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Fins to Feather

by Scarlet Colley - October, 2000

Thank you to all of you who responded to our last article helping our migratory birds on the island and in the valley. So many of you called to say that you put out hummingbird feeders for the rubythroated hummers needing our help and also water and seed or fruit for the other birds that came through. The four days of rain and icy cold days we had a few weeks ago brought badly needed water to our valley and will benefit alot of our wintering birds, but many migratories were lost during that time. Hundreds of barn swallows were seen huddled together in family groups of 30 to 50 individuals trying to keep warm but they perished from lack of flying insects in the constant rain and the freezing temperatures. Many other little birds flying south during that norther ran into windows and we had many calls of injured and dying warblers, cuckoos, and so many more species. It was heartbreaking to see so many suffering and dying.

In Port Isabel, the junior high came to the rally of our little birds by lowering the shutters in front of their cafeteria. They had birds flying south through the field and the windows only reflected the field around them so they would fly right into them and dye instantly or be knock unconscious and freeze to death. The children at the school rescued many of them with kindness and concern and we were able to release many of them back after the bad weather passed, A special thank you to the junior high students of port Isabel and the vice principal John Coe who immediately dropped the shutters upon learning that the birds needed help. Also there were many residents on the island who also lowered their shutters during this flight of birds across the island. A special thank you too to all those who called us with rescued birds that hit their office windows. Also another thank you to all those who put your cats up during this time. Many cats were seen on the prowl killing these helpless birds just for fun. That is what cats do so when you see a fall out of migratory birds you can help them by keeping your cats indoors until these beautiful little feathered friends are able to recoup and fly on to Mexico. Every year on the Island and in the valley more and more individuals including children are understanding the plight our birds have as they pass thru to Mexico in the fall and back to America in the spring. They fly thousands of miles and just like our winter Texans need the comforts of home away from home so do our little birds. Back when there were no cats in their paths and no windows or loss of habitat the strongest survived the journey each year but now it is different and like ILA made a difference in saving our sea turtles on the island we can make a difference with each bird that we save on their flight south or back north.

Now for the latest on our dolphins. Sadly we lost a mother dolphin and a young dolphin possibly her baby.The baby we found fresh enough and we were able to get him on our boat near the jetties soon after he died. He was taken to the Gladys porter zoo for a necropsy and the results were death by pneumonia. Unfortunately the mother had died days before and she was too decomposed to take in and find the cause of death. It was so sad to have that baby of about a year old on the deck of our boat lying there lifeless. We are still trying to match his dorsal fin to our videos to see who he was for the mother was beyond recognition. Oh and we have to take back the fact that we thought Cookie never would bow ride with only half a tail ... she has been bowriding the past week with the shrimp boats!!! In five years of knowing her this is the first time we have seen her doing this. Our dolphins have been incredible as always and have taken up to bow riding with us now that we have our new Honda. Our dolphins ride on our bow like they do on the bigger boats. We had to put our cameras up so they wouldn't get sprayed on as four our dolphins ran with us delighting that we can finally go a little faster. I only wish we could put a video up every day for all to see how incredible our dolphins of south padre are . . . they are true companions of happiness. You can read all about our different dolphins and their families on our web site at www.fin2feather.com or email us at Skimmer@fin2feather.com

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