REGI Birds Write Their Views of the Cold and Rainy June

(Photo: Fonzie, REGI's Educational Great-Horned Owl is tired of looking like this.)

Hey folks, this blog entry will be written by us, the birds here at REGI. The staff and interns are all too crabby to write today. Yesterday kind of put us all over the top. We are all TIRED OF COLD WEATHER! Steve Fisher, our educator supreme, came in this morning saying that this past week had broken temperatures records back to 1909! We could have done quite well without that bit of information.

This is me, Fonzie writing this section. My picture is just above. I am a Great-horned Owl. The rain drenched feathers and my ear tufts laid flat on my ample head is not my best look. It makes my eyes look big. To be fair my eyes are pretty big, but normally my feathers and
facial disk fluffs out nicely. I look handsome most of the time and not bug-eyed.

It isn't the cold weather that bothers me, Great-horned Owls do great in cold weather. In fact, I spend the winters outdoors in my mew. Winter is kind of cool actually, no pun intended. The white of the snow emphasises my cryptic coloration. I look stunning in a winter landscape and it is not just me that thinks that.

Cold rain is another story. Rain and especially days and days and nights and nights of it just plain makes me LOOK BAD. I hate looking bad! I am a professional educator here at REGI. I have my self-esteem to protect. People take hundreds of pictures of me everyday. What IF they were here today and got photos of me looking like THIS!
I am SO happy they didn't have any tours today.

I like water as in bathing, but then it isn't all dripping all over my head and my ear tufts. My attitude is going downhill fast. I am going to take a nap and let that bossy Red-tailed Hawk Juliet take over the keyboard.



(Photo: Juliet, REGIs' Red-tailed Hawk is bored with the cold rainy weather and eats to pass the time.)

It is about time that weird owl gets off the computer. He is only a year old and thinks he owns the joint. My photo is off the the right. If you have seen any REGI programs over the past 18 years you have seen me. I am stunningly beautiful. Every person I ever met has said that so it must be true. I am self confident and love to be the center of attention in programs. I think that means I am a great educator.

I am not fond of owls of any kind. You would be amazed at how many humans like them! From my perspective however, they stay up ALL night long! When we travel to programs they always keep us hawks and the falcons awake with their hooting and chortling. My worst night EVER was spend with FIVE owl species in the same motel room. We all had our own boxes, but they are so LOUD! So take it from me, do not travel with owls if you have a choice. But I digress...

The weather has been nasty. I don't let it bother me too much, but the interns were laughing at me today and that was irritating. I am nearly as old as they are! They were not looking any too sharp themselves with dripping rain ponchos and hair that looked like they just got out of the shower. I got some of photos of THEM, and will see if I can get them into this blog entry. Look towards the bottom for their photos.

I have been dealing pretty well. As long as I have a fat rat or gopher in my talons I am pretty content. When I am bored, and I am in this crummy weather, I eat. I eat a lot, as much as I can fit in my crop. I am likely to come out of this week of cold weather and rain a bit portly, but still beautiful.

Wait until you see the next photo of the Golden Eagle, Zephyr. He is pretty cool looking but I think looks worse than any critter on the REGI property in the rain. ( Including the humans.) I didn't have the heart to tell him. He is also much bigger than me so I try to be nice to him. So, here he is and it is NOT an attractive look. He is easy going he didn't want to write to complain. He was snacking on a gopher when I last saw him. He is kind of a "my cup is half full" kind of guy. When you see him next it might be good NOT to tell him what photo I used in the blog. It will be our little secret OK?



(Photo: REGI's Golden Eagle Zephyr in the rain. He is so handsome when he has dry feathers.)

I am going to sign off now, but here are some photos of the staff and interns in the rain. They look happier in the photos than they did in real life the day the photos were taken.

Bye for now and look for me in programs soon.

Fondly Yours,
Juliet, Red-tailed Hawk


( Photo: Katie, Lance and Hunter dig worms in the rain. We need to dig LOTS of worms for the Woodcock in particular.)

( Photo: Katie is drenched and this is BEFORE feeding time. BURR Notice she is still wearing her winter jacket and it is JUNE!)