Swallow-tailed Kite in New Jersey

I am fascinated by the dynamics of spontaneous birding communities that spring up and disband once the goal is reached. Such was the case yesterday, when I went looking for the Swallow-tailed Kite reported along the Dagmar Trail at the Wallkill Wildlife Refuge in New York, which is where I bumped into BirdingBev and a number of other birders from near and far in the hope of spotting this elegant raptor so far off course from its home in Florida and Central/South America.

We hiked out to the field in which it had been seen, only to hear that the Kite had “taken off an hour ago and hasn’t been seen since.” We continued on anyway, peering into far-off branches and blue skies. An hour later, I was meandering down the path admiring the purple asters when someone whistled. I turned to see people running and pointing upward. Suddenly, the Swallow-tailed Kite was soaring over my head! We watched it for another hour ruddering its forked tail while hawking the skies for dragonflies. We admired the perfect angles of its wings and the dramatic black and white patterning. We congratulated each other and joined in the happy accomplishment of those who added this bird to their life lists. You would think we were one big family at a moving picnic. And I suppose, for those few moments, we were.
Good birding,
Deej

All Work and No Play Are Getting Things Done!

All work and no play are making me very dull indeed, but there have been some good results.

I am still with the same not-for-profit organization. My job changed as of June 1st. It has been a welcomed, if sometimes frustrating, challenge but it has also been an opportunity to learn new skills and a chance to turn loose my penchant for organizing everything in sight.

On weekends, I have been busy turning my house upside-down to satisfy a growing desire to jettison accumulated junk. A plan was formed to finally have the hardwood floors sanded and finished, which required clearing every stick of furniture (and books, knickknacks, crystal, serving dishes, depression glass pieces and sentimental chatchkas) to be packed and stored. Pieces that could not be carried downstairs were crammed into the guest room like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. I cleared out both the dining and living rooms, hallway and den. Ken prepped the stairs and front door foyer, which was going to be replaced to match the red oak in the rest of the house.

The job was done a week ago. I herded the cats into our bedroom and remained with them while the men sanded and scraped, buzzed and sawed their way through the day. They were done with everything in only nine hours, with fabulous results:

Living room (note the House Inspector on the right).

Dining room, which had been stained BLACK by the former owner's of the house. Even the owner of Classic Carpets was amazed at how well it came out!

Stairwell and replaced foyer floor.

My Space (Inspector is resting).

The next few weekends will be spent culling through the stuff I want to keep and preparing boxes to donate or sell on eBay (which will be a new adventure for me!)

Balancing Life

Something is wrong with one of the cats we adopted as an adult from a shelter 9 years ago. Antibiotics, special food and diagnostic tests have not revealed why she refuses to eat like she used to (like a pig). Willow, once nicknamed “Willow The Pillow” because of her lively chubbiness is now just plain Willow.

We keep saying once we do this test or try that medication, we will stop and let nature takes its course. The cat is about 12 years old, which is up there but not ancient. But then test results send us down a path of decisions we did not anticipate. If there is something to be discovered that is easily correctable, we will do it. If it is not easily correctable, we will not. Unfortunately, there are no clear indicators of how to move forward because our good vets have not been able to discover the cause. We continue to push antibiotics and now have added two heart medications for a mild cardiomyopathy that while troublesome, does not warrant the severity of her anorexia.

We agreed to try her for two weeks on the new meds before making the "E" decision.

When do you stay, now we stop? This is highly subjective and never to be judged. Some cat owners do nothing while their pets become sicker and eventually wander off to die. Others go to extraordinary lengths to extend the life of a beloved companion. Many times, decisions are based on finances but I have known owners who could easily afford veterinary care but refuse to get it for a suffering animal because its “wasting” money, while others crash and burn in debt to hold on to the hope that one more treatment, one more medication, will bring a sick pet back to life.

We are balancing Willow’s ability to recover and our ability to afford to make that happen, if that is possible, knowing that relieving her suffering is more important than our pain at losing her. As Antoine St. Exupery says in The Little Prince, "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed...."

Six Degrees of Chimney Swifts

I received a forwarded note on my Facebook page from Don Polunci of Southern Adirondack Audubon.

“If you can help, please contact the folks listed: ‘I received an urgent call this afternoon from Laney Angel, a wildlife rehabilitator from North Country Wild Care in Bolton Landing NY. She has a Chimney Swift that cant be raised alone, and is looking for a colony to place it in. contact Laney at...’”

Chimney Swifts are described as “cigars with wings.” You could almost mistake them for bats, but look again and listen to their constant chatter and the “sailing” flight between stiffly bowed wingbeats. They hawk the evening skies for insects. When the sun drops below the horizon, they roost in chimneys (hollowed out trees are no longer available).

Individual birds will not survive alone. They need to be in a colony if they are to live at all. Laney, the rehabber, had been force-feeding a fledgling that had been rescued from a construction site while searching for an active group of birds in which to place it.

I thought: There is a colony in the town where I work! Every fall I go to the schoolyard on my way home to watch hundreds, sometimes thousands, of swifts swarm the evening skies before spiraling over the disconnected chimney. The birds drop, initially one or two at a time, but as the night comes on, they spiral into tornado-like flocks, then suddenly descend into the vortex, as if being vacuumed into safety.

I called Laney to verify the information, and then reached out to my birding contacts in NJ. Southern Adirondack Audubon; however, was already on the case. When I called Laney again a few days later, she told me they had not only located a viable colony, but they had also contacted the local fire department (shhh....don’t tell) who agreed to hoist Laney with her fledgling to a chimney atop a building so she could place it correctly with its own kind.

Six degrees of separation. The Universe. Social networking. Prayer. I don’t get how it all works but it does. There are countless, invisible people reaching out to help everywhere. I am one of them. So are you. Here was a bird not in this world for even a month, yet the energy of people living in two states resonated toward a common purpose. And while I was not able to help directly, somehow I feel I was part of its improved chances of survival.

It was a blip on our radar of compassion. But those blips ripple to places we cannot imagine and then, come back to us.

My Kind of Wedding Reception!

Bride and Groom

My niece was married to her beloved a couple of weeks ago, but we were not able to attend. The wedding was not your typical, solemn walk-down-the aisle affair, but a rocking and rolling Los Vegas party, complete with Elvis as attending official! We joined in via webcam and toasted the happy couple on their day!

The reception was right up my alley, and close to home in the part of our state that is truly New Jersey. As a surprise to the couple, our hostess arranged for a friend to bring in two of his Clydesdales (that he also offers trail rides with--gotta try that!) to treat the guests to better entertainment than a band could ever give! Come on in and enjoy the day!