I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts there are fewer than 10 per cent of readers, of the over 40,000 circulation, to which this paper is delivered free, who could tell me what SOAR is, does, or represents.
Allow me to remind those who do, and educate those who don’t. If you are a bird-watcher, and I know that if you are, and would like to support a worthwhile cause that you continue to enjoy, lend me your ears. Note that I said ears (plural), so that it just doesn’t, as often cited by my mother, “go in one ear and out the other.”
Birds of a feather flock together, so let me introduce Judi Drake. She and I have known each other for more years than either care to admit. She is president and founder of SOAR (Songbirds Only Avian Rehabilitation).
Drake has been rehabilitating rescued songbirds and releasing them to the wild since 1992. SOAR is located beside her home at 145 Inkerman St. in Rockwood. Her focus is on “keeping wildlife wild.” Her phone number is 519-856-4510, her email address is soar@sentex.ca, and her website is soar – southernontario.org. Take a look at her website. There you can learn about her and what is definitely close to her heart. Perhaps I do not need to point out, but I know from having “been there, done that,” operations such as this one can survive only if cost recovery is continually accomplished. It is not a hidden fact that funds and volunteer help are often needed and just as often difficult to find, especially when the economy pinches pocketbooks.
That is why, as a friend of a friend, I make no hesitation in asking for help when funds are needed for a good cause. I’m sure a handful of toonies or a fistful of loonies is not going to break anyone who loves watching birds as a pastime. What cheaper entertainment can you get? Toss an equivalent handful in Drake’s direction; help her rehabilitate and release, many ill-fated songbirds to the wild. Spring will soon be upon us, migratory songbirds will be flocking back to nest and rear their young, and Drake will be busy once again.
This past night as I lingered coming back from the barn, watching the sun sink low in a blue western sky, the same large flock of snowbirds that have been frequently visiting our area swung cloud-like over the field they had visited several days previous. They circled once higher up, then swooping low, at times only inches above snow level. On reaching deep drifts on the lee side of a fenced hedgerow, they dove. Like popcorn popping, little puffs of fluffy snow flew up, and all of the birds had instantly disappeared.
They had plunged deep into the snow to spend the long hours of the bitter cold winter night tucked, head to tail in their own warm, homegrown feather comforters.
Bringing back memories of years long ago, I saw a pair of foxes, in broad daylight, tossing a great number of these pretty little buntings up in the air as they played with them. On looking closer, I found the tracks of two snowmobiles that had churned over a sleeping flock, unknowingly injuring as well as killing a great number of them.
In addition to ruining farmers’ snow-covered crops, that is one of the reasons why snowmobilers are requested to stay on the trails at all times. Many thanks go out to the snowmobile clubs that are policing this.
Take care, ’cause we care.
barrie@barriehopkins.ca
519-986-4105