The Messenger ~ Common Barn Owl

‘Willie’ -  Common Barn Owl

Willie was found on the ground in the spring of 2002 in Dallas.  The person who found her thought she needed help and took her home to raise her.  Unfortunately, she was fed cat food as she developed which caused a lack of calcium in her diet, her bones became brittle and fractures occurred in her right wing. This made her only partially flighted.  Additionally, she became ‘imprinted’ on humans and now relies on them for her care.

She was an ambassador on Super Saturday at Hagerman Wildlife Refuge and posed for some incredible photography shots. 

Red Shouldered Hawk

 ‘Pippin’ - Red-shouldered Hawk

The story of Pippin is unfortunately a common one.  In 2003, he was found flying around a neighborhood acting abnormal for a wild hawk.  When approached, he actually landed on the roof of a car begging for food.  He is an  ‘imprint’ which somebody raised and released thinking they had saved the bird’s life.  But Pippin was found almost starved to death, not knowing how to hunt.  Fortunately, he has become a wonderful education ambassador with Blackland Prairie Raptor Center in Texas.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge has several of their ambassador raptors at Super Saturday last summer and i was so happy to get many wonderful photos of Pippin!

Dallas Ft Worth area is home to the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center - Raptor Project

House Finch, A Word of Advice

This little couple have given so many fun hours of amusement over the last months.  They play, they bicker and carry on like an old married couple.  I am pretty sure they have raised about 20 babies as the birdbath is often pretty busy.  Maybe she is telling Mr she has a head ache tonight!

I have been taking a bit of photography break with the Olympics on but I need to begin to sort through some of my images.   I have a photo contest I plan to enter offered from Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, using photos taken from the Refuge.  It will be their 3rd one and there are at least 3 categories that I can participate in.   Problem is I can not make a decision.   What will the judges be looking for!

What Fun Is This ~ Dragonfly

Last weekend I got to visit Loy Lake, a little small secluded water area loaded with water lilys that were blooming.  I was surprised with so few birds to see, only one Green Heron and one Double Breasted Cormorant.  The dragonfly population was not fairing to well with the high winds over the last week and many were staying to the deep grasses and just clinging onto the foliage.  This one appeared to have his wings stuck together but later we could see they were not but he held them in an upright position making for a very unusual photo.