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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Monday, January 13, 2014:  Sunny, mixed clouds warm, more humid.  I did a walk around the key, looking for signs of roosting birds in the morning, very few droppings were found, some by the entrance to security at the hotel across the street, looks like pigeons, some raptor, like dropping at the base of a tree across from the real estate office.  Security told me that a handful of grackles are roosting in the tree next to the bus stop.  I have not seen nor heard activity from that time.  The hawks were set out to weather and enclosures were cleaned, supplies were organized from the busy weekend.  My truck is getting stubborn to start, so the engine heater was plugged in.  It started this morning and I ran it for 15 minutes to get the batteries (it is a diesel with 2 batteries) charged.  A trickle charger will be brought it to keep the batteries charged.    Very little grackle activity was noted around the pool and beach.  There was an event at the beach, and I put the hawks up earlier than usual.  But, I again went in the evening to the north of the island to assess the grackles there.  WIth the hawks in their enclosure, all I had to do was appear and the grackles saw me with the equipment and left for across the water.  I just waited until the grackles were settled in.  Across the water, I can hear recorded predator and distress calls.  The grackles now see me in my work attire especially the hat and move on.   Studies have been done to show that birds definitely recognize people and threats, even a while later.  I again walked the key that evening after putting the hawks 

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