Black Swan Feathers
I went to Save Our Seabirds today to drop off a donation for an upcoming event, and a couple of gifts for Lee Fox who runs the place and Lynn Zablo who is one of the rescuers. My friend Lorraine went with me to keep me company and help. That’s my friend who had a brain tumor removed only 8 weeks ago. She’s doing great, and we laughed so much on the trip. It was good medicine for us both.
Lee Fox is the sweetest person, and she showed us some really neat specimens. This male black swan lives in a community in Sun City. Unfortunately, this is the third time this swan or his mate has visited SOS for the same bumblefoot issue because the people in the community feed the swans out of the water, where they have to walk on hard surfaces. This time it was just in the beginning stages, so Lee cleaned the foot, applied turmeric and wrapped it up. She thinks it will do the trick, but wishes they would stop feeding the swans out of the water. Swans are heavy, so it doesn’t take a lot of walking on asphalt, sidewalk or whatever to bother their feet.
I’ve never seen a black swan in person, always wanted to, and sometime in the past few months remember commenting on one in a friends photostream. The feathers on their back curl and undulate. They are also very shiny. We thought this male was really big until we saw the resident Mute Swans (the white ones) in the Sanctuary. They are huge! They actually aren’t mute. They make this “farting” sound, a bit like a grunt, as did the black swan. As the sign on the Mute Swans habitat stated, they make several unappealing sounds. LOL
It was great to see Lee, and all the wonderful work they are doing with so many birds. In addition to this Black Swan, we saw mockingbirds, ducks, a yellow crowned night heron, a baby Pelican, a Woodstork, an adult pelican, owls, a woodpecker, blue jays, and parrots, and that was just in the hospital. One Muschovy duck had recently come in with a blow dart right through its head. Lee had a photo of the bird with the dart through its head and the dart hanging in a plastic bag on the photo. The duck was already out in the transitional pen with other ducks recovering from its injury. He looked pretty good, which is kind of a miracle. If you saw the photo the duck seriously looked like Steve Martin on that album cover with the toy arrow through his head.
Please know, it is not my intention to solicit here, just to inform in case you are interested in giving to an awesome rescue organization. Injured birds pour into this place daily. I don’t know how they do it. I am in awe every time I visit and always wish I could do more. If you can’t donate money, and you live in the Sarasota area, they have a wish list online. Here’s the link: www.saveourseabirds.org/Portals/0/SOS Wish List.pdf
After SOS, Lorraine and I stopped at Lowe’s where they had all this stuff out front on clearance. One of the Lowe’s guys was kind of joking about our interest in a five gallon bucket of hand sanitizer. Lorraine said, well who needs that, a school or something? I said, “You know who could use that? SOS!” Even though it isn’t on their wish list, I’m thinking it would be a good thing for them. Not for nothing, it was a $130 bucks and I got it for $15. When I got to the cashier at Lowe’s I said, “I’m a germaphobe.” To which he responded, “A what?” I said, you know, I’m afraid of germs. I plan to roll around in this stuff when I get home. He finally got it, and then I told him, just joking, I’m donating it to a seabird sanctuary.
Really long story long, when you see things like that, think of others. My neighbor noted they need a lot of stuff she sees at garage sales, pet carriers, ceramic pet bowls, tarps and bungee cords, and she is going to keep an eye out for those and other items on the list now. The entire excursion made me happy happy! So I am sharing that happiness and these ideas with you. =o)
Hugs and thanks for viewing! =o)
***All rights to my images are STRICTLY reserved. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing my images or if you are an educator or non-profit interested in use. copyright KathleenJacksonPhotography 2011**
Black Swan Feathers
I went to Save Our Seabirds today to drop off a donation for an upcoming event, and a couple of gifts for Lee Fox who runs the place and Lynn Zablo who is one of the rescuers. My friend Lorraine went with me to keep me company and help. That’s my friend who had a brain tumor removed only 8 weeks ago. She’s doing great, and we laughed so much on the trip. It was good medicine for us both.
Lee Fox is the sweetest person, and she showed us some really neat specimens. This male black swan lives in a community in Sun City. Unfortunately, this is the third time this swan or his mate has visited SOS for the same bumblefoot issue because the people in the community feed the swans out of the water, where they have to walk on hard surfaces. This time it was just in the beginning stages, so Lee cleaned the foot, applied turmeric and wrapped it up. She thinks it will do the trick, but wishes they would stop feeding the swans out of the water. Swans are heavy, so it doesn’t take a lot of walking on asphalt, sidewalk or whatever to bother their feet.
I’ve never seen a black swan in person, always wanted to, and sometime in the past few months remember commenting on one in a friends photostream. The feathers on their back curl and undulate. They are also very shiny. We thought this male was really big until we saw the resident Mute Swans (the white ones) in the Sanctuary. They are huge! They actually aren’t mute. They make this “farting” sound, a bit like a grunt, as did the black swan. As the sign on the Mute Swans habitat stated, they make several unappealing sounds. LOL
It was great to see Lee, and all the wonderful work they are doing with so many birds. In addition to this Black Swan, we saw mockingbirds, ducks, a yellow crowned night heron, a baby Pelican, a Woodstork, an adult pelican, owls, a woodpecker, blue jays, and parrots, and that was just in the hospital. One Muschovy duck had recently come in with a blow dart right through its head. Lee had a photo of the bird with the dart through its head and the dart hanging in a plastic bag on the photo. The duck was already out in the transitional pen with other ducks recovering from its injury. He looked pretty good, which is kind of a miracle. If you saw the photo the duck seriously looked like Steve Martin on that album cover with the toy arrow through his head.
Please know, it is not my intention to solicit here, just to inform in case you are interested in giving to an awesome rescue organization. Injured birds pour into this place daily. I don’t know how they do it. I am in awe every time I visit and always wish I could do more. If you can’t donate money, and you live in the Sarasota area, they have a wish list online. Here’s the link: www.saveourseabirds.org/Portals/0/SOS Wish List.pdf
After SOS, Lorraine and I stopped at Lowe’s where they had all this stuff out front on clearance. One of the Lowe’s guys was kind of joking about our interest in a five gallon bucket of hand sanitizer. Lorraine said, well who needs that, a school or something? I said, “You know who could use that? SOS!” Even though it isn’t on their wish list, I’m thinking it would be a good thing for them. Not for nothing, it was a $130 bucks and I got it for $15. When I got to the cashier at Lowe’s I said, “I’m a germaphobe.” To which he responded, “A what?” I said, you know, I’m afraid of germs. I plan to roll around in this stuff when I get home. He finally got it, and then I told him, just joking, I’m donating it to a seabird sanctuary.
Really long story long, when you see things like that, think of others. My neighbor noted they need a lot of stuff she sees at garage sales, pet carriers, ceramic pet bowls, tarps and bungee cords, and she is going to keep an eye out for those and other items on the list now. The entire excursion made me happy happy! So I am sharing that happiness and these ideas with you. =o)
Hugs and thanks for viewing! =o)
***All rights to my images are STRICTLY reserved. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing my images or if you are an educator or non-profit interested in use. copyright KathleenJacksonPhotography 2011**