Good to be Back

I'm thrilled to see my novel, SKYWARD, back on the shelves this month after being out of circulation for years.  It has a beautiful new cover-- the third one since its original release.  I think the golden colors are quite eye-catching!  Which is your favorite? 

If you haven't read SKYWARD, click here for an excerpt.  For those who have read it, who's your favorite character?  What's your favorite quote? 

Season for Baby Birds and SKYWARD!

This month sees the re-release of my novel SKYWARD after a long absence with a beautiful new cover.  This is a compelling tale of love and committment set in the lowcountry at a rehabilitation center for birds.  I volunteered at the SC Center for Birds of Prey for years before writing this novel and every bird in the story is one I cared for.

To celebrate the release of SKYWARD I asked a senior volunteer for the SC Center for Birds of Prey, Mary Pringle, to write a guest blog--and you'll love it. The photographs were taken by noted wildlife photographer Barbara Bergwerf.  If you read my blogs or visit my website, you'll recognize these names.  They're my friends on the Island Turtle Team as well.  

Thank you Mary Pringle!

The Season for Baby Birds

Here in the South Carolina Lowcountry and on the Isle of Palms, it is time for baby birds to fledge from their nests. The Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw, SC where I volunteer, is taking care of many orphaned and/or injured hawks, owls, eagles, and other birds of prey right now. Soon it will be time for the Mississippi kite orphans. These are the last group to nest here.

 As an individual, I often get calls from people asking what to do when they find one on the ground. The first questions I ask are:


1. Does it have its feathers yet?
2. Are the parents around?
3. Is it injured?


Many people believe the old wives’ tale that if you touch a baby bird, then its mother will abandon it. This just isn’t true. I think mothers have told their children this for generations just to keep them from bothering baby birds. The only birds with a sense of smell are turkey vultures, kiwis, and shearwaters. Songbirds will continue to feed and care for their young as long as they can find them.


If its feathers are developed, it may just be exploring the world in a stage known as “branching.” This is when a young bird is out of the nest but not necessarily flying yet. This is a very dangerous stage where it can get eaten by a predator or hit by a car. In a case where you find a brancher, try to put it back up into a bush or tree for safety and leave it alone. Chances are it won’t stay in the nest even if you can find where it was. If you see the parent coming to it with food after you did this, then all will be well.


If the young bird’s feathers are not yet grown in, it does not belong out in the world yet, and you need to try to find the nest and return it there. If the nest has blown down or been destroyed, you can nail a basket or box with nesting material in it in the tree where the nest was. The little bird should cry for food, causing the parents to continue to feed and care for it.


Finally, if it is injured, it needs to be taken to a licensed rehabilitator in your area. You can call local veterinarians or wildlife agencies to get the location or phone number of a rehabilitator who is authorized to take care of it. This can also be done if there is no chance of returning it to its parents. But orphaned birds usually do not survive, so the best thing to do is to let them be wild and let their parents do their job.

            Baby Ospreys

Baby Screech Owl

Baby Loggerhead Shrikes

Baby Owl

Photographs by Barbara Bergwerf

HOW CAN I HELP WITH THE OIL SPILL

The daily headlines about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continue to wrench at my heart and twist my stomach. One of the latest Associated Press headlines I read stated “Oil spill swells to 4M gallons.”

Headlines like that have led me to ask myself, “What can I do?”

I found my answer just a few days ago in the form of an email from a friend who volunteers at the Center for Birds of Prey, located in a small Charleston, SC town called Awendaw. The non-profit organization is made up of dozens of trained and volunteer staff members who treat nearly 400 injured birds of prey a year and then return them to the wild.

Mary Pringle’s email asked folks to “please pick up a large blue bottle of plain Dawn dish detergent, the plain blue kind (not antibacterial or any other type or brand), so that we can start stockpiling this in case we need it.”

The center’s executive director, Jim Elliott, recently told a reporter for Charleston’s Post and Courier newspaper that the U.S. Coast Guard had contacted him with a message for the center to be on stand by. The Birds of Prey Center may soon be hand-washing and caring for oil-covered birds. And according to Mary, “the bird cleaning process takes days and is physically demanding with hours of backbreaking work.”

If a two-dollar bottle of Dawn dish soap can help them with this massive mission, I am thrilled to make a contribution.  I might even donate a box full of the blue stuff.

Are you interested in helping? If you live in the Charleston area like I do, I encourage you visit the Center for Birds of Prey on Seewee Road, not only to drop off your bottle of Dawn, but to also see for yourself the amazing work that is done there on a daily basis. For those of you who live afar, I have no doubt that if you mailed a bottle of soap, or better yet, a monetary donation, your charitable contribution would be gratefully appreciated by the staff and volunteers.

News of the oil spill won’t be disappearing from the headlines anytime soon. It’s an environmental disaster of epic proportions. While its true impact on the ocean life, wetlands and our lives won’t be known for some time, I take some comfort in knowing that every drop of Dawn will help save the lives of some of our feathered friends desperately in need of our help.

You can learn more about the Center for Birds of Prey by visiting their website or by reading my novel Skyward.

SEASON OF "ORPHANS"

Guest Blogger:  Mary Pringle, volunteer at the Center for Birds of Prey Medical Clinic

If you've read Mary Alice's novel Skyward, then you're familiar with what happens at our medical clinic and of all the interesting and beautiful birds of prey that we are privileged to treat and sometimes release. Mary Alice and I have released birds together, even Great Horned Owls as well as my personal favorite, the ospreys who are now beginning to nest in our neighborhood here on the Isle of Palms, SC.

This is the season for bird "orphans." Among the first to be seen are Great Horned Owls who nest during the last part of the winter. In early spring their young are starting to leave the nests and explore the tree branches around them. Very often they land on the ground but are not injured. What to do if you find one? If it is old enough to have its feathers, the best thing is to try to get the little owl back up into the tree where it belongs even if you can't get it into the nest. It's best to wear heavy work gloves because even at a young age their talons are very sharp. By taking it to a vet or bird rehabber, you may be ruining its chances of being raised by and trained to hunt by its own parents. Most often the parents will continue to feed and care for it in an alternate spot nearby. However, if it is injured, it should be taken to a medical facility for treatment. This applies to other kinds of birds as well. Sometimes they too can be put back into the nest or into the tree where the nest is. The myth about the parents abandoning it because someone has touched it is definitely not true.

Here in South Carolina we are fortunate to have The Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw where injured raptors can be taken to the first-rate medical clinic for treatment and release. If you live elsewhere, you can usually call a veterinary facility to find out if there is such a facility nearby. The Center for Birds of Prey begins to see these very young birds in March.

Recently two Great Horned Owl chick siblings were admitted to our center from the Lexington, SC area. One has a broken leg which has been set and is healing and the other a fractured pelvis - which has already healed. Great care is taken to avoid having them imprint on humans during their care so that they can be released into the wild.

Happy spring to all.