins you can hear a little twitter he does, perhaps a comment on being the unwitting star of my 2o seconds of film. I'm sorry it's so short but I didn't really want to disturb him too much. I solve this by watching it twice!


Though technically nocturnal, this guy sits peacefully all day and watches the goings on at the rehab center. I think it's a he because males are generally smaller than females. While girls are a little over 9" in length with a wingspan of around 22 inches, males are about an inch less in both, though they often weigh about the same -- 7 oz, give or take a leetle teeny weeny bit.

The males also have a lower voice than the ladies. And I've read they have quite a courting ritual, which does indeed include winking, and they mate for life. They usually nest in cavities of trees, adding nothing of the usual twigs, grass or feathers. Their 2-8 eggs (one every two days) are lain on the natural barky shavings that exist in the tree's hollows. In 26 days, the babies are born. The male then brings home the mouse, mole, lizard or worm, which is rather nice to know. Their menu is wide and more about what's the right size for them than anything else.

They hunt in the woods, and occasionally in open fields (though there I think they run the risk of being someone else's dinner). They will fly or look out from a perch and then nab their meal with their talons. Sometimes they get insects while they're flying! That takes talent.

The fledgelings have about a month to learn to be an owl. That seems fast to me but maybe it's enough by screech school standards. In captivity they can live up to 20 years -- far longer than in the wild. Believe it or not, they are the prey of not only the expected snakes, raccoons, skunks and weasels but several larger owl species! Just thinking of predators for this little guy makes me kind of glad he is safe and content where he is, charming everyone who walks by.

White Ears and Fur Coats

Well, I've been able to feed "wild" squirrels in yet another city... Last time it was in Washington D.C., as I was walking away from Lincoln's memorial toward the White House, just having passed the reflection pool.

This time I was in Union Square in New York City. The squirrels there are definitely Greys -- they have white bellies and fur that looks grey-- but they had more reddish hair on their faces than the ones that live around me. While their tails have some reddish highlights in it, these also had red spots on their backs, almost like calico (you can kind of see it in this pic, or click on it to enlarge). But one major thing distinguished the ones I was feeding. They had fluffy white tufts behind each ear. You can see that here, as this one was just releasing my hand, while stuffing the almond I gave him into his mouth with the other paw.  Adorable.  I have a serious squirrel crush.

Several people in the park saw me feeding them and were astonished --and I saw a few try tofeed them by hand too. They succeeded with a little instruction and the remainder of my almonds... though these squirrels were so easy to call over I can't imagine people don't feed them all the time. In my park in Houston, very few touch my hand when they take a nut, though they will climb on my foot, lap or knee to get one. In NYC, every one of them gently balanced their paws on my fingers and even held onto me for a few beats after the almond was in their mouth (swoon --I LOVE THAT!).

When I lived in NY, I had no ability to have animals in my life, being terribly allergic to pretty much everything. But I've always desperately loved animals. To avoid the sheer heartbreak of what I thought was a life doomed to have none, I kind of steered clear of them in general. But I remember offering squirrels a cashew or two in this very park a few years ago and none were responsive. Have I become a squirrel whisperer or have they gotten trained in the short time I've been gone?

It was 62 degrees and very very humid on Saturday there, but on Sunday, temps dropped to 36 degrees. I was feeding these fellas on Monday and a few had really thick winter coats. In Houston the Reds coats get thicker than Greys, but nowhere as thick as this guy's. He looks like a member of the cast of Doctor Zivago or something. You can barely see his feet and he has no neck -- I mean, he almost looks like a different animal altogether! But he will need it if he's to make it through the winter on the east coast. 

If you want to read a fun book about one woman's adventures feeding squirrels in New York City, check out: SQUIRRELS AT MY WINDOW by Grace Spruch. If you click on that it will take you to the book description.

After my expereinces in the park, compounded by feeding the baby squirrels after Hurricane Ike, I started to look up books on them and ordered this among many. I've been meaning to reccomend it, especially to Bindu, who first commented on my blog because she got some of our orphan babies to nurture up where she lives in Austin (talk about coincidence)!

An Egret I'm Callin' Charles

It took me a long time to figure out what was going on with Curious Charles.

He is a lone egret at the lake in the park. When I fed the ducks and geese he'd fly from out of nowhere and land to the side of the action. Charlie stays at a respectable distance, but slowly inches closer, taking one tentative step at the time.

I thought, he knows when there's food and comes around to get his share, just like the squirrels, the nutrias, the turtle and the grackles, starlings and bluejays. So I'd throw some his way, but he never went for it. He would tilt his head and turn his curious eye, but it always went uneaten.

One day I went home and read that egrets only eat fish. So while I didn't ever throw bread to him again, he always made his way over. I figured he just must be a bird who likes a party.

On the edge of the lake where the water is shallow, if you throw food in, it can disappear before the ducks, who are quick, can get to them. On a clear day, like the one in the mini-movie below, I finally made out that it was because little blue-green fish would fiercely attack the morsels like a pack of piranhas and gobble it into non-existence.

Suddenly I realized that the Curious Charles comes over because the fish are such easy prey when I feed the ducks... which makes me his wingman, so to speak. SMART CHARLIE! Never a dull moment in the animal kindgom.

The beginning of this video was about coaxing a baby nutria swimming in the shallows to come closer. But keep your eyes to the right-- you'll see Charlie, who has just flown over, wading as he always does.

This was the day I actually saw him catch three fish. He would tilt his head at a comical angle to best use the one eye on the side of his head closest to the water. (See the little dimples in the water made by the fish devouring bread?)

And with his pointy yellow beak he quickly skewered the fishie (I just could not get that part!!!). He'd raise it up, with it's little tail still flapping, get in position and flick it off his beak into the air. Charlie'd catch it in his mouth and in one gulp, it'd be gone. If you forget about the poor fish for a moment, I can tell you it's almost like watching a cartoon, as you can see the exact outline of the fish's body slide down Charlie's long, ultra slim white neck. He could join Cirque du Soleil with such talent.

I tried for about an hour this day to catch him snagging his lunch but it was too hard to keep feeding the increasing brood of birds, balance my movie camera and frame Charlie at the right moment. Stay tuned, as I eventually hope to get it.

Sweet Success

In the valley that exists above the higher peaks of the Colorado Rockies, 10,000 feet above sea level, there is little that grows but some frightening looking pine trees, dessert weedy types of grass and minimal wild flowers. As to animals, we see occasional herds of wild antelope and hear wolves howling at night, and I'm sure there are bears (whom I never hope to meet). And while I expect see the occasional raptor, every morning this last trip I was quite surprised to see  hummingbirds whizzing over our porch to the cluster of trees just in front of us when we were out there enjoying our breakfast.

Though we were only going to be there for 5 days, I ran out and bought an el cheapo plastic feeder and asked the locals how to make the stuff to fill it (1 part sugar to 2 parts water, cooked up in a pot so the sugar dissolves, cool, fill feeder).

I hung it out front just before the sun set and could not believe my eyes when first thing in the morning I heard that very unique little whirring sound of their wings outside my window.  Since they're there and gone in a heartbeat, I grabbed my camera and with a mix of stealth and haste I got this shot through the dewy window. The bird was gone before before I could get a better angle.  

Later that day my husband balanced on a ladder while dilligently waterproofing on the back wall of the cabin.  I'd gone into town so I didn't see it but he told me that the hummingbirds flew back several times that day. One of them, attracted to the red on his cap, not only came up to his face, but landed on his bill. Delighted, he stayed as still as he could til the bird flew away. He said it was surreal. I wish I had gotten a picture of THAT!

They say it takes a long time for animals to find your feeders... not in this case! We were so thrilled to have such easy success with these elusive birds we can hardly wait to go back up again.

Hijinks

Boy I want this guy looking out in my neighborhood. He certainly is alert (cracks me up when he looks up and back). Perhaps there is a Starbucks in Meerkat world and he's had a grande.

Predators are not much of a threat to these guys at the zoo but even so, these Meerkats don't get lazy. It's in the genes. What does freak them out is when they see a rogue balloon floating by. I wonder if that's their version of a UFO. Anyway, while the sentry is on the lookout, the others in the family are busy doing industrious Meerkat things.




But they've been known to conk out right in the midst of their work, as if they were narcoleptic! And anyone who's watched Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet probably knows they sleep in the funniest positions...

Speckled Bears

Have you ever heard of a speckled bear? I hadn't before I started to work with the carnivore keepers at the zoo. I just thought there were bear bears. Big and scary, grizzly, black or brown perhaps, but speckled? You can see from the pictures below why they are called this.



...well, that's a guess on my part. We have a pair of speck bears and while I was taking some VIP zoo members on a morning tour that included the bears, they seemed quite in the mood for posing. I was amazed at how these pics I snapped turned out. Don't professional photogs wait all day to capture poses like these?


Maybe they're hoping I'll send them on to Tyra Banks or some other model mogul. I think they'd readily take their pay in fresh salmon!

Every day I'm at the zoo or the Wildlife Rehab Center or even the park, I discover the lovability of an animal that might not have seemed so appealing before. That is why zoos exist and why injured and rescued animals, who can't be returned to the wild, do such an important job as ambassadors to people like me. Here's a great example.

What do you think of when you think PORCUPINE?

Perhaps the word OUCH comes to mind. Nuisance? Or maybe nothing much comes up at all. Well, watch this and you'll never think of nothing again!




If only these videos didn't translate so small on blogger! I hope you can see that his keeper starts the video by stroking his head... in fact, this guy's quills aren't prickly at all if you pet him from the head back (though I'd only try it on a a tame one who knows you). They're plenty sharp if he raises them in a certain way, which he does if scared or threatened. And like the nice lady says, it IS a myth that they shoot their quills -- Someone took too much purple pyramid and made that one up.

This species spends most of their time in trees around North and South America. They eat some fruit but mostly bark and stems, which helps to keep their teeth filed and in good shape. They can weigh between 12-35 pounds and live about 5-7 years in the wild, but much longer in captivity.

And, just like the squirrels I have come to adore (a love I hope to have encouraged in you too), porcupines are also rodents! The R-word and all it's squeamish connotations is quickly dissolving isn't it?

Who knew he'd be so talented and oh so fuzzy of face and paws? And how gently he holds his keepers hand to eat from it. Porcupines take their time and that's something we could all do a little more of.

If you aren't won over yet, our little pal will just have to charm you by saying goodbye and thanks for considering him. He's just decided to do it, for now, with his back to you.


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MUCH Better Than TV!

These are two otters -- brother and sister -- that I had the pleasure of spending some time observing for the zoo. You can tell them apart because one has a cute little black "beauty mark" on her furry nose.

They share their habitat with a deep pond of catfish, a special kind of squirrel and a colorful bird -- recreating the combination of animals that would be commonly found together in the wild. Now this mischievous pair had been crawling over separating rocks to the to the edge of catfish pond, having fun watching and even swatting them. This was proving to be distressing to the fish, even though they are as big as the otters, or even bigger. The study was to gather information to assist the keepers in stopping this behavior and apparently they succeeded.

These naughty otters now stay in their own little pond and the catfish are at peace. Mostly these two sleep curled up with each other in a nice, cozy log. But when they swim, they're an endless source of amusement. Can you imagine just how horrible a job it was (NOT!) to sit and watch these antics for hours at a time? Enjoy!

PS: Best to watch with your volume OFF! When you try to get footage in a zoo the kids and crowds aren't the best accompaniment to the pictures.

Even in Virginia

I have my eyes peeled for squirrels. It used to only be ducks and geese, and now squirrels too.  

I fed squirrels by hand in the park for 2 years, but got more attached to the ducks and geese because I could tell them apart and had repetitive relationships with them.  I've probably fed the same squirrels here and there but it's nearly impossible to tell them apart, or get to know where they actually live (where they sleep and call home within the forest), the latter being obvious with the waterfowl.

But after Hurricane Ike, I got to know so much about them and bonded with so many during various stages of their growth that I am now hooked.  So now I always have a few nuts in my pocket or purse. My dear Husband is the soul of patience if I stop to hand them out.  I actually think he likes seeing them come up too and sometimes he feeds them too.  

If they're not so used to people, it varies in difficulty to get their attention, or once gotten, to get them to come close.  Just like people, some are more aware than others of what's going on around them. Some are shy, some are skittish, some are bold, and a few are fearless.  If you have to toss them a nut, after they've eaten it and see you're offering more, they are more likely to come closer, and eventually take it from your fingers. But the ones for whom this is not a regular practice can be so jumpy, I've learned it's best to still toss it the inch or two to them to avoid getting accidentally scratched or nipped in the process.  

This is a little guy I made friends with on the campus of the University of Virginia, the college conceived, built and governed by Thomas Jefferson (You can see the red brick and white painted trim behind the squirrel).  I figured squirrels there were used to people, as students criss cross under the many trees on their stately lawns.  In Virginia I saw no Fox Squirrels (calmer by nature), only Greys.  It always takes me somewhere when I am one on one with an animal. It's like the whole rest of the world evaporates and I am immersed completely in the NOW.  It's my way of meditating.

Gobble Gobble?

We saw a rather odd sight as we were leaving our Bed and Breakfast in the tiny, historic town of New Market -- best known for an important Civil War battle that took place on their fields using young cadets (age 15-17) who marched 70 miles to get there from the VA Military Institute in Lexington.

With our minds on such events, we were completely jolted out of it to see the above in front of us in traffic. It took a second, and before I could snap another shot the truck had turned out of sight. We realized that this is how chickens are transported.... and now that I blow it up as I did below, I think from the shape of their heads and necks that they might actually be turkeys?


What do you think? You can click on tha tpic to enlarge it and see what I mean. Are there white-feathered turkeys? And where is there throat waddle? Are these females? Or are they a kind of common chicken who never develops the neck and head plumage? Must do some research.