Jun. 13th, 2006

urbpan: (fox eyes)


From the email my coworker sent to staff:
Also, we have received a brand new baby red fox. She is about 13 weeks old and is living in WC until she is a little bit bigger. She will then go out with the silver fox through a long introduction process. The timing of all this is not certain yet, but for now she is in quarantine for 30 days per the vets orders. She has already met our vet and has come back with a clean bill of health...no blood work problems!!! Yippy!! Her story in a nutshell is this...she was found with her brother at about two weeks old in Leverette. MA starving and covered in some sort of crude oil. Mommy probably tried to clean them eventually dying herself, but we'll never know. Both foxes were nursed back to health by a rehabber, but our little girl has remained imprinted while her brother is being released. She is very sweet. Come and check her out and wish us luck with the introduction.
ExpandRead more... )
urbpan: (feeding gull)

Location: over the Riverway, by Simmons College.
Urban species #164: Chimney swift Chaetura pelagica

Above is the best view most city dwellers will get of a chimney swift: always in flight, almost always twittering. This bird is easy to recognize at a distance, which is fortunate, because it is always at a distance. The "tail-less" appearance is distinctive, as is the lack of perching behavior. It almost never stops flying, and when it does, it does so well out of sight, preferring to nest in unused chimneys and smokestacks. Before these man-made nest sites existed, they used hollow trees, but once the first colonists built chimneys, the swifts moved in and multiplied. Like the case of the cellar spider, the creation of man-made habitat created a population increase among chimney swifts.

We should be happy that there are more chimney swifts than there once were, as these birds feed exclusively on flying insects, including mosquitoes. Like their closest relatives, the hummingbirds, they must eat a tremendous amount, up to a third of their body weight per day. Because there are fewer smokestacks and fewer fireplaces in modern cities, the swift's numbers are declining. On the west coast the chimney swift is replaced with Vaux's swift (Chaetura vauxi) and in European cities by the European swift (Apus apus).

Profile

urbpan: (Default)
urbpan

May 2017

S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
1415 1617181920
21222324252627
28293031   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

Expand All Cut TagsCollapse All Cut Tags
Page generated Jul. 23rd, 2025 05:23 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios