The Hawks are back!

Hi everyone it has been a while since I last posted anything in this blog. But everything is well and fine. I am right now in SoCal which is very much different that Sandstone, MN. It has a face of its own, that we can say about SoCal. It is a very expensive place to lived btw and all forms of recreation has a tag unlike Minnesota where you can just grab your bike and bag of food and clothing and of you can go to an adventure. Here you can only go that far and still end up in a city. It is like a maze of cities not that i have not grown in a city.

Every day i would see a raptor or two circling over head and wondering what could have been if i was able to stay forever at the Audubon Center. For sure it will be neat to be able to work with those people there, the kids and our animals. But the world and ourselves aren't stagnant things. We keep on moving and moving like a riverflow. We won't stop until the end.

I can remember everything from Minnesota as if it was just yesterday that i was there and just fairly new to the place as well. LOL, my very first walk over the frozen Grindstone Lake which could have been a disaster since i weren't wearing any boots yet that day. The first falcon I have seen in my life courtesy of Poppy and Isis. And the flock of wild turkeys by the office. It was a whole new world to me and my world revolved there for more than a year and that I am very much thankful for. I hope I can do that again.

But as I was saying life isn't fixed it keeps on rolling like a film. We get to go to different places and I did. The second time around. Now, I am way far from where I started and is on the other side of the world from home. It is a new adventure and whether I like it or not, I am not sure yet. There are many pros and cons. At the moment all I can do is play it and make sure I have a good plan. But whatever happens the hawks will still be flying.

One more months before the great bird migration in Hawk Ridge, Duluth. Let us support their cause.

Til my next blog. Take care everyone.

The old ways and the good old rides

The City of Makati, one of my favorite cities. Busy as it may be there is some silence in it as well.

Alarm will go off at 5am. Had to get up, take a shower, brush my teeth and go for a quick breakfast of bread and anything cold to wake me up. Should be off to work at around 6 am otherwise I will be very late.

Crowded as this small transport might be but something that had been very useful to me and to many people.

Will ride a tricycle to the jeepney terminal where i will take and thirty minutes to an hour long journey to the city of Alabang. Thirty minutes, nothing much to see outside the vehicle for most of the sceneries had been engraved to my eyes and even with my eyes closed, with just the movement of the jeep, i can tell where I am so i close my eyes and go for a nap. My destination is where most passengers will do as well get off the jeep and so I will have my cue to wake up.

The infamous Philippine Jeepney, serving hundred of thousands of commuters everyday.

Will get off from the jeep, sometimes ahead of the end terminal especially during mondays where most buses that I needed to take will be full. I will get off on a stop cross the street, walk a bit further into a gas station and wait for my ride. Sometimes there will be loads of people in the bus trying to get to work as fast as they can and so it is full like a can of sardines and sometimes it is empty. Up to this point I got two options and sometimes both things happen. If I would be able to have a seat I can take another round of nap time or if I am standing I'll just pick my mp3 player and put my earphones on and listen to songs.

It is yet another hour til I get to the MRT (Metro Rail Train) station which is like three floors up in the junction above the highway, where I will be taking the train sort of. It is much faster than the bus which also passes by my work place. At this point I should be able to have a train card with enough credits on it so I can just skip the line of people getting them and head for the train.

A view from the MRT Shaw Boulevard Station, with SM Megamall on the background.

Five minutes waiting, sometimes ten when I miss the first train. With my headphones on i can drown out the noise from the busy street below. Perhaps it is the reason why I usually have them on even now.

Waiting sometimes takes longer when the first station further down the highway has so many passengers getting on the train and hopefully it won't be full as the bus I had just taken. I'll then be on the train enjoying the scenery of the city of Makati and Pasig. From the Magallanes terminal the train will stop at Ayala, then Buendia and next one will be Guadalupe just before the Pasig river and then Bonifacio Avenue and the next stop will be mine; Shaw Boulevard station. Almost all MRT stations are up above the highway apart from the Ayala which is underground and Buendia and Bonifacio Avenue which is level to the ground.

Upon getting off the train, it will be a long walk and long climb down the stairs, which is by the way faster than the elevator and less crowded, I hate crowded places. On my fast walking I will take a look of the awesome SM Megamall, one of my favorite shopping mall which is situated from a distance and where I spend most of my Friday evenings trying not to get stucked in the traffic.

I'll get off the station and headed to another mall called Starmall where I will take my last ride to reach work. Destination at this point is Summit One Building. Where several companies also have their offices stationed.

Will have to fall in line for the elevator and race for it to the 24th floor where our office is.

This has been my life and every evening I took the same way back home, it's almost a two and half hour travel and for several months this has been my routine. God knows how much I miss the cities and the accessibilty to everything without relying much to anyone. Where you can just jump into any bus and just head off to nowhere in particular.

Life is like a journey, we just get on the ride and enjoy the ride wherever it will take us. Other people like us will get on the same ride and we will be able to know them as we cruise together but at some point they will have to get off and headed on their own destinations, places to make them happy and places where they can smile and cry and just be who they are. This is indeed a mysterious ride you will never know what will be the next stop. For in this life, it is the ride of our lives. . .
Thanks for reading!

Line for the day:
Me carrying a two and half feet cut trunk of a scotch pine on my back walking the Fox road with Manu who is carrying our saw.
"We are like in a zombie movie! Look, no cars and no one! With just our weapons; Saws!"

Tigers on my hand and remembering the owls

Driving through the memory lane of summer, I can't help but be glad that i was here at ACNW for that very summer. loads of fun; making the corvid enclosures, "firing" the water up in the sky after saying yes to a question "Do you want to do something cooler?", piling rocks on the wheelbarrow and tipping it over the Japanese style, weeding and digging, putting boards together and laughing after stripping a dozen or so screws or putting a finger on the nose who's going to do wood cutting (I always lost), going for a walk down the lane to the gates fuming, driving to town and Finlayson for tiny minnows and ropes for perches. Those are the memories, and several others, that will be stuck in my head.

Found a painted turtle crossing the road on one of our trips for minnows. With Renee.

I will always miss those days and always remember The Owl.

It's January, winter is at it's height? Come on it's on its height already right? PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) Think Positive : Spring is on our doorsteps. I got another bird to care for today, a great horned owl named Cleo. Once thought to be a girl with his enormous size and grumpy attitude apparently this folk is a dude with his deep voice and he is just a "big" boy, you see. They are very much known for their size and ear tufts and like all the other owls by their incredible sense of hearing and sight. He is a grey faced GHOW and eyes with yellow irises and clicks his beak a lot. Owls have feathered talons that aids in stealth hunting and silent flight so as not to break their own focus while on a hunt. His left wing was broken and he can't fly that well, I could not be sure of that for i havent seen him free loafted. He was tethered when I came in last January.

He is a bit grumpy as I've said yet he is very wise, don't get me wrong with this. They aren't any close to our brain capabilities, but seeing him figuring out how long his tether will allow him is just fascinating. I have been sitting on the cold floor of our raptor hallway just to watch him eat. He is easily distracted because of his immensely good hearing and so every sound or shuffling he hears he will turn his head in that direction. Myth Busting: Owls cannot turn their heads around in full circle. They still do have bones there, 14 bones to be exact, twice as much as our necks do. This is due to the fact that owls can't roll their eyes in their sockets like us, how do you think they would show their disagreement or disgust?

Cleo in his "most" calm pose, well actually he is close to clicking his beaks.

A good picture of a GHOW from the internet. Note the big eyes and "ear" tufts, like us their eyes are behind their eyes. The tufts are just feathers for camouflage and facial expressions.

Answer: Hissing and Clacking and Hooting ho-ho-hoo hoo hoo! This is a great horned one's call.

I am very much looking forward in observing more of his behaviours although I would never deny that those talons of his could do a great deal of injury if I am not careful. Nevertheless, no pain, no gain. I had been bitten multiple times by my other bird Dakota, a red tailed hawk. She is a real beauty and got her own personality of being of royalty. She wouldn't just let you touch her feet. She hates being touched. Red tails are the bigger of the hawk family, belonging to the buteos, accipiters are the other group. The are soarers of the sky with broad wings and bigger body they needed the thermals to keep them up high. Hunting is an awesome experience too, they would go for different types of animals like snakes, rodents, bats and many others. Eyes are covered by a visor like bones called supraorbital bones that keep the sun's glare off their eyes. Red tails take about 5 years to get their red tails and molt into their adult plumage.

Me with Dakota on my glove, giving a small talk on red tails with the Brazilians.

Unlike Cleo and the owls, hawks are diurnal birds. They are very much active during the day and hunt in broad daylight or twilight for some sor bats. They also have tubular eyes that can adjust they pupils at will to zoom in or zoom out a view. And unlike owls their sight is of greater height than their hearing. Talons are their greatest weapon and you don't want your hand anywhere near them when you have food, they will ask for it.

So now, I am very glad to have the "tigers of the sky" in my wild-life. This will be an experience of a lifetime and hopefully the last five months of my stay here at our center will be very productive for them and me.

If you are so much as interested in meeting these birds as well as our 7 other birds visit www.audubon-center.org We would be very glad to have your support in any way! Let us help our wildlife.

Line for the day:
(Thinking) Shoot, what would i do? I am stuck here inside with the door close behind me two or so feet from a hungry owl with food in his talon. . .
(Cleo staring at me) I'm trying to eat here, you know.
He allowed me to watch him eat, and perhaps I could take advantage of that next time and watch him from inside his mew and no longer with the door between us.

Thanks to Jeff for entrusting me with Cleo and Dakota and to the owl lady Renee whom Cleo sends his respect and longing. I shall take good care of him so don't worry. We miss you much.

Over and Out.

The girl and her cow

(sketch by me with charcoal pencil)

To the girl and her cow,

" Thank you for your Christmas letter that you've given to me. It made me feel at home back in the Philippines. It was warm and fun although literally there is like a foot of snow outside. Also I admire your unending kindness to the children your age by helping them finish their schooling even though they are so far away. You are a heaven's gift to everyone. "

Truly the purest of souls can be found among children, they have not yet forgotten how to listen and think not only for themselves but for others as well. They learn and enjoy things on their own way and discover, or perhaps, unravel the mysteries of life in such a young age.

When we were young we wanted to grow older, and when we are already old and adults we miss being a young kid again who can enjoy life without the complexities of the human society. Life is indeed full of contraction but then which doesn't have something that contradicts it?

Line for the day:
" Brrrrrrr... so cold (run back to the barn)... Ow, I didn't know that there is a tap to get him down, dang it."

Still Waiting in Time

Trust You
Yuna Ito
(follow link for the song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCxotNSHX6c

hana ha kaze ni yureodoru youni
ame ha daichi wo uroosu youni
kono sekai ha yorisoiai ikiteru noni
naze hito ha kizutsukeau no
naze wakare ha otozureru no

Flowers dance in the wind,
rain moistens the Earth…
If everyone in this world want to live together,
why do they hurt each other?
Why do they separate?

kimi ga tooku ni ittemo mada
itsumo kono kokoro mannaka
ano yasahii egao de umetsukusareta mama
dakishimeta kimi no KAKERA ni
itami kanjitemo mada tsunagaru kara
shiniteru yo mata aeru to
I’m waiting for your love

No matter how far you go, you’ll still
be in my heart.
With that tender smile, I get buried and
held in a fragment of you…
Even if you feel pain…we’re tied together,
I believe we’ll meet one again.
I’m waiting for your love.

I love you, I trust you
kimi no kodoku wo wakete hoshii
I love you, I trust you
hikari demo yami demo futari dakara shinjiaeru no
hanasanaide

I love you, I trust you
I hope you’ll share your loneliness with me.
I love you, I trust you
be it in light or darkness, because we trust each other,
so don’t let go.

sekai no hate wo dare ga mita no
tabi no owari wo dare ga tsugeru no
ima ha kotae ga mienakute nagai yoru demo
shinjita michi wo susunde hoshii
sono saki ni hikari ga matsu kara

Who has seen the world’s end?
Who informed us of the Journey’s End?
I can’t see the answer now, but even in long nights,
I hope you’ll continue on the path you believe in
because a light is waiting for you.

kimi ga oshietekureta uta ha
ima mo kono kokoro no mannaka
ano yasashii koe to tomoni hiibiteiru
afureru kimochi no shizuku ga
atatakaku hoho tsutau
tsuyoku naru ne shinjiteru yo tsunagatteru to
I’m always by your side

The song you’ve taught me
still lies within my heart.
Together with you, that tender voice resounds in my heart.
The fragment of my overflowing emotions
streak down my warm cheeks.
I’ve become strong right? I believe, we’re tied together.
I’m always by your side.

I love you, I trust you
kimi no tame ni nagasu namida ga
I love you, I trust you
ai wo oshietekureta donna ni kimi ga michi ni mayottemo
soba ni iru yo

I love you, I trust you
for you, I shed these tears.
I love you, I trust you
you taught me what love is. Even if you get lost on your way,
I’ll be with you.

Waiting for you love,
always by your side,
you’re the one that I love,
you’re the one that I trust,
you’re the only one.

I love you, I trust you
kimi no kodoku wo wakete hoshii
I love you, I trust you
hikari demo yami demo
I love you, I trust you
kanashimi demo yorokobi demo
I love you, I trust you
kimi no subete wo mamoritai

I love you, I trust you
I hope you’ll share your loneliness with me.
I love you, I trust you
be it in light or darkness.
I love you, I trust you
be it sadness or happiness.
I love you, I trust you
I want to protect your everything.

donna ni kimi ga machi ni mayottemo
soba ni iru yo futari dakara shinjiaeru no
hanasanaide

Even if you get lost on your way,
I’ll be with you because we trust each other…

Don’t let go.

"A very nice and touching song of how caring for someone should really be, despite the distance, pains and mistakes that they will encounter there is still Trust in their hearts. They learn that differences are of no value to what greater things they share in this life and that even though life is though for them they know they can overcome it."

"So don't let go".

It is Christmas once again,for me it is the time not only for the gifts and parties but for remembering the people we love the most and how important they are to our lives. Being very thankful for having them in our lives and sharing our laughters and tears with them is what the spirit of Christmas is like the child born in a manger given to us by His Father for our salvation and a proof of his unending and unconditional love to humanity.

(Spoiler) This next lines would be cheesy, if you don't like cheesy thought please Hit the Back button. NOW!

Like that child in the manger, any people in our lives can be someone to save us, someone to teach us and someone to love us. Twenty four years ago, a girl was born on Christmas day. Born of a nice family, not rich but decent. After 15 years of her birth I met her. And that very day I never thought how she would change my life forever. Everyday will be a different day, every day is a new song to sing in her heart. But then have I given her enough? I guess not. See when you are young and just with the world, you think, revolves around you we see things differently we believe it will never end. But it does. It ended for both of us.

Many people will ask me if I could go back in time and be in a second, or a minute, or perhaps and hour in the past. I will go back in that time that i met her. Tell her over and over again how much i love her and how much she means to me. I don't care if anyone would hear, in fact i don't care if the world would hear me. Truth can never be denied. But that is, if i could. . . Time and life don't work that way. Once it is lost forever, it is lost forever. We can only hope for the future and make most of the present.

Maybe in another world and another life there will be a time where we will bump into each other again and I hope I will be able to remember her and she to me for the world we live in isn't as simple as it looks. For sure, there will be another time in another place but please keep the memories stuck in my head so i can see her in that sea of faces again. For in this world I am in right now, is no longer hers. We can no longer meet one another.

Like a line from a nice song from my favorite band says

Another place, another time we'll meet again and you'll be mine. Do you remember?

Happy Christmas to everyone! (in advance)

Line for the day:

"I trust you"

Of Quills, Scales and Fur

This is Vulpes, our fox snake. When threatened they emit a fox like odor hence their name.

Barn day today. Everything just went fine, finished it quickly due to no more aviary and finches to attend to, but the weather was just a bummer, I couldn't hold the metal handle of the long-handle brush it was so cold. Even the mutes(bird poop technical term)were frozen cold and were like stone with smelly minerals on them. The great horned owl was very grumpy still, hissing and clucking his beak at us but never the less he is so adorable.

During the herp room time, I get the chance to to take out our hog nosed snake. His name was Wilbur and he's quite mellow at the moment, it's because his kind usually go into torpor during winter and they don't really eat much, therefore less energy so they move slower. And also we had a bull snake and a fox snake, namely Arnold and Vulpes aka Foxxie. LOL Today was the first time i ever saw a snake drinking water, I thought that they would be lapping on their water with their forked tongue but then they drink like ungulates sipping their water. Got to handle the two smaller ones, Arnold the bull snake is not much so appealing to me, he's quite a giant.


Arnold, the bull snake drinking. Bull snakes resemble rattle snakes so when there is danger they'd hiss and rub their body into grasses to make a rattling sound while flattening their heads like rattlers.

Later in the afternoon, we did taxidermy. The Kestrel lady and I "taxidermized" (was that even a word?) the hind legs of a porcupine aka porc-u-spines, or the spiny pig. It was fun but prickly, not all of the quills on it (which we use in our Quillwork class) were removed so we worked our way into peeling the skin off like a pair of socks, getting the meat off the bones, stuffing cotton in replacement of the muscles we removed and stitching it up. took us about two hours i guess to finish just those legs.

Me stitching up the cut, a wee bit prickly task I'd say.


Fir and me showing off "our" muscles. No worries, it was safe when the skin is inside out.


A porcupine covered with hair and quills. Of course the one we had was dead probably hit by a car. A power to reckon too, dogs who are very curious of this small and docile animal are usually victimized by their quills and will usually need veterinary attention.

At home, i get to dog sit a black Lab. She is very well trained and behaves well too. Played some fetch and fed her and now she is lying down on her rag next to us while I'm writing this down. Planning to get to watch some Pokemon tonight or something amusing.

Thank God It's Friday!

(I thought it's Thursday today)

Over and out. . .

Line for the day
"Lib, sit." <>

My first blog

I am sitting on a recliner after watching the sixth Harry Potter movie (T-T DD died) when my folks in our house started doing and flicking buttons in their laptops, so i said hey, I'll check my ZOO WORLD in facebook. A friend sent me (upon request) animals to adopt. It was fun, my Zoo was now big and cool. And here goes the next thing, one of them the kestrel lady had influenced me into posting blogs, which i think a good thing to write down daily happenings at the Audubon Center and thoughts that needed to be said. (picture: The Owl Lady and Dakota)

Tonight, is a very happy and sad night, two of us left for home for the holidays and one left the other day as well. But most importantly the night should be slow for it would be Renee's second to the last night here. She would be finishing her internship now. It was supposedly be me who would be leaving, yet it turned the other way around. The owl lady is moving on, the owls will miss her! But I am very happy for her i know for sure we'll meet again and it'd be me jumping in front of her asking "You're Renee right?" this time. Thanks Renowl, from Omhawk.

For now, I'll just be waiting and perhaps go back to watching the Amazing Race, best reality show!

Line for the Day
"Why are we heading to the barn?????"