Cinnamon disapproves of wisdom tooth removal, she says that greatly impairs chewing ability.
I don't know who these crazy people are who say they had their wisdom teeth taken out and were out and about two days later, I am on my butt, and my rabbit looks more frightening than usual up close. I called my oral surgeon and asked if my swelling, pain and fever were still normal after three days. He asked how much Vicodin I had been taking and I told him only one or two a day and he gently reminded me that he prescribed lots of Vicodin for a reason. So, I started taking the recommended dosage and now whoo hooooo do I feel better...although I still have chipmunk cheeks. He also prescribed and antibiotic for infection since I was still having a fever and I don't feel safe operating heavy machinery or even binoculars at the moment.
I got a report from Amber that the rescheduled owl tour was a HUGE success. She said Denny Martin (who filled in for me) helped locate 51 great gray owls, 4 northern hawk owls and 1 barred owl--all south of Duluth and Sax Zim Bog. They birded the areas of Pine County and Carlton County. I was bummed I couldn't go, but I'm grateful that most of the people who signed up for the original trip went today and got to see the owls as promised.
My cabin fever was out of control so non-birding Bill kindly took me for a drive (actually with all my whining I'm shocked he didn't pull over and leave me in a deserted field in Dakota County). We looked for the great gray owl that has been reported at the Eagan post office but were unable to locate it. We took a drive down to Black Dog Lake and we did find some bald eagles hanging out.
There were quite a few bald eagles off of 494 near the airport. With all the great gray owl excitement I haven't done much scouting for the Take Your Sweetheart to See Eagles Tour coming up around Valentine's Day so I need to get to work on that in the next week or so.
I have been taking the time to read the back issues of Birding that Bill got me for Christmas and I was so excited to discover one issue had this fascinating article I had read a few years ago that linked the extinction of the passenger pigeon to the rise in Lyme Disease in the United States. I also took the time to read a few other books. One is a new owl book called Owls of the World by Dr. James R. Duncan--wonderful book full of incredible photos. There are all kinds of interesting stories compiled by researchers like an account of a young screech owl found dead in the nest box. The cause of death was attributed to a red-breasted nuthatch that it was trying to eat. As the young owl bit down, the nuthatch's bill punctured the top of the owl's mouth and impaled the brain. Don't worry, it's not all gore and is fun reading. If you know someone into birds and you're at a loss of a gift for them, I highly recommend this book. It has enough photos that if you know a kid eight years old and above, I think they would enjoy it too.
The other book I've been reading was one I found a few months ago called Extinct Birds by Errol Fuller. Maybe it's the pain killers affecting my opinion on this, but as I'm reading the accounts of extinct birds I can't help but feel that the author is trying to slap the wrists of the human race for allowing all of these birds to disappear. Of course, this could be the nature of writing a book about birds that are no longer in existence, you can't help but get caught up in the main reasons creatures go extinct is because of humans. At the same time I'm tired of listening to the blame and I just want to move on and work with the birds we have left. The book is a handy reference tool, but I don't think I would recommed it as a gift for a birder, it's a downer.