Anxious to save two injured wayward whales, a team of marine rescuers on Thursday played recorded humpback songs, hoping to lure the stranded mammals from the Sacramento River back to the sea.
The humpbacks, believed to be an adult female and her calf, were first spotted in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta on Sunday and have since meandered almost 90 miles upriver from their natural habitat in the Pacific Ocean along Northern California.

This has been on the news quite a bit lately but last I heard, the whales have still not been returned to the sea.

Dog nurses abandoned baby tigers

An amazing story came across the news wires yesterday: In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a dog feeds tiger triplets and her own puppy, right, at the Paomaling Zoo in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, Wednesday, May 16, 2007. The tiger triplets were rejected by their mother shortly after their birth. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Lu Chuanquan). Wonder what kind of music inspired this kind of altruism??

Music brings an unusual animal to visit

At the moment I'm on vacation in Sarasota, FL. Earlier today I was just home from the beach and was sitting at a friend's computer reading some email. I was softly humming to myself when suddenly my friend called me quietly to tip-toe over to the window. When I did, there was the most beautiful, snowy-white egret standing on the porch just looking around. Here is his picture. We were concerned at first that we would accidentally scare him away but then we started moving around and he just stood there looking at us. Did the music draw him in? He never made a sound but he sure seemed to be listening to something. What do you think?

Avian Rap: How do birds learn to sing?

Our country has hundreds of varieties of birds, maybe thousands. Does each bird have his own unique song? Does each variety have its own song? No to the first one, yes to the second. But how to they learn their own song?

Here is some interesting info I found online tonight about that question:

SOME birds are just born knowing how to sing the special songs and calls of their own species. In fact, ducklings actually make cheeping noises a few days before they hatch!!
Birds like chickens, turkeys, and pigeons - even when prevented from hearing the calls of their own species - nevertheless develop perfectly normal calls as they grow up.
OTHER birds, such as Canaries and Song Sparrows and those birds we know as "Songbirds", either do not learn to sing their own song or do so only poorly if they are raised where they are not able to hear the singing of their own species.
Baby birds that are raised by "foster" parents may learn to sing the foster parents' song instead of their own.
For instance, Bullfinches raised by a canary grew up to sing a canary-like song.
Baby birds may be more influenced by their own father's song than by the song of other birds even of their own kind.
The offspring of one of the Bullfinches raised by a Canary learned their father's canary-song even though there were other Bullfinches around singing "normally"!
Young birds "practice" until they get it right!
Baby birds while still in the nest make warbling noises known as "sub-song". Only baby birds that learn their song by hearing do this. Song Sparrows begin this warbling at about 13 days of age. Over the next winter, this warbling stops but resumes again the next spring. Finally, by the time the bird is old enough to look for a mate, it will have its song perfected!
By the way, does THIS remind you of anyone YOU know --
Baby birds get their parents to feed them by making "begging calls" - the louder they beg, the harder the parents work in order to satisfy them!
The information on this page came from : (1) Watching Birds, an Introduction to Ornithology by Roger F. Pasquier

A new blog from my friend Melissa

My friend Melissa Scott has created a new blog dedicated to all animals but especially hers. Melissa is the proud owner of 17 cats, 1 dog, and 1 bunny! How she has the time to care for them is unknown to me but I know that she gives her all to them. She and her Mom also make animal beds that they sell online, at craft fairs and to friends and family in the Louisville, KY area. They also mail them out of town and our of the country if need be.

Please consider going to her blog and ordering one of these adorable beds for your pet. They come in three sizes and different patterns and are reasonably priced. The picture is shows one of the pet beds. Get one today and make your pet happy and comfortable!

Does Your Pet Enjoy the Holidays

I was surprised to find out that you can now get St. Paddy's Day costumes for your pet! Although this picture is obviously not a real dog, I did see some dogs in my neighborhood dressed up in a similar fashion. I know that this is for the benefit of the pet owner and not the pet but I do think there are animals that probably enjoy the Irish music we celebrate and enjoy on St. Paddy's Day...especially an Irish Setter! What do you think?? Please enjoy my healing music special offer

http://www.healingmusicenterprises.com/listmailings/StPatricksDay.htm

Animals Sighted in Las Vegas

You probably know that I visited Las Vegas this weekend and was very unimpressed with the healing music available. I also was not thrilled with the few animals I saw there. The lions at the MGM hotel were so lethargic looking that I wondered if they had been given something to keep them calm. Understandable. If lived just a few feet from a packed casino with slot machines dinging and blinging I'd want to be tranquilized probably, but with some soothing music.

Just thought you might like to see my favorite animal pictures from Las Vegas. Enjoy!