Life Surrounded by Mountains in Central Chile
The petition: https://www.change.org/p/proteccion-para-la-avefauna-de-los-postes-electricos-de-chilquinta-protect-raptors-from-deadly-electricity-posts
Yes, that is the owl when it is alive. I have tons of dead raptor photos, but they are depressing. I am thinking of putting live animal photos and saving the dead ones maybe for the updates.
The owner of the electric company is Sempra Energy, SRE trades in the NY Stock Exchange, and they are doing very well. They can afford to stop killing birds in South America.
Amazing creatures. I saw saw-whet owlets in the wild once and it was one of my best birding experiences. Tiny little fluffs of ferocity. Hope more people sign for you.
CompassRose said:
Signed. Is that a Saw Whet Owl in the second picture?
These are birds that are active at night. A few months ago I went on a tour after dark to see them in action, but it was hard. The trees are very tall, and we saw them fly from one tree branch to the next, but not more than that. You saw them at night? during the day?
I got a call from Chilquinta as well as the developer of the Reserve, and we have a meeting tomorrow in Santiago. Hope it goes well.
Hi @Copihue, I just saw this. Not sure which is the best link for the petition, can you post it as well on the Uncaged Bird thread? Once I get the right link on there I will also post on my other thread Animal Rights Animal Wrongs or you can post it. I think the bird lovers would love to know any details. I've been painting owls for years. They have been my favorite bird since childhood. Happy to sign and share on my FB page. In the meanwhile I'll post it without explanation on the thread.
CompassRose said:
Amazing creatures. I saw saw-whet owlets in the wild once and it was one of my best birding experiences. Tiny little fluffs of ferocity. Hope more people sign for you.
CompassRose said:
Signed. Is that a Saw Whet Owl in the second picture?
CompassRose, that owlet is called a Chuncho, glaucidium nana is his scientific name; the saw whet owl is an aegolius acadicus, so no, they aren't the same. I love the chuncho, and I never get tired of looking at their pictures. I would love to see one live. Here is another picture of one:
Saw them closest during the day, in a nest, owlets sleeping to half asleep. We used a small ladder as the nest was not as high as one might think it would be. We also stayed very quiet and were careful not to disturb them.
Thanks for the info. The Chuncho! I had forgotten!
Copihue said:
These are birds that are active at night. A few months ago I went on a tour after dark to see them in action, but it was hard. The trees are very tall, and we saw them fly from one tree branch to the next, but not more than that. You saw them at night? during the day?
CompassRose said:
Saw them closest during the day, in a nest, owlets sleeping to half asleep. We used a small ladder as the nest was not as high as one might think it would be. We also stayed very quiet and were careful not to disturb them.
Thanks for the info. The Chuncho! I had forgotten!
Copihue said:
These are birds that are active at night. A few months ago I went on a tour after dark to see them in action, but it was hard. The trees are very tall, and we saw them fly from one tree branch to the next, but not more than that. You saw them at night? during the day?
During my meeting I learned the obvious (duh!) that chunchos are in the Reserve but they are unaffected by the wires, because their wing span is not large enough to touch both wires as they try to fly off the poles. Three bird species fall under that categories, but I didn't get all the others' names: I was happy that my favorites were safe 
Do you know of organizations of bird lovers that I could ask to sign my petition? libraries in Chile are not good, and my Maplewood Library card expired.
What you mention about the Chunchos makes sense to me since they are so much smaller in size. I wish I knew of some organizations to share with you but I haven't participated in anything local since moving here, and the only one near me is an avian rescue for exotic birds rather than raptors. Perhaps others on the birding threads could offer some ideas.
Copihue said:
During my meeting I learned the obvious (duh!) that chunchos are in the Reserve but they are unaffected by the wires, because their wing span is not large enough to touch both wires as they try to fly off the poles. Three bird species fall under that categories, but I didn't get all the others' names: I was happy that my favorites were safe
Do you know of organizations of bird lovers that I could ask to sign my petition? libraries in Chile are not good, and my Maplewood Library card expired.
It doesn't have to be in Jersey; we need signatures from across the country. I will ask that they modify thousands of utility poles, and I need a whole lot of support early next week.
I was driving today during the earthquake, so I never felt it. I am sort of sorry that I missed it, because I understand that the valley that I live in roars when it does. I am probably going to get to hear it in the future, and then I will wonder whatever made me want to hear it. No damage. Pups are fine.
Copihue said:
I know how to complain.
Yes you do! And we sure could use you back here! Good work on the birds. Speaking of raptors, I just posted this live bird cam with eaglets!
Copihue said:
I know how to complain.
WOW! Just checking into MOL and saw that your blog was updated. Success!
Yeap. Yesterday and today I spent about five or six hours looking through all the posts, and they are ALL covered, and we have had no dead raptor reports though I have been pushing everyone to report before closing the petition. It is a success, and I am feeling very happy.
In the process of doing this, I received many messages from people throughout Chile who report of the same problem, and they wanted to know how we got the company to respond. It was not cheap to do that job; they couldn't stop the electric power in some parts of the reserve to do the job, and they needed very sophisticated equipment to work on live cables. So I am telling everyone, including some Argentinians with the problem in the Patagonia, to report the info to a cite on the internet.
Anyway today I was checking our data before I upload it to the cite, and I found a bird resting on a post that had killed two raptors in a period of four months. The post was protected, and the bird flew away annoyed that I was recording data from his post! Here he is:
And to add to all the excitement, Friday night a neighbor -- Mario-- reported on our WhatsApp thread a chunchito (adorable bird at the top of this page) who had crashed into his windows. I asked if I could see him, and he agreed. He said that his pup had found him. Mario had him in a shoe box inside his house, and when he opened the box to grab him, he didn't have his heavy leather gloves on. The claws of a chuncho are nasty even when they are tiny raptors, so the chuncho took advantage of Mario who didn't have him securely in his hands, and the chuncho flew away and into another window the first chance he had to get away! This time the chuncho really looked bad. So I got him into a bigger box lined with a nice blanket and I took him to another neighbor who is a vet (man in blue in the photo) and willing to look him over.
Juan Pablo said that he was not in good shape; he said that animals have different levels of consciousness when they are ready to die, and he was in a moderately early stage of consciousness loss. He injected him with an anti inflamatory, and then we placed him in a dark, quiet room. We then went to drink some wine and barbeque some ribs. At 1 am yesterday morning the cuncho's eyes were open once again. In the morning he was alert, and since he showed no other signs of problems, we released him in the same place where we found him.
Now I can say I had the opportunity to pet a chuncho on his beautiful little head with my finger two times, and to baby talk to a chuncho to my heart's content.
Congrats on your success in getting the poles covered Copihue, and to your friends on saving the Chuncho as well. I love all the close-up pics!
It's been over two years since I moved to Chile, and I am settling in to my new home. It is remote, and I feel sheltered in many ways. There is no crime in the Reserve, not now. This is unusual in Chile and very nice. The Reserve is in a ravine, and there is only one exit maned and womaned by one person 24 hrs/day. They thoroughly screen everyone who comes in, so there is no crime. We are a mayor employer in the area, so contractors put up with it. But my neighbor is the worst neighbor that I have had in my entire life. She has small children, and the toys for her kids are next to my house. She is afraid that there could be an accident, and she has lodged a complaint against my dogs. She has 6,000 sq meters, move the #@#%&* toys away from my dogs! There are severe restrictions about fencing, and I was having difficulty getting an invisible fence, the only importer didn't return my calls, but I finally learned how to import directly through Amazon, and the fence will be installed next week.
People in the Reserve are very divided, and they attack one another. Apparently this began a few years back when a Frenchman tried to solve the water problems. Now the same division persists, but the issue is dogs. There is a group that wants them out, and they make a huge issue over the smallest infraction. You know that if anyone messes with my dogs, they are going to hear from me. I am organizing the dog owners, and encouraging everyone to follow the rules which are reasonable -- no loose dogs. We are trying to get everyone to register the dogs, to make sure that the vaccinations are up-to-date, that everyone is aware of the rules which include restrictions on the type of fencing allowed, and also to try to get a dog park. This is going to be a long haul. Is anyone aware of articles/studies that address the benefits of dog parks? No need for it to be in Spanish.
While there are many Europeans in the Reserve, there is only one other family that is Chilean American. While all Chileans love American tourists, not everyone likes Americans, and of course there's an even smaller number who likes me. There is a wave of Chileans returning to this country after they left during the Pinochet years. That's not my family. My dad used to be a pilot in the Chilean Air Force, and I was born in an Air Force base within this province, and my name could not possibly be any more common in Chile, but I am very Americanized. I am as comfortable in Chilean society as I am in American society. I lived 51 years in the States. They ask me: "Is that YOUR name?" "No, I found it and I liked it, so I kept it." Then there is this response: "That's YOUR name!" Some Chileans like these returnees, and others don't. So I would characterize the response people have to be as this: They are curious about what happened to me. Of course in America you have more opportunities, so we learned a bunch of things that they wanted to, but in most cases, never had the opportunity to learn. Hence, getting a job here is out of the question.
When I was young and I used to come to Chile, the language in which I think and dream would change in about two weeks of time. No more. It's been two years, and I still speak to my dogs in English. My fluency is Spanish is not advancing at a pace that I set for myself. I stumble with language, run out of vocabulary words when I try to explain myself, but then I also do that in English although not as often. I recently learned that all of my mother's siblings have Alzheimer's, and I wonder how much of this memory problem is related to age and how much it might be related to an early case of Alzheimer's. But I will keep trying to improve my Spanish, all research says that is the thing to do to keep the brain in good shape even if you have the nasty Alzheimer's gene. I am moving my diet in the direction of vegan, and the air could not possibly be any cleaner. It should help to eliminate toxins from my body. I am having a hell of a time learning new vocabulary.
So I am not infatuated with the appearance of Chile anymore, though I still love looking at my environment every day. It is part of my life, as it once was. I am now more involved in Chilean society, in small doses. As my guests always say about the Reserve: "it's so peaceful here; this is not really like living in Chile." No, it's a whole lot better. It's Chile at a distance. Chile can be a very frustrating place; more on this later.
Copihue you are brave (regarding the flight). I would have probably either totally drug my dogs, or end up driving for days and months. Either way I'm guilty of some kind of over-reaching. Happy trails, and happy tails to you and your loves!
Thank you, Shanabana.
The problem with my neighbor has been resolved. I imported and installed the invisible fence on my property, and my neighbor was made to move the children's toys away from my property as the Reserve's rules require; she also planted all sorts of trees and shrubs which gives us the privacy we need and also looks great.
I have a new dog, Jeremy, who I picked up from the streets a few months ago. I did that because he looked sick to me, and he was in an abandoned area of a highway where no one could help him survive. I took him to the vet, and he had had distemper. He survived it with no medical help. He was very skinny, because he was full of worms, but he is normal weight now and very healthy and happy in the Reserve.
Jeremy has central nervous system damage from the distemper, his body bounces, but it causes him no pain or problems of any kind. That is simply who he is now. He grew since I adopted him, and he is very handsome now. He is the same size as Jake and Rachel, but he is thin with very long and delicate legs and big floppy ears which he uses to fly through the hills when we go for walks. He is beautiful to watch. His energy is amazing.
Rachel finally got the playmate she always wanted. They play fight 24 X 7. At first I was alarmed, it looks nasty, but I have never seen any wounds of any sort, and I check. They are simply playing. Rachel wins that game every time, and he starts the game every time.
Jake has problems with all his legs, so he seldom wants to go for walks with us. But he has me with him all the time, and I believe that he is very comfortable and contented. So we are fine.
I notice that when I do speak English with anyone these days, I feel self conscious. I am aware that in my environment everyone communicates in a different language, and though my internal dialogue is in English, speaking it out loud makes me slightly uncomfortable.
Some pics of the dogs.
Some of the birds ho we are trying to protect, the eagle is under threat of extinction: