Mourning Doves at Menno House

Last summer mourning doves nested on a windowsill of Menno House.  Manager Rachel Smith recorded the development of the squabs (that's what you call mourning dove chicks) from hatchlings to fledglings. 

Video by Rachel Smith

Did you know . . .

• Mourning doves mate for life
• Mourning doves often reuse their own nests or the nests of other birds, even squirrels
• Both parents feed their young with "crop milk" produced by glands in their crops
• The young squabs fledge (fly from the nest) after only 14 days, but parents continue to care them for another 2 weeks
• Mourning doves can fly at speeds of 55 mph

If you'd like to entice mourning doves to nest on your property, this site offers an inexpensive and nice looking nest box.   I bought one for Menno House and am hoping the doves will use it this year.

In case you're wondering how I came to know about the Menno House doves, well, I'm on the Board of Directors of Menno House which is owned and operated by Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship. 


Additional reading:
Mourning Doves and Their Young
The Mourning Doves Coo Begins Season Of Nesting and Feeding
Mourning Dove (Wikipedia, with great pictures and links) 



© 2012, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

A Bald Pigeon With My Name

My second pigeon rescue two weeks ago made me remember that the account of my first pigeon rescue somehow never got published.  Time to rectify that oversight!!

Sunday, May 15, 2011
It started out like any other laundry day.  I loaded my dirty clothes into the grocery cart we New Yorkers use to transport anything too heavy to carry and pushed the cart across the street to the laundromat.  As I entered, I noticed a young pigeon huddled at the side of the step. After loading my clothes into the washers, I went back to the doorway to see if the pigeon was still there.  Indeed it was, and the little thing just didn't look right.  It had some scabby-looking patches on top if its head and, although nervous, it seemed unwilling or unable to fly to a safer location.  The laundry attendant claimed it couldn't fly because an elderly woman had run over it accidentally with her cart.

I hate it when I happen upon situations like this, because I know that no one else is going to do anything.

The Loop

It's no wonder British author Nicholas Evans writes interesting books.  He leads an interesting life.  He studied law at Oxford University, worked as a journalist, produced documentary films, and has traveled extensively.  He is best known for his debut novel, The Horse Whisperer.  If you didn't read the book, maybe you saw the movie directed by and starring Robert Redford.

A few rays of hope...

We've all been sickened by all the continuing horrors of the BP oil spill and its perverse effects on the environment. Dead sea turtles floating in pools of oil or washed up limp and lifeless on the oily beaches. Gulls and pelicans doused with oil. The heartbreaking images seem unending.

Still, a few people are trying to do what they can. On June 4 the New York Times carried a story about the rehab work with the brown pelicans of Fort Jackson, Louisiana. Once very common in that area, the brown pelican was nearly wiped out in the 1960's by the effects of DDT pesticides. Since then it has made an amazing comeback, and last year the brown pelican was taken off the endangered species list. Now its existence is threatened again. Rescue workers are trying to prevent that. They have been capturing the birds, as many as possible, some so heavily coated with oil that they cannot stand. They are fed and hydrated and cleaned up, and as of June 4th all of the rescued birds had survived. Please click the link here and read the story for more details.

On June 16 CNN ran video report on the rescue of a nest of 105 Loggerhead turtle eggs laid on Orange Beach, Alabama. The hatchlings would be in danger from the oil as well as from the cleanup efforts. Again, a few people did what they could. They moved and protected the nest, and when the eggs hatch, they will be moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where the water is still clean. Please click here and watch the short video.

I know the efforts of these few good people are only a drop in the proverbial bucket. The number of birds that can be cleaned will be only a small percentage of those that will die. The turtle that laid the eggs has already returned to the oily sea, and one wonders about her fate. And hey, the reason turtles lay so many eggs is that the survival rate of hatching is low even in good times. (Very small turtles are quickly gobbled up by other sea creatures and probably brown pelicans too!) Still, we cling to these few rays of hope that endangered species will survive and that the environment will not be ruined forever.

© 2010, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Little Carlin

Photo from the Wikimedia Commons,
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Several weeks ago, around 3:15 pm on a Saturday afternoon, I saw a badly injured squirrel lying on its back, alive but twitching as if in the throes of death. One of his front paws was really, really swollen and obviously part of his ailment. I said a silent prayer that death would come quickly and returned home.

Later that afternoon I left the apartment again on another errand and darned if that squirrel wasn't still outside in the same spot, alive and twitching. He seemed no closer to death's door than he had been an hour earlier. It would be dark soon. The temperature was dropping. High winds and snow were predicted. How much lingering agony was I willing to let him endure? Apparently I was going to have to do something. But what?

I returned to my apartment and googled "wildlife rehab NY" on my computer. A long list of names, addresses, and phone numbers appeared on the screen. I left telephone messages with the rehab people who lived the closest to me.

While I was waiting for my calls to be returned, I clicked on the Google link for The Squirrel Board. The first message thread in The Squirrel Board Forum was entitled Emergency (Life Threatening) Help Needed. Perfect! I posted my predicament, or rather, the squirrel's predicament. I wondered how long it would take for someone to notice my new post. Within only 2 minutes, someone responded. "Can you scoop the squirrel into a box or a container of some sort?" If I could catch the squirrel, this person seemed willing to help. Using an old cat carrier, I was able to slide the squirrel inside. He squirmed during the maneuver but had no real control over his body, so it was pretty easy, actually. By 5:30 pm I was the nervous guardian of a dying squirrel in a cat carrier. I put the cat carrier in our warm bathroom, covered it with a towel to calm my patient, turned off the light, and closed the door. No worries about him escaping though. He couldn't really move at all, except for that occasional twitch.

After more message posting and several phone calls, a rehabber from about 30 miles outside NYC arrived around 9 pm to take the squirrel to a veterinary hospital. He died before the vet could do anything for him, but not before the rehabber gave him a name -- Little Carlin, a Celtic name meaning Little Champion. Somehow the fact that the rehabber gave him a Celtic name, without any inkling of my connections to Irish music, was confirmation that I was meant to try to help him.

The vet's autopsy revealed that Little Carlin had a missing front left foot and a severe de-gloving (skin ripped off) injury to the leg exposing the bone. The entire leg was infected and necrosis (death of the cells) had begun. The leg injuries looked at least 5 days old based on the bone. There were lacerations to the face near the eye, with some eye damage. The internal organs looked normal. There was no sign of poisoning. The twitching and inability to control his body had apparently been due to his very advanced infection. The cause of death was trauma.

I wondered if Little Carlin had an encounter with a red-tailed hawk (yes, we have those in NYC) or an off-leash dog. Or perhaps he got his leg caught in the spokes of a bicycle ridden by one of the many carry-out food delivery guys who speed through our apartment complex. Maybe he was hit by a car. I'll never know. Despite his severe injuries, though, the veterinarian felt that if Little Carlin had been treated right away, he could have been saved. Bummer.

This squirrel episode haunted me for many days. I've rescued animals before -- cats mostly, but also a few dogs, a pigeon, a baby squirrel, and a ferret. My rescues have nearly always had happy endings. I can remember only one other time when the animal died. Why did God put this poor miserable creature in my path when all I could do was give him a warm place to suffer and die?

I decided the reason had more to do with teaching me than with saving him. Little Carlin's "rescue" put me in touch with several wildlife rehabbers in New York City. I found The Squirrel Board, a wonderful resource with all sorts of information. After reading what was posted there, I went on to read other informative internet sites about squirrels and wildlife rehabilitation. Hopefully the things I've learned and the people I've met will help me to be more effective in some future situation.

I recommend everyone check out The Squirrel Board, even if you have no intention of scooping up injured squirrels. Read up on all the things squirrels eat and enjoy the wonderful pictures. The Squirrel Board Forum has over 3600 registered members, and probably many more readers. (Anyone can read the message threads, but only registered members can post.) So check it out - bookmark it. Whether you live in the city or in the country, you never know when you might find yourself in need of assistance with a squirrel. You think it won't happen to you, but you just never know...


Other Squirrel Resources:

Articles offering general information about squirrels
Tree Squirrels (by the Humane Society of the United States)
Squirrel (Wikipedia article with lots of sources)
The Scholarly Squirrel (a website that describes itself as "a definitive online resource for the squirrel enthusiast")

Squirrel Rescue & Rehabilitation
The Squirrel Board
Squirrel-rehab.org
Squirrel Rehab (a set of photos on Flickr)

Squirrel Books
Squirrels at My Window: Life With a Remarkable Gang of Urban Squirrels, by Grace Marmor Spruch (I read this enchanting book years ago and loved it.)
Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide, by Richard W. Thorington Jr. and Katie E. Ferrell

Squirrel Blogs (yes, of course, blogs!! How could I resist!)
The Squirrel Cam
Squirrel Chatter
Squirrels, Squirrels, Squirrels
Grey and Red, a Squirrel Journal



© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Saving Mortimer Mouse

Last week Sorcha Dorcha rehearsed in Tompkins Square Park. As we were unpacking our instruments, Tyler noticed a small white mouse near the fiddle case at his feet. Having spent a fair amount of time on Lorcan Otway's Flikr site, I immediately recognized the little fellow as none other than Mortimer Mouse. Having owned an assortment of rodent pets, I didn't hesitate to scoop him up and introduce myself.

Photo by Lorcan Otway, used with permission.

Lorcan confirmed that, indeed, this was the one and only Mortimer who belonged to one of the "crusties" - a group of rather grungy young people who more or less live in the park. Since none of them were in the immediate vicinity, Lorcan left to have a look around. Mortimer stayed with me. Accustomed to being handled, he didn't mind a bit.

After about 10 minutes Lorcan returned with someone who took one look at Mortimer and said said, "yep, that's Mike's mouse." He gladly agreed to take over the temporary guardianship of little Mortimer and set off into the center of the park, presumably to find Mike.

Like I always say, you never know when you will need to save the life of a homeless person's mouse when you go off to rehearse Irish music in an East Village park.

© 2007, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Baby Walrus at the New York Aquarium

© WCS/Julie Larsen Maher

The New York Times today ran an article, complete with pictures, about the baby walrus born earlier this summer at the New York Aquarium. The public watched with joy as he made his first public appearance, taking a swim with his mother in one of the aquarium's larger viewing tanks.

From the NY Times online I hopped over to the New York Aquarium's website. At the present time they are running a video banner of the calf and his mother frolicking in a shallow pool of water. There's also an article on the calf's birth and his parent's history. Still following the trail of hyperlinks on the NY Aquarium's site, I found this page with a fascinating baby book of photos as well as videos. You can even go to the Today Show's website and vote for a name for the little fellow!

Contrast this happy story to the much sadder report published April 15, 2006 by the Washington Post that tells of a sighting of nine walrus calves swimming in deep water with mothers nowhere in sight. Biologists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said the walrus babies swam around their vessel crying for the entire 24 hours they were in the vicinity. Young walruses generally live on a shelf of ice close to shore and are rarely separated from their mothers during their first two years of life. Scientists postulated that perhaps a storm had separated the babies from their mothers -- but more likely was the theory that their ice shelf melted in the unusually warm waters.

Ironically, today's NY Times also reported on an international conference in Washington DC on climate change during which President Bush proposed an international fund to finance clean energy projects in developing countries. Sounds good on the face of it, but reading the article more closely you'll see that Bush thinks steps can be taken to halt global warming without giving up profits. He doesn't think strong legislation or international treaties are necessary either. Quoting the Times article: European delegates, in particular, rejected the administration’s insistence that any plan to reduce emissions be voluntary and devised by individual nations rather than as a part of a worldwide treaty. One European representative... called the meeting a “game” played by the administration to slow momentum toward an international pact. So the political games continue, while arctic ice flows melt and arctic wildlife dies.

Help! How did I get here? I tried to write a nice post about a cute walrus calf and ended up thinking about global warming. Argh! We must all do what we can to make legislators hear us on issues of global warming. We can write letters, sign petitions, and give money. For example, the NY Aquarium and the Bronx Zoo are both part of the Wildlife Conservation Society. We could contribute to their work on behalf of all wildlife - including arctic animals - by clicking here.

At the same time, however, let's not permit our concern over this issue to deny us the simple pleasure that comes from seeing a young, protected walrus calf take his first swim. If you haven't done so already, take a few minutes to hit all the NY Aquarium links above and savor each picture. Better yet, go on out to Brooklyn (if you live in NYC) and see the little fellow.

© 2007, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

US Navy's Deadly Sonar Kills Whales

Did you know that U.S. Navy warships use underwater speakers during routine sonar testing and training that blast the ocean with noise in excess of 245 decibels? This sonic barrage is roughly comparable to a Saturn V rocket at blast-off. That onslaught is so intense it can drive whales to panic, to surface too quickly, and hemorrhage. Scientists have linked the use of mid-frequency sonar to hundreds of whale strandings and deaths around the world. The Navy is refusing to take commonsense measures that could protect whales from being needlessly killed by high-powered sonar.

Singer James Taylor is lending support to the current NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) Action Fund campaign to bring attention and public pressure to bear on the Navy to stop this awful practice. Please click on the NRDC link provided above to read what he has to say - and while you're there, sign the petition.

Although sea turtles are not specifically mentioned, if they're in the testing areas, I'm sure they're suffering too!

© 2007, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Phoebastria rexsularum

My friend Anne Leightner Kienlen has helped make history! She found a very old albatross bone fossil which was among the specimens used to name an extinct and heretofore unknown albatross species: Phoebastria rexsularum. She donated the bone to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. They returned to her this plaster cast of her albatross bone. Two views are shown below - one with the foot facing up, the other with the foot facing down.

Photos by Anne Leightner Kienlen, used with permission.

Although the Smithsonian Institution Press announced the new species in 2001 (see footnote below), Anne found out about it just this past week when she received in the mail the article which mentioned her by name. How cool is that?!!

The article describes a collection of 10,000+ fossils representing at least 112 different species of birds, only 5 of which were albatrosses. All the bone fossils came from the Pliocene era 5.3 to 1.8 million years ago. These Pliocene fossils were lying about for easy collection rather than buried deep under the earth’s surface because they had been uncovered by the mining operations of the Lee Creek Mine located on the south side of the Pamlico River, near Aurora, North Carolina. The particular bone that Anne picked up was the least-common size of albatross found there.

For any scientists reading this, Anne’s find was a topotypical paratype, the proximal end of right tarsometatarsi. The rest of us need a lot of help with that statement, so let's dissect it bit by bit.

Paratypes are best understood when defined together with holotypes. A holotype is the specimen that’s the ultimate name bearer of the species. Paratypes are next in importance. They constitute all the other specimens upon which the original new species description is based. So Anne’s bone is part of a collection of bones which, taken together, defined the new species, Phoebastria rexsularum.

Topotypical means pertaining to a topotype. According to the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, a topotype is “a specimen from the locality where the original specimen was taken.” So Anne’s paratype came from the same area as the the holotype.

Tarsometatarsi is the plural of tarsometatarsus, which is a compound bone between the tibia (in humans, the shinbone) and the toes of a bird's leg. The tarsometatarsus is formed by fusion of the tarsal and metatarsal bones. This picture should help.


Proximal is most easily defined in relation to its opposite, distal. These two terms are most commonly used when referring to the limbs. Distal refers to structures further from the trunk while proximal refers to structures nearer to the trunk. For example, the foot is distal to the knee, while the knee is proximal to the foot. So Anne’s bone, the proximal end of the right tarsometatari, is the tarsometatarsus of the bird's right leg as described in relation to its body.

My friend Anne is not a paleobiologist, or any type of scientist for that matter. She is an avid and educated avocational collector of fossilized sharks teeth. In pursuit of shark's teeth she occasionally came upon other interesting specimens. By donating her more significant finds to the Smithsonian, she has helped define a new species of albatross. Additionally, she has demonstrated that what we do with our leisure time can be just as significant, possibly even more significant, than our paid occupations.

The authors of the article said, "we owe our greatest debt to the many collectors whose sharp eyes spied thousands of small bird bones on the mine spoil piles and whose generosity in donating the specimens to the Smithsonian has permitted this study." Let me offer my congratulations as well, dear Annie. You have helped to discover an extinct albatross, and just as important, you have shown that it is possible to make a significant contribution using the bits of time left to us after attending to the necessities of life. You are an inspiration to us all!

Footnote:
Olson, S.L. and Rasmussen, P.C. 2001. Miocene and Pliocene birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, p. 233-365. In Ray, C.E. and Bohaska, D.J. (eds.), Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, III, Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, No. 90.



© 2007, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Hangin' in there

Photo by Harry Peronius, used with permission.

My friend Harry snapped this little guy at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Last Sunday I attended an exhibition sponsored by the West Side Art Coalition where Harry was showing two sets of pictures - the face and hands of a Finnish farmer and of an Indian peasant woman. You can view Harry's work online at the Silver Pix Gallery.

© 2007, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Bangkok Cricket

This photo of a cricket eating a colorful leaf was the winner in the Nature category.

Bangkok Cricket, by Attapon Faknoi. Used with permission

© 2006, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement