News From The Mews

  "Is there something on my nose?" Digger the hognose snake had evidence of her most recent romp in the aspen bedding!

Red-tailed Hawks are built for Wisconsin winters. Many migrate south to find food, but with a steady food source, large hawks can handle the cold. On really cold days, though, I like to bring Carson inside to unthaw for a few moments with her lunch. This week I set her in her crate and offered half of a rat. I intended to take a photo of her enjoying her meal, but she had swallowed it before I managed to get my camera up! She tucked a foot and I let her rest for a few more minutes until going back outside.

  Aldo the American Kestrel has particularly striking markings. I love the black speckles on his lower belly. But his boldest markings are the malar stripes, the black streaks below his eyes. This is characteristic of falcons (and cheetahs) to reduce glare when chasing prey on sunny days. 

Is it strange that I was excited to break out a brand new spray bottle? I pulled it out of storage to replace the old, now broken, spray bottle that contained our daily disinfectant. This new bottle was larger, so I had to figure out how to mix the proper concentration of disinfectant that would be effective at killing dangerous pathogens like avian influenza.  I didn't learn much in my high school chemistry class that remained relevant in my adult life. But in situations like this, I am always thankful that Mrs. S taught us an easy way to calculate conversions.  I grabbed a piece of scratch paper and drew a long horizontal line. I added 16 oz of water, the capacity of the new spray bottle, at one end. The Rescue disinfectant label told me I needed to mix a concentration of 1 part Rescue with 64 parts water, so I added that to the line. The water units cancel each other out and I am left with how much Rescue I will need to add to the new spray bottle: 16 ÷ 64 = 0.25 oz Rescue....