Another week packed with much in the way of diversion, entertainment and photo ops.

I’ve had several more odd bird situations happen as well. These days birds in distress almost literally are falling in front of me. I was heading to Winner’s a week ago, walking across the parking lot to the store entrance, when a movement above the store caught my eye. I looked up to see a pigeon rising vertically from the flat roof, wings spinning strangely, whereupon it windmilled its way over the traffic lane and, fluttering madly like a broken angel, proceeded to crash rather heavily to the ground, right in the middle of the eastbound car lane. I rushed into the store to commandeer a box, then nabbed a pierced and bearded young man on the way back outside, directing him to keep the cars off me while I secured the pigeon, which by this time was standing looking stunned. I got it into the box and safely stowed in my vehicle, did my shopping in record time, and rushed home to phone my wildlife rescue contact.

I learned a few things from her, none of them encouraging. One was that neither she nor the vet college would dare take it in due to Newcastle disease which affects the pigeon population, is airborne, and could easily wipe out any birds exposed to it if that was what the pigeon had. Fact number two was that it might well have been poisoned, since there was some suspicion that someone has been setting out poisoned bait food for pigeons (and whatever else is unfortunate enough to ingest it) in the area where I encountered this bird. Either way, things weren’t looking good. The recommendation was that I keep the pigeon in a box with cosy bedding overnight in the garage and reassess in the morning. If the strange behavior was Newcastle, it would be dead by morning. If it was poisoned, that would likely be the outcome as well. Not much to look forward to, either for me or for the bird.

I sent Jim out to check on the pigeon the following morning, since I didn’t have the heart or nerve to check on it. I peeked out the window to see him opening the box in the driveway, whereupon the pigeon launched itself and made a dash for freedom, flying quite strongly and well. That was a way better outcome than I had dared hope for. Jim had looked at the bird the previous evening and felt that it certainly had neuorological symptoms that would be consistent with the poison theory, so we think that it was poisoned but hadn’t taken in enough to kill it and it was able to overcome the effects. The depressing part (aside from the suspicion that someone out there is doing this at all) is that the poor bird likely went straight back to where it got the tainted food in the first place, but that part is beyond my ability to help.

Next one, same week, was a little sparrow also in an eastbound traffic lane, this time just down the street from my house. I noticed it there as I was coming home from the barn. When it didn’t move at all as my car went by, I knew there was a problem, so once more I grabbed a box from the garage (this one already conveniently with a towel for bedding, left over from the shrike rescue of  earlier this summer–see blog for July 7) and snatched the little thing up just ahead of an oncoming car. This time I didn’t bother to phone my wildlife rehab contact. Nothing seemed broken or bleeding, so into the garage it went for the night. Once again, when morning came and I sent my troops out to see what the night had brought (grandson Mark was with us overnight so he went out with Jim) we had the same happy situation of a now recovered bird flying off to freedom, not too much the worse for wear. I’ve managed to go about three days now without finding any birds in distress, so maybe this particular cycle is at an end. It’s been kind of odd.

The big excitement of the weekend was “my” semi-outdoor art show and sale, Art at Ebon. I had the bright idea in June that an art event would be a good idea at Ebon Stables (my home away from home), which has some useable roofed and sheltered areas set in lovely park-like grounds near the outdoor riding rings. I was lucky enough to pull together a group of good artists (ten altogether) who were willing to take a chance on a first-time show in an unconventional location, run by someone who had never done this before (me). We got some priceless publicity in the form of a feature article about the show in the Sunday paper, and it did the job for us as the show was a big success with a steady stream of visitors from the city, all of whom were wildly enthusiastic about the art, the horses, the stables, and the whole concept.

We also got darn lucky with the weather, as it was a glorious fall weekend all round. So, that was the “first annual”. Now I have to figure out how to top, or at least equal, this year’s show for the next go-round. It’s a bit of a daunting prospect but I’ve got a year to work on it.

My daughter Margaret is working on her camera skills prior to a trip to Europe next month, so she and my grandson Mark and I went to Beaver Creek, a local nature conservation area (see blog of February 22), to do some fall photos yesterday. Given that things are still pretty green in the city, I was amazed at the amount of color out along the riverbank. Mind you, those are all native trees and bushes and they have a much better idea of what’s going to be coming along in the way of cold than the imported city trees can ever figure out. The native species work on the “start early since we might get snow in September” theory. And indeed it has happened, although not often.

Shots for today are:

Promo shot that accompanied the article about the show at Ebon. That’s me on the left, and Elaine who owns Ebon, and is a good friend and also my riding instructor, on the right. Photo taken by my grandson Mark who is eleven and has a darn good eye and feel for photography. It’s a pleasure to see it in yet another generation. You can see a couple of the outdoor riding rings in the background.

Forgot to mention there was a pottery show just down the road from our art sale on Saturday as well, and a fowl supper at the same location. We went down for the supper after our show was over, then proceeded over to where the resident potters were doing a wood firing in their massive outdoor brick kiln. They have to feed the fire continuously for 36 hours to complete their firing, so had their tents set up and were working in shifts. Flames would shoot out the open vent holes, and that’s what you see in shot number two. Looks a little like a dragon to me. They will be unloading the kiln on Saturday morning, and we hope to get back to see what comes out.

Shots three and four are from the Beaver Creek expedition. The first one shows a pair of canoes tethered in the creek amidst the fall foliage, and the second one is of a woodpecker that accompanied us along part of the trail through the woods. It made me a bit nervous as I kept expecting to stumble across another one in distress that I would have to take home for the night, but mercifully that was an unfounded fear, and I made it back to the city without any overnight guests for the bird box.

©Copyright 2008 by Judy Wood. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Judy Wood’s website.