There was a recently-discovered documentary film from the 1930s featuring footage of the last heath hen - you might find it interesting if it's not already on your radar!
Thanks, Robert. This is amazing timing, as I just requested that file from Bowdoin and I am looking to incorporate it into my projects somehow. The more I read about Heath Hens, the more fascinated I am. It looks like there were limits on hunting them going back to the 1790s, which seems incredibly early to me, especially for how things turned out for their population.
I am so so glad you shared this. I just got done telling my mom if I won the lottery, I'd open a huge aviary to help birds in this situation or worse get back on their feet and released. My mom was shocked and said "I thought you'd open dog kennels". Not saying birds are more important than dogs...no animals are more important than another. Birds are way way more overlooked. Ppl are also uneducated to what goes on with them. Ppl know the horror stories about puppy mills for example. But when they buy that bird...or I heard a very unsettling thing the other day...some lady that lives 10min from my mom gets her pets from "Pet Auctions"& has everything from a snunk to parakeets. It made me look up right away if in Pennsylvania can ppl have skunks as pets. Unfortunately they can. I wanted to get her house raided for the obvious reasons. Birds need our help more than ever. Even the birds of prey are not safe. I know I'm not telling anyone reading this probably anything. But lots of ppl look at them as being invisible. They have hunters going after them too. Trophy hunters and so on. My mom actually adopted a white Pigeon from animal friends. He was found being attacked by a group of cats. No ID but definitely domestic. Good thing she got him knowing she was helping him and not the other way around, bc he has PTSD something terrible. He is slowly starting to come around and she had him for a couple yrs now. I'm sure the cats didn't help, but whatever he had happen BEFORE the cat incident, was not good. I'm so glad you were there to free those birds. God bless you 🙏.
This is really disturbing. So thankful you went back to release those poor birds. They must have gotten pretty battered in those cages. It's obvious to most people that trapping birds is illegal, but do you think the preserve needs to put up a sign? Ugh.
There certainly could be more education about taking things from the preserve--everything from edible plants to firewood to flowers. It's all protected.
What is WRONG with people? Thanks for freeing those poor critters.
There was a recently-discovered documentary film from the 1930s featuring footage of the last heath hen - you might find it interesting if it's not already on your radar!
https://www.bowdoin.edu/news/2018/10/the-heath-hen-and-other-early-ornithological-films-of-alfred-otto-gross.html#:~:text=The%20Heath%20Hen%20(14%3A03,bird%20on%20April%201%2C%201931.
Thanks, Robert. This is amazing timing, as I just requested that file from Bowdoin and I am looking to incorporate it into my projects somehow. The more I read about Heath Hens, the more fascinated I am. It looks like there were limits on hunting them going back to the 1790s, which seems incredibly early to me, especially for how things turned out for their population.
I am so so glad you shared this. I just got done telling my mom if I won the lottery, I'd open a huge aviary to help birds in this situation or worse get back on their feet and released. My mom was shocked and said "I thought you'd open dog kennels". Not saying birds are more important than dogs...no animals are more important than another. Birds are way way more overlooked. Ppl are also uneducated to what goes on with them. Ppl know the horror stories about puppy mills for example. But when they buy that bird...or I heard a very unsettling thing the other day...some lady that lives 10min from my mom gets her pets from "Pet Auctions"& has everything from a snunk to parakeets. It made me look up right away if in Pennsylvania can ppl have skunks as pets. Unfortunately they can. I wanted to get her house raided for the obvious reasons. Birds need our help more than ever. Even the birds of prey are not safe. I know I'm not telling anyone reading this probably anything. But lots of ppl look at them as being invisible. They have hunters going after them too. Trophy hunters and so on. My mom actually adopted a white Pigeon from animal friends. He was found being attacked by a group of cats. No ID but definitely domestic. Good thing she got him knowing she was helping him and not the other way around, bc he has PTSD something terrible. He is slowly starting to come around and she had him for a couple yrs now. I'm sure the cats didn't help, but whatever he had happen BEFORE the cat incident, was not good. I'm so glad you were there to free those birds. God bless you 🙏.
There needs to be quite a bit of regulation of these types of operations in my opinion!
This is really disturbing. So thankful you went back to release those poor birds. They must have gotten pretty battered in those cages. It's obvious to most people that trapping birds is illegal, but do you think the preserve needs to put up a sign? Ugh.
There certainly could be more education about taking things from the preserve--everything from edible plants to firewood to flowers. It's all protected.