Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Sunday, January 24, 2010

Each time, her talons knocked the rim a little bit more. When I went back after lunch, I found a chick on the ground, as well as the entire nest~


After a soaking rain, the adult dried off in the sun in a location in perfect view of her nestlings. Blue Jays are excellent at mimicking the vocal sounds of these hawks, as well as love mobbing the hawks and some do not live to tell about it either. Early one morning, I witnessed the adult going 3 times after a squirrel that was too close to nest rim. Each time, her talons knocked the rim a little bit more. When I went back after lunch, I found a chick on the ground, as well as the entire nest. Chuck Culp with Wingspan of Kentucky came to the rescue of the young Eyas, as well as me. It was a stressful time for all, but Chuck knows how to take care of these situations very well. Once the little eyas was fed a large meal, Chuck placed the young one into the basket. This was the same kind of basket that we used 2 years ago, when we were faced with a similar situation, it took over 48 hours of my waiting and watching before the female attended the chick in basket. This time, it also took right at 48 hours for the hen to locate and accept the situation her young chick was now in. Her attempts to rim the basket with her massive wings and the mess of tree branches to get through took several times, before landing was achieved and a feeding completed by her to her young one first time in what had been a very long 3 days. I do not know which was sadder the pathetic little eyas left without a nest at the crotch of the tree, exposed to everything now, or the little basket chick... The female also had an opportunity while at basket rim, just under tree line, to catch a chipmunk for later~







1 comment:

  1. I love the idea of the basket. I hope it works out well for the rest of the nesting season. Its quite creative. So nice that the mother accepted your collective solution to the fallen nest. Wonderful in all ways.

    Great photos of the chicks too.

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