2011 spring.pub - Chihuahuan Desert Wildlife Rescue

Board of Officers
President: Susie Jensen
Vice Pres.: Marcia Fulton
Secretary: Inga Groff
Treasurer: Mary Anderson
Board of Directors
Diane Fox
Dr. William Snyder
William Wolff
Vacant
Vacant
Newsletter Editor
Susie Jensen
The Purpose of CDWR
Wildlife rehabilitation is the
care of injured or orphaned
wildlife for return, where possible,
to the wild. Successful
rehabilitation takes a lot of
time, a lot of effort and no
small amount of money.
It is challenging work, done
by special people. Chihuahuan
Desert Wildlife Rescue
is a nonprofit organization
which exists to help the rehabilitators
in the El Paso/Las
Cruces area. Our purposes are
to:
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* CDWR *
El Paso / Las Cruces
provide a volunteer network
to assist active rehabilitators
in their work
support wildlife rehabilitation
programs financially
provide education and instruction
in wildlife rehabilitation
educate the public about
wildlife conservation
problems
work for the reduction of
pressures on native wildlife
from domestic animals
and humans
Spring Love
About four or five weeks ago I was awakened to the lovely courting song of
the male Curved-bill Thrasher sitting on top of my 8 foot fence behind my 8 foot tall
cholla. This is the third or fourth year for this same bird. I know it is the same
thrasher as he has an injured left wing which he drags as he runs across the yard. He
is able to use it a bit and
can fly/leap or is it leap/
fly and is quite adept at
getting up into tree
branches, on my roof,
along the stone wall or
perching on one of his
favorite spots in and on
top of the cholla.
After a number of
weeks of singing with
only doves, cowbirds,
grackles and sparrows
showing up, along comes
a possible mate. I guess
it was love at first sight
because they were spending a lot of time in the cholla.
The nests from previous years have since blown away but now there is great
construction underway. Both birds are running back and forth carrying beaks full of
building material. Some of the pieces are 12 inches long. I have a hard time imagining
how this thrasher carrying a twig horizontally as long as he is can maneuver it up
through the thorny branches of the cholla, but he does. The female usually brings
smaller pieces and both arrange and rearrange.
I have gotten close enough to see that a lovely nest is being created, but I
don't want to get too close to disturb them. I love sitting on my patio watching the
goings on from a distance of about 10 feet. Neither Nero, my lab, or Shadow, my
malamute, pay any attention to them and they don't seem to be distressed by their
presence.
I do hope that they are able to produce some little ones. In the meantime I
just watch. And in watching I was surprised to see a pair of pyrrhuloxia, but they
prefer brush to nest in, so they were just passing through.
- Nancy Bain, Northeast
In Memory of
Alan Phelps
You Will Be Greatly Missed
Godspeed, our Friend
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C D W R * El Paso / Las Cruces