so guess who FINALLY got internet at her new house?! that's right - ME!! now in case you're wondering why this is so important... it's because now i can actually get back to blogging and attempt to catch up on the last year i've missed. attempt being the key word, but at least you'll get to see some cool pictures. just to lay the groundwork for what has happened: i left maui in may, came back to az for a week, and then jetted off to maine to work with seabirds for audubon's project puffin on some of the coastal islands out there, and then made it back to az in september and have been the lead wildlife biologist for the research & conservation (r&c) department of liberty wildlife rehabilitation foundation ever since.

now, although i know most of you have been waiting for maine pics for some time, i think i need to wait on that for a little bit. first i will talk about what i've been doing recently. the r&c department works hard to solve human/wildlife conflicts in a positive manner for wildlife as well as for the humans involved. we work closely with aps and srp, two of the major electrical companies in arizona and we have contracts set up with transwestern pipeline that's laying a natural gas pipeline in arizona as well as freeport mcmoran/phelp's dodge which is one of the world's leaders in copper production plus many more construction companies. it is kind of a strange concept, being aligned with companies that tend to be considered harmful (mostly for good reason) to the environment, but how else can we ever make these companies responsible for their actions and be forced to change to more environmentally friendly practices?! although it may cause my bitterness level to rise, i know that my work here is really important to the wildlife this department is working to save and that's what's really important to me.

so with all that, here's one example of what i do... on monday i performed a nest move of a red-tailed hawk nest that was located on an extremely dangerous utility pole configuration. most raptor nests on poles are located off the electrical componenets and are perfectly safe, but sometimes they are located right in the path of high voltage that can and will cause electrocution and even ignite the entire nest on fire. instances of nests burning and killing all of the young as well as the adults are well documented. thankfully, aps and srp have realized that not only is it morally wrong to be electrocuting wildlife, but it is also illegal under federal law. the migratory species act protects all native birds and prohibits anyone from disturbing, harming, killing, owning, etc. any of these birds. in fact, it is even illegal to have a feather or nest of a native bird. i, for one, am extremely thankful to the government for this law as it is the only thing really holding anyone accountable for their actions involving birds and is the only thing keeping many of our native birds from becoming extinct.

so back to the nest move... we initially investigated this nest at the end of march and discovered, after watching the female's behavior, that she was still sitting on eggs. unfortunately, moving a nest of eggs is not often successful due to the fact that the parents often don't feel too invested in the eggs and will often abandon if disturbed and re-nest in a different location. thankfully, srp was willing to wait until the nest hatched to actually move the old nest. so, they turned off the electricity to the nest pole and put up a platform on another pole nearby that will eventually house the moved nest once the babies hatch. despite what many think, birds will not abandon their homes once they're touched by humans and we have had a 99% success rate with them returning to nests with babies that have been moved a short distance from the original nest location. so, we monitored the nest for the past month awaiting signs that the babies had hatched. finally, at the end of april we saw signs of the female tending to young and scheduled the nest move. it went brilliantly! first i removed the three tiny (3 to 8 day old) chicks from the nest and then moved the intact nest to the new location. we then replaced the chicks into the nest and left the area to monitor the parent's reaction from a distance. after a short time the parents came back looking confused. the male even brought food with him. finally, after about an hour and a half, the female finally built up her confidence to jump into the nest with her young and began feeding them! it was an amazing process to be a part of, especially because after seeing the equipment on the original nest pole we realized an electric surge had taken place at some point and knew that without turning off the power to the pole and moving the nest, it certainly would have gone up in flames!