February 2013
Dear Elephants, Birds and humans.
Elephants take precedent this month because it is my birthday (February 13th) and elephants (except for my grandsons) are the most important life form on earth. Elephants, by the way, are also in critical danger of becoming extinct in the wild because of the rapacious ivory market. Even though ivory is internationally illegal to trade, China lets it in and its sales are flourishing there. This leads to extreme poaching, so much so that more elephants were killed last year than ever before. People and their greed are going to ultimately destroy this planet and all the wonderful living things on it.
Well, happy birthday to me.....I celebrate for a long time, usually a month in either direction. I bring Fritha, the elephant, a birthday cake every year so she can enjoy the celebration too. I once gave her a carrot cake, thinking she would really enjoy it. After I put a chunk of it in her mouth, however, she grimaced and scraped it off her tongue. It was like she was saying, "Ooo, what are you trying to do, poison me?" This year I will bring her a vanilla cake, maybe she will like that. Actually, she loves jelly donuts, so I am safe with them and she can eat, at least, a dozen.
We, the club, had a wonderful trip to the American Museum of Natural History last month. Peter Capainolo, our speaker from our 26th anniversary party, took us on an exciting trip behind the scenes of the ornithology exhibits of the museum. He showed us many things that very few people get the chance to see. We should have some nice write ups on this trip and pictures to share with the rest of the membership who did not come with us.. I am still advocating a trip for us to the Bronx Zoo. I will let everyone know as soon as I am able to work that out. That has been a long time in the making.
Winter is certainly upon us and the ground is a dazzling white with a thick, beautiful blanket of snow. Every day, when I fill my wild bird feeders, I watch and marvel at the number and variety of birds who visit it. Just looking at a male cardinal on the snow covered earth makes my heart grow. There is something about that gorgeous little red bird with his black mask against the ultimate white of the snow that just does it for me. Of course that does not negate the emotional impact of all the other birds, in their infinite variety, who eat at my feeders and on the ground. I love watching the squirrels at the feeders too. I truly believe I have the fattest and happiest squirrels in the world choosing to live here. Hey, free meals all the time, what can be bad?
Aristophanes has been pretty mellow lately, maybe because he wants to be nice for my birthday. Emma seems extremely happy and Zeke is his own sweet self. I bought lots of new toys for the two big guys; Zeke never seems to play with toys, so I stopped buying them for him and just give him plenty of time at his mirror in front of the toaster on the shelf. That is his favorite past time, other than standing on my shoulder and pulling food from my mouth when I eat.
Tonight, Missy Runyan, the director of The Friends of the Feathered and Furry Wildlife Center in Hudson, New York will be our speaker. She will be presenting a talk on Parrots as well as birds that she has rescued. I am sure that this will be a stimulating and very interesting program. She will also have her beloved Molluccan cockatoo with her. Next month our presenter will be Jan Eerlin from the Everything Animals Resource Center and Lisa Acton's eagle owl Zena will be our presenter in April......How many groups do you know who have an eagle owl presenting a talk....a very special bird, to be sure!
We have several birds for adoption, please let us know if you know anyone who is looking to adopt a parrot that will provide it with a loving and permanent home. They have to let us know what kind of bird they are looking for and fill out the adoption application on the website. Please contact me or Pat Bennett for information on bird adoptions.
If anyone is interested, I am directing and singing in a Broadway Cabaret produced by the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop. This will be performed at the Sullivan County Historical Museum in Hurleyville, February 22nd, 23rd and 24th. See the website www.scdw.net for more information on the program. I would love to see you there and show you a different hat that I wear.
Be well, be happy and join us at our next meeting on March 14th, Please submit articles and/ or pictures on your birds, or on our trip, or on anything else, bird related, to be printed in our newsletter. You make it happen people. You can send them directly to Matt, who edits the newsletter, mfrumess@hvc.rr.com or to me and I will forward your entries to him, loxodon@aol.com.
With LOVE,
Richie
Elephants take precedent this month because it is my birthday (February 13th) and elephants (except for my grandsons) are the most important life form on earth. Elephants, by the way, are also in critical danger of becoming extinct in the wild because of the rapacious ivory market. Even though ivory is internationally illegal to trade, China lets it in and its sales are flourishing there. This leads to extreme poaching, so much so that more elephants were killed last year than ever before. People and their greed are going to ultimately destroy this planet and all the wonderful living things on it.
Well, happy birthday to me.....I celebrate for a long time, usually a month in either direction. I bring Fritha, the elephant, a birthday cake every year so she can enjoy the celebration too. I once gave her a carrot cake, thinking she would really enjoy it. After I put a chunk of it in her mouth, however, she grimaced and scraped it off her tongue. It was like she was saying, "Ooo, what are you trying to do, poison me?" This year I will bring her a vanilla cake, maybe she will like that. Actually, she loves jelly donuts, so I am safe with them and she can eat, at least, a dozen.
We, the club, had a wonderful trip to the American Museum of Natural History last month. Peter Capainolo, our speaker from our 26th anniversary party, took us on an exciting trip behind the scenes of the ornithology exhibits of the museum. He showed us many things that very few people get the chance to see. We should have some nice write ups on this trip and pictures to share with the rest of the membership who did not come with us.. I am still advocating a trip for us to the Bronx Zoo. I will let everyone know as soon as I am able to work that out. That has been a long time in the making.
Winter is certainly upon us and the ground is a dazzling white with a thick, beautiful blanket of snow. Every day, when I fill my wild bird feeders, I watch and marvel at the number and variety of birds who visit it. Just looking at a male cardinal on the snow covered earth makes my heart grow. There is something about that gorgeous little red bird with his black mask against the ultimate white of the snow that just does it for me. Of course that does not negate the emotional impact of all the other birds, in their infinite variety, who eat at my feeders and on the ground. I love watching the squirrels at the feeders too. I truly believe I have the fattest and happiest squirrels in the world choosing to live here. Hey, free meals all the time, what can be bad?
Aristophanes has been pretty mellow lately, maybe because he wants to be nice for my birthday. Emma seems extremely happy and Zeke is his own sweet self. I bought lots of new toys for the two big guys; Zeke never seems to play with toys, so I stopped buying them for him and just give him plenty of time at his mirror in front of the toaster on the shelf. That is his favorite past time, other than standing on my shoulder and pulling food from my mouth when I eat.
Tonight, Missy Runyan, the director of The Friends of the Feathered and Furry Wildlife Center in Hudson, New York will be our speaker. She will be presenting a talk on Parrots as well as birds that she has rescued. I am sure that this will be a stimulating and very interesting program. She will also have her beloved Molluccan cockatoo with her. Next month our presenter will be Jan Eerlin from the Everything Animals Resource Center and Lisa Acton's eagle owl Zena will be our presenter in April......How many groups do you know who have an eagle owl presenting a talk....a very special bird, to be sure!
We have several birds for adoption, please let us know if you know anyone who is looking to adopt a parrot that will provide it with a loving and permanent home. They have to let us know what kind of bird they are looking for and fill out the adoption application on the website. Please contact me or Pat Bennett for information on bird adoptions.
If anyone is interested, I am directing and singing in a Broadway Cabaret produced by the Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop. This will be performed at the Sullivan County Historical Museum in Hurleyville, February 22nd, 23rd and 24th. See the website www.scdw.net for more information on the program. I would love to see you there and show you a different hat that I wear.
Be well, be happy and join us at our next meeting on March 14th, Please submit articles and/ or pictures on your birds, or on our trip, or on anything else, bird related, to be printed in our newsletter. You make it happen people. You can send them directly to Matt, who edits the newsletter, mfrumess@hvc.rr.com or to me and I will forward your entries to him, loxodon@aol.com.
With LOVE,
Richie