Baby it is hot out there..
Sent 7 birds to CRC today. 6 red shoulder hawks and a screech owl. We have a barred owl and 2 red shoulder hawks I did not send down for health reasons. Each day I get a call about a baby animal. Normally the birds are out of the nest by now, but this odd winter has messed up the birds timetable. Instead of February thru May, the baby season started in late March, and is still going.
The calls coming to the refuge average 4-7 a day. of those calls only about 2 a day are actually for us. We are averaging $800 per month in gas to go on rescues (since January) We are definitely busy.
What is harder than a late baby season is a bad insect season. Mosquitoes, gnats, ticks ground bees. All of them are bad this year since it did not get cold enough to kill off the bulk of them. It needs to be below 20 degrees F for at least 2 weeks for it to be a regular summer. We had less than 5 days that cold, and they were not consecutive.
So, as we rebuild things (as we do each yea,) we are dealing with a very rough season of insects. Everything takes longer since we have to stop and clean up no only bird stuff, but insect damage. All the while we have to dodge ground bees, and make sure nothing out there will affect the birds. Anyone want to help? just think, a beekeepers outfit in 95 degree weather.. fun.
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