Beer Can Hill

Video clips at Ustream

My buddy Jason sent me this for my birthday.

My friend Carrie sent me this:

Angela gave me this:

Barn Owls can be found all over the world. The World Owl Trust has a wonderful site about how you can help owls in your region.

Kaka face new human threat
By KIRAN CHUG – The Dominion Post

Kaka around Zealandia have a healthy squawk but it is their powerful beak that is making them unpopular with some residents.
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Saved from the brink of extinction in Wellington, kaka could face a new threat from humans, with one city dweller threatening to kill them.

Zealandia conservation manager Raewyn Empson said a small number of people living near the Karori sanctuary had called with complaints about the rare parrots eating plums from their trees. One had called threatening to kill the endangered bird, which Ms Empson said was “very unwise”, given that they were strictly protected.

However, most who called to report kaka sightings were thrilled to see them. Ms Empson said Wellington was the only city with a breeding population. “All indications are that the kaka are here to stay.”

The birds tended to gather at dawn and squawk noisily, but Ms Empson said their song had not generated complaints – a far cry from 2008, when the sanctuary said people were ringing to complain about noisy tui, after an explosion in their numbers.

At Wellington’s Botanic Gardens, manager David Sole said kaka were stripping the bark of some exotic trees to get at insects or sap. The birds, which had particularly strong beaks, had damaged two birch trees, which might not survive.

Conifers had also been damaged, but Mr Sole said the damage was a small price to pay for seeing more kaka in the park. “They’re getting to be part of the activities.”

Ms Empson said that, although most Wellingtonians realised the “enormous privilege” of seeing more kaka in the city, that could also cause problems.

Some had started feeding kaka, but it was important not to lay out food on a deck or lawn for them regularly. The birds would return for food each day, but cats would do the same – and would kill them.

It was also important not to hand-feed kaka, not only to give them the best chance of survival in the wild, but because they could become a nuisance or dangerous once the feeding stopped.

Kaka particularly liked sugar and salt, but should not be given bread, cake, rice, chocolate or leftovers, because they could kill their delicate digestive systems, she said. It was best to leave them to find grubs, nectar, fruit and seeds.

Last updated 05:00 12/02/2010

For more information about Kakas visit these sites:

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation.
Wikipedia.
Parrots.org’s photo gallery.
ExploringNature.org’s fact for kids.

By EMMANUEL TUMANJONG (AP) –  February 10th, 2010

YAOUNDE, Cameroon — A conservation group is caring for more than 1,000 African gray parrots with help from an Ohio zoo after the birds were rescued from smugglers who had stuffed them into crates bound for the Middle East.

At least 120 of the birds have died since they were saved last month. The remaining parrots have been transferred to a wildlife conservation center in the West African nation, said Ofir Drori, director of a conservation group called the Last Great Ape Organization.

“The birds have been tied down for too long. They are very tired, many are sick,” he said Tuesday.

The parrots are kept as pets, but they also are believed to possess special powers in countries such as India, China, Nigeria and Cameroon, where the birds are used by witch doctors for rituals.

Cameroonian officials found the parrots stuffed into poorly ventilated wooden crates at the airport. Drori said the crates were being ferried to a Kuwait-bound Ethiopian Airlines flight.

The birds will be released into their natural habitat in a few months after veterinarians complete treating them, Drori said.

The Columbus Zoo in the U.S. state of Ohio said it will provide a grant of $6,000 to help feed the parrots and provide emergency care.

It was the third time in two years that authorities have stopped a shipment of parrots from being taken onto an Ethiopian Airlines flight. Ethiopian Airlines could not be immediately reached for comment.

In 2007, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora put a ban on the trade and export of the African gray parrots in five countries including Cameroon.

Two days before the authorities saved the 1,120 parrots, the Last Great Ape Organization, with the help of U.S. investigators and the Cameroon government, tracked down an Internet trader in the southwest regional capital of Buea who had struck a deal to deliver 23 African gray parrots to the United States. The trader is now awaiting trial.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Special thanks to my friend Scott Rossi for showing me this clip!

She has been bugging me all day about getting her driver’s license.

It’s mind-blowing to think about how Roxanne has been around for most of my life, age 13 to now at 29.

A displaced woman walks along the street of Altos de la Florida shantytown carrying a parrot on her shoulder in Soacha, in the outskirts of Bogota, on August 7, 2009. Bogota authorities estimate that some 52 displaced families arrive to the capital city (population 7 million) every day from different regions of the country, part of the approximately three million displaced people around Colombia caused by almost half century of conflict. (EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images)