my tits are blue...

our babies!

We have babies! Sweet little babies! Husband of feitpingvin and I have adopted FOUR African penguins from SANCCOB! Wheeee!

OK, we don't actually have them with us (duh), but by contributing to the care and rehabilitation of penguins and other South African coastal birds, these penguins are "ours" :-) Too bad tourists can't go to see the colonies at Robben Island or Dyer Island. It would have been fun to go over there and look for them!

Here are our flightless feathered sweethearts:



Aurora (R-4791)
Age upon arrival at SANCCOB: juvenile
Date admitted: 9 August 2007
Reason for admission: Oiled
Weight on arrival: 2.38 kg.
Area found: Dyer Island
Date released: 28 Aug 2007
Weight on release: 2.78 kg.
Release site: Robben Island













Pengdora (F401)
Age upon arrival at SANCCOB: Chick
Date admitted: 28 October 2007
Reason for admission: Abandoned (by moulting parents)
Weight on arrival: 1.76 kg.
Area found: Dyer Island
Date released: 29 November 2007
Weight on release: 2.78 kg.
Release site: Robben Island













Wolfgang (A12572)
Age upon arrival at SANCCOB: Blue
Date admitted: 3 November 2007
Reason for admission: Abandoned (by moulting parents)
Weight on arrival: 1.86 kg.
Area found: Dyer Island
Date released: 5 December 2007
Weight on release: 2.5 kg.
Release site: Dyer Island














Pingu (F427)
Age upon arrival at SANCCOB: Chick
Date admitted: 28 October 2007
Reason for admission: Abandoned (by moulting parents)
Weight on arrival: 2.36 kg.
Area found: Dyer Island
Date released: 29 November 2007
Weight on release: 3.04 kg.
Release site: Robben Island

today's good deed...

Husband of feitpingvin and I had just finished a workout at the gym. When we were going to cross a rather busy road to get home, we saw a young gull - one of this year's chicks - on the other side. Something wasn't right about it; it was holding its left wing in an awkward position, and it wasn't flying away when people walked by it. When we crossed the road and approached to take a closer look, it was quite apparent that it had an injured wing. By then, several people had come to take a closer look, and the poor thing freaked out and ran out into the busy street. As it didn't have the "green man," it nearly got hit by the cars driving by. Luckily, the drivers were paying attention and avoided the gull...

We had to do something, and I ran out and picked up the gull (for a good-sized bird it was very light!) and decided to take it home with me. Well, not inside the shoebox, but outside in our back yard area, where it would be a lot safer than on a busy road. (And damn, it bit me! Hard! Several times! Until I managed to hold its beak shut while carrying it carefully to the safe haven.) While husband of feitpingvin kept an eye on it, I first called fuglehjelpen and asked what I should do. I was given another number to call, and I waited for around an hour and a half for the guys to come and pick up the injured gull...

I suppose I could have waited in my warm, cozy apartment while waiting for the guys to come. But there were kids outside, and I didn't want the kids to find and pester the bird. There were also a bunch of magpies that would try mobbing the poor gull from time to time. And I just wanted to make sure it was OK in general; I could see that it was frightened and not doing so well. It stood under a picnic table most of the time, its injured wing shaking...

When the guys finally showed up, they approached the gull, who flapped its wings and tried to fly away, but couldn't get the required liftoff. One of the guys caught the gull by approaching it from behind and grabbing it by the neck; the expression on the poor thing was of shock. I wish I had a photo of that moment. It was priceless! The gull was packed up in a cardboard box, and it was taken away to a veterinary central...

It didn't seem to be a very serious injury, so the little thing should (hopefully) be out and about in the near future :-)

a cute little Yule robin

Here's a lovely little wintery robin. However, the journalist has it all wrong, as journalists often do when writing about anything science or nature. (Yep, this is a big pet peeve of mine.) The robin is not albino. If it were albino, it would be completely white with red eyes. The worse part is that the journalist writes that the bird's condition is caused by hypomelanism, but doesn't seem to know that hypomelanism is not the same thing as albinism...

the next best thing to penguins...

Puffins!

midweek report, rants, raves...

• I can't stop eating pepperkaker and clementines...
  
  
• Martti Ahtisaari of Finland received the Nobel Peace Prize 12:49 in Oslo today. Congratulations!
  
  
• Last night was the last formal Krav Maga training until next year. Grading is tomorrow, but not for us. We have to wait at least a year until we are allowed to go for G1. This is a good thing, because I'm nowhere near ready for G1 grading now...
  
  
• High to very high intensity training is quite nasty when you have a cold. I was hoping last night's training would be relatively "easy" because of the upcoming grading. I was wrong...
  
  
• Aside from the pepperkaker and clementines feeding frenzy, I've been quite indifferent to food and drink since getting food poisoning about three weeks ago. Nothing really tastes good anymore, for some odd reason. It seems like the only reason I bother to eat at all is because I need the kcal for training, and pepperkaker and clementines aren't really optimal for that...
  
  
• So unlike Oprah Winfrey, who is now well over 90 kg if you follow the tabloid press, I have managed to keep my weight stable. What's up with that woman anyway? Always a drama. And always excuses... "I hate exercise," "I have a thyroid problem," "I'm so stressed," blah blah. With expensive (and apparently useless) personal trainers and chefs at that. Is it really so difficult for her to admit that she simply loves good food, and thereafter live the lazy gourmand lifestyle she wants to live, and tell everyone who doesn't like it to piss off?
  
  
• I really need to find some winter tops and sweaters, but it seems to be impossible to find anything I like this season...
  
  
• Not too long ago, I was made aware of a BIRD CAM from Brazil. It is one of the best I have ever seen. I am so addicted to it!
  
  

UPDATE - Ms. Freaky Beaky

NEWS FLASH!!!

Nebbeline(*), otherwise known by her stage name Ms. Freaky Beaky, was spotted early this afternoon at her usual hangout at Aker River. She was seen with a handsome drake with a shiny green head; he seemed to be the jealous type, not letting anyone else go near her! Will he smash the paparazzis' camera lenses with his shiny yellow beak? It's risky business, the duck entertainment world!



We were still able to bring Nebbeline her treat, some hand-selected crickets from the local (gourmet) pet supplies store. She ate them deliciously; no eating disorders in the duck entertainment world! She even fended off some crazed fans (pigeons) who wanted to steal her crickets as a souvenir, ramming them with her pink tongue!



All is well with her it seems. She looks healthy, strong, and in love!


(*) nebb is the Norwegian word for beak, hence Nebbeline ;-)

Ms. Freaky Beaky

Boyfriend of feitpingvin and I discovered this unusual female mallard while baiting the local ducks with bread, in order to take some photos of them.



At first we didn't know whether she had somehow gotten her beak snapped off or whether it was some kind of birth defect. Upon closer inspection, it looks like some kind of birth defect. Her beak is very short and curved up, and her lovely pink tongue sticks out. It was so sad to see...



It seems like she's doing OK though. While she's slightly smaller than the other ducks, she most certainly does not look unfed...



Ms. Freaky Beaky was also a lot tamer than the other mallards. Or perhaps desperate for food due to her strange beak making it more difficult to find food? Anyway, she didn't even hesitate to eat food right out of the palms of our hands, licking them with her funny little pink tongue...

While it was cute and all, we decided it would be best to just throw her the food. She's still a wild bird and it's not really that good of a thing if she's too trusting of humans...

owl in the city

This birdie was in my neighborhood, but I didn't get a chance to see it :-(

Be sure to click the link for photos goodness :)

City owl gets help

A wayward and apparently ailing horned owl has been rescued from city perils in downtown Oslo.

The Agency of Outdoor recreation and Nature management took the owl into care on Wednesday, after days of sightings of the endangered bird in the capital.

"It is a very unusual sight, spotting a horned owl in a city," said Agency nature manager Kjell Isaksen.

Isaksen saw the owl for the first time on Tuesday morning when he saw it being chased by a peregrine falcon over the rooftops of Oslo.

"That was quite a sight," Isaksen said.

The owl first drew attention when it was seen in downtown Grønlandsleiret on Friday, when it landed and stayed in the middle of a street.

"People could go right up to the bird, and that is very unusual since the horned owl is normally shy. This indicated that it was not at all well," Isaksen said.

Later the owl could be seen in downtown Tøyen Park, where it was being pestered by smaller birds.

"The horned owl was sitting in the open, being bullied by crows and magpies without reacting. That is why we wondered if it was sick," Isaksen explained.

On Wednesday the Agency, with much assistance from the fire department, managed to get the owl down from window sill in a narrow downtown apartment courtyard. The bird made no attempt to escape and allowed people to climb up next to it and toss a net over it.

"That's no way for a healthy horned owl to behave," Isaksen said.

The owl will now be fed and receive veterinary care before being released in its natural habitat, not the capital's cold concrete streets.