Summer of the birds

It seems that everywhere I turn this summer I find baby birds.
We had a bittersweet ending to our chimney swift saga. For three weeks, we lived with four little birds hidden away in our fireplace, behind our wooden screen, after their nest fell from the chimney. Even the thin plywood barrier didn't muffle the round-the-clock squawking. It sounded like we were living with wildlife in our living room. Fortunately, the parents went above and beyond and performed dive-bomb type swoops down our chimney and into our fireplace to feed their babies.

From the beginning, three of the babies were heartier than the 4th. The scrawny bird was never allowed into the nest and never seemed very healthy. After initially discovering the birds and moving them back in their fallen nest, we left them alone. We did sneak a peek every few days though.

These photos are each about two days apart, starting with the morning after we found them.









See the three birds together on the fallen nest and the 4th bird outside of the nest.




This was the first bird to leave the nest and cling to the wall. These birds have an amazing ability to grip onto the bricks.








Here, three birds are on the wall and are higher up each time we peek.








Below is our last view of the birds before they disappeared too high up into the chimney for us to see. We still hear them, but they've officially left the nest! The woman at the animal rescue told us that when their wings got long enough to cross they were old enough to fly. Sadly, the fourth little guy didn't make it. It was amazing that it hung on for so long in it's strange living conditions.





As soon as the chimney swifts left the nest, almost to the day, I found this baby bird in the middle of the road. He was looking up at me, as if saying, 'help!'. I used my hat to push him to the side of the road.

Dog Grooming Class

The owner of The Pooch Parlor agreed to give us a lesson along with Sport's grooming today. I learned a lot. Mainly that grooming is best left to the professionals. I haven't even been bathing Sport correctly!

Before




Nails




Bath




Drying




And, this is where we got sidetracked. You'll see why I forgot to get an after picture. The groomer breeds Cocker Spaniels and has two pups about to turn 8 weeks old. Just look at this face!




We're trying hard to persuade my brother and sister-in-law to get one of these darling girls.

Baby Bird Update - Chimney Swifts

I'm happy to report that all four chimney swift babies are doing well. Apparently insectivores need to eat quite frequently. Every 20 minutes or so we hear the mom or dad fly down the chimney where they're greeted with loud squawks. One by one, the babies quiet as they're fed, then mom or dad flies back out the chimney. In fact, we've learned that as soon as the last baby is silent we can rush outside as watch the parent fly out of our chimney.
About one a day we peek behind our wooden screen. Yesterday we discovered that their eyes are open! The pin feathers are also starting to unfurl into feathers.

We have Baby Birds!

After a long day in Erie yesterday (more about that another day), we thought we'd have an early night last night. As soon as we sat down in the family room, though, there was a huge commotion behind our fireplace screen. Squawking, wings flapping, chirping. This has happened before, and after a lot of build up (crating the dog, opening windows, turning out lights...), we've removed our screen to find an empty fireplace.

This is the fireplace screen the kids made a few years ago.




We were concerned enough to call my dad this time. We stood back as he he opened the screen, and....nothing. We turned on the lights to peer in. Then, we ran like we've never run before. Three little bat like creatures clung to the back of the fireplace and my dad yelled, 'Bats!'. We calmed down, took another look and discovered that our bats were really little baby birds huddled together on the bricks while half of their nest lay broken on the floor.
I spend a sleepless night listening to incessant squawking. I awoke to squawking, which actually made me happy since it was better than the alternative. After a few phone calls to local animal refuge centers I found out that our babies are chimney swifts, a bird that rarely perches and nests inside chimneys. They eat thousands and thousands of insects a day, including gnats and mosquitoes. Because chimney designs are changing, they're losing their nesting places and populations are declining.
I moved our three babies into a 'nest' and returned them to the dark fireplace. Apparently the moments of loud squawking and wing flapping happen when the parents swoop down the chimney to feed the babies. At least that's what we hope is happening.



We discovered a 4th baby in the bunch hours later, and aren't sure if it was always there, or if the parents brought it later.





We're told that we have another two weeks before they can fly up and out the chimney. Stay tuned for more birdie updates.

Hog Heaven Rescue Farm

Hog Heaven Rescue Farm rescues, rehabilitates and places hoofed animals. We drove up and had to wait for a meandering hog to cross the road before we could pull in. Being city folk, we didn't know if these free-roaming hogs could possibly charge. Between that and their website warning to stay in your car if you see their dogs out until they get their dogs under control, Ben spent the whole time there looking over his shoulder. Turns out that the 'hogs' were very friendly pot bellied pigs and the dogs, King and Kong, were two loving Great Pyrenees.

The couple who started the rescue organization are two retired Pittsburgh cops.They brought us in with their Alpacas, which they raise. The Alpacas in this area are the mothers and babies. The little guy below is just a day or two old.

This baby was born just hours before our visit. He staggered around and tried his first attempt at nursing while we were there.

The kids petting Arlo

Looking at the donkeys, mules and miniature donkeys

Sport Takes 1st Place in Bark Park Costume Contest!

Conneaut Lake Bark Park hosted a Canine Carnival on Saturday. Located at the site of Bob's grandfather's old farm, this new addition to Conneaut Lake has been fabulous about hosting events for the community this summer. My mom and I decided to put our creative energy to use and enter our dogs in the costume contest. Sport won first place in the costume contest! That actually means that I feel like I won first place in the contest, as Sport cannot sew and didn't come up with the idea himself.

Sport went as Michael Jackson, "King of Poop". It's hard to see, but he is wearing one white, sequined glove on his left paw. We even played 'Beat It' as he walked the stage.

Getting into his costume with part of our cheering section.

Pip, as a lifeguard, on the left, with Sport and some of the competition.

Not to be left out, Pip won 'Smallest Puppy' and 'Shortest Tail' in the Puppy contest.

My mom with Pip.

Sport's first place prize.

Sport thoroughly enjoying his well-earned bone from his prize stash.

Making the costume.

Snails Pace Acres

We love visiting Mike (Bob's mother's cousin) and Curly at their home - Snails Pace Acres. Even though their farm is only a mile from our cottage, it seems like a different world. The kids ride horses, find kittens hidden in the barn or catch frogs in the pond.

Curly showing off his new horse Diamond, purchased last spring at a horse auction. Even though they've had up to 22 horses at a time, Mike's always been the one buying the horses. This was the first horse that Curly has purchased.

Bad llama in llama jail. Mike and Curly agreed to take on a llama boarder last spring, only to find out that the llama was aggressive. They discovered this when they heard Oliver's (their llama's) screams and found this llama atop Oliver with chunks of Oliver's hair in his mouth.

Kate and Ben in the barn with Bertha.

Oliver with his pal Speedy. The two are never separated. When the kids were little they rode Speedy.

Oliver - Mike and Curly's good llama.

Wild Animals

I've seen plenty of wildlife - some cute and cuddly, others not so cute.

I've seen more bunnies this year than any other year.

The kids found this huge mama spider on the side of our house. In case she wasn't bad enough, that sack was full of her active, running-around babies.

A groundhog. Hey, we are in Pennsylvania.

Lizard

A fish at the Spillway

Farm Animals

Here are some various farm animals we've seen over the past few weeks.

Llama at Mike's

This guy had me so puzzled. I noticed a few of these in someone's yard one day while I was driving down a dirt country road. I wasn't sure what I saw - turkery? duck? chicken? Maybe a turducken? I went back a few days later and spoke with the owners. They described them as 'flightless, waterless ducks'.

A miniature donkey and miniature pony

Goat standing on the 2nd floor of a barn

Nanny and Papa's New Puppy Needs a Name!

My parents have a new puppy. He's a teeny, tiny 'Chorkie' (chihuahua/yorkie), weighing in at 1.4 pounds. He's darling and sweet. Only problem is that they can't decide on a name. Their name list originally included Andy (for Andover where he came from) and Eddie (for a local hot dog stand). They are now calling him Scooter sometimes and Pip (as in Pip Squeak) other times, with 'Lil Bit thrown in now and then. They need your input, so please send your favorite of these names or add a new one to the list.

Being blown dry after a bath

My mom holding her puppy

On Kate's shoulder