Puffins take a boat home to Lundy after storms blow youngsters to RSPB in Somerset

By Western Daily Press | Posted: April 04, 2014

A group of young puffins blown in during the winter storms are now homeward bound thanks to the RSPCA.

The three juvenile puffins, who were among an influx of 40 seabirds rescued by the RSPCA during the heavy February storms, took a boat journey across to Lundy Island following two months rehabilitation at RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre.

The birds made the 22-mile trip across the Bristol Channel before being transferred on to a small boat and transported further away from the main ferry and being released on to the sea in Gannet’s Bay.

The young puffins are currently in moult, which means their flight feathers are not fully formed, and a usual clifftop release was replaced with a release on to water.

Wildlife supervisor at RSPCA West Hatch Paul Oaten said: “The puffins were young and exhausted when they came in to us a couple of months ago but they have made wonderful progress. They have been fed a diet of sprats and are now all ready to make their way back to Lundy Island.

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Homeward bound: Bird reunites with master after five years

This is a tale of love. 

Er, excuse me. This is a tale of Love Love. 

That’s the name of a scarlet macaw bird named Spike — nicknamed Love Love — who was separated half a decade ago from his master. 

How Mike Taylor of Great Falls got his bird back was thanks to work by a dedicated bird sanctuary, helpful friends and relatives and a sprinkling of good luck and coincidence. 

Plus, it helped that Love Love hates women. 

Sunday afternoon, Taylor was reunited with Love Love in Butte at Montana’s Parrot & Exotic Bird Sanctuary. 

During the last five years, Love Love might have been put up for adoption but for the fact that he attacks women who try to hold her, said Lori McAlexander, executive director of the sanctuary. 

“I don’t even handle him because he will bite me,” McAlexander said. Still, she had a pretty good relationship with Love Love, even if she kept her distance from him for safety’s sake. 

“He plays peekaboo,” she said. 

Love Love might have spent the rest of his life — macaws can live up to half a century, according to the San Diego Zoo — pining for Taylor. 

But let’s go back to where this all started — more than five years ago, when Taylor and his then-fiancee decided to rescue a scarlet macaw from a Utah shelter. 

“We adopted the bird together out of Salt Lake City,” Taylor said in an interview. It was something of a wedding present from his future wife to Taylor. 

Continued: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130421/NEWS01/304210032/Homeward-bound-Bird-reunites-master-after-five-years?nclick_check=1

Pelicans blown north by Sandy get ride home to Florida

Two brown pelicans blown to Rhode Island by the winds of Hurricane Sandy were flying back Saturday to their natural habitat in Florida -- via a private plane.

The first of the large birds, whose wingspans measure 6 to 7 feet, was found on the side of a road at Fishermen's Memorial State Park on Nov. 7, nine days after the storm made landfall in New Jersey, said Jennifer Brooks, clinic director at the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island.

The bird, a juvenile likely from a nest in North Carolina, had been tagged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and records showed it was presumed to have died, she said.

The second pelican landed on a fishing boat about 120 miles south of Block Island the following day, she said. The crew of the boat, which provides fish to SeaWorld theme parks, fed the bird for several days before docking.

"They were a little bit thin, they were a little beat up from the storm," Brooks said of the birds. They had lost tail feathers and suffered scratches to their throat pouches, which are prone to frostbite in northern climates, Brooks said.

Animal workers had been keeping the birds in an outdoor shelter before moving them into a camping tent inside the clinic.


Continued: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/17/15241573-pelicans-blown-north-by-sandy-get-ride-home-to-florida?lite