Saving the world one bird at a time

My father made himself a trap to catch squirrels and racoon ravanging our garden. I hate the idea but what can you do? Sometimes, however, birds get captured. That's what happened last Sunday. It was raining and I noticed through the small caged window (the trap is made of wood with a steel door) that a bird was frantically trying to get out. Who knows how long the bird wa sin there so I went outside to get it out. Poor thing had the door slam on it's tail feathers when he (or she?) went inside.

I felt good that I helped a creature to freedom. Two days later, at the train station where I, well, take the train to go to work, I noticed that a goose made a nest directly in front of the station house (where they sell the tickets). I always love to see wildlife in it's domain but this was just not the right spot to raise children. Right next to a huge parking lot and a very, very busy road where lots and lots of very, very aggressive (read: stupid and always-in-a-hurry) drivers think only of themselves zoom here and there. Plus, with the warm weather, kids use the empty lot after business hours to go skateboarding or play with their remote controlled cars. You know how some teenagers just love to be sh!t disturbers... Not all, it just takes one to take a creature's life for kicks.

So, I decided to call an animal rescue team to see if there's anything they can do about this. Maybe put up a fence or something. I was afraid the train station would just sho the bird and her eggs away because the city paid for those bulbs. But I couldn't find wildlife resuce in the yellow pages or online. I decided to call up the Kortright Conservation Area (they are very close to the GO Train station where Mother Goose made her nest) since I know they do that even though they didn't list it on their site. I figured, why not? Since it was after business hours when I called, I left a message. Couldn't hurt. I was also going to send an email to the OSCPA, Humane Society, Greenpeace and even WWF.

To my dismay, nothing was done when I went back the next day. Nor the following morning. However, tonight, yes, there's yellow caution tape around the area where the goose is. I don't know if it's because of my phone call or maybe the GO staff was concerned. If it's the latter, then hurray for the GO train!

In any case, I was happy. Humans can help animals after all. but I couldn't help but worry about the fact that the goose was nowhere to be seen. But you could see the eggs. 5 or 6 of them. And they are large. No specks on them like I thought they'd have. I'm sure she went looking for food but I wonder if she was scared off by the nice people who put the tape around her nest. I hope not. Then those eggs would never hatch. I'll see tomorrow morning if she had returned.

Boy, I'm such a doomsdayer! But I do feel good that I did something. How nice for after-Earth Day! I should take a photo so I can post it here.

Back on topic of the blog: my drawings-- I've been working on a painting for my future niece or nephew who is due to arrive on this Earth at the end of August. It's made in pastel and it's done. Almost. All I need to do is spray it with a fixative (I think that's what it's called) and add some outlines (it's a cartoony drawing after all) with conte crayon. I used a smooth board to draw with oil pastels. For some reason, this used to be ok. Now, suddenly, it doesn't work. It's like oil pastels don't go well with smooth canvas. Whodathunkit? :) Oh well, it's the last time I'll do that I guess. Now I'll work on pastel paper (well, obviosuly) as I like the texture oil pastels create. I'll post a scan once the baby's born. Hm... come to think of it... I should make the painting in black and white since that's what babies can see when they're born. If only I had thought of this earlier! :)

I'm also working on a comic for June's issue of YYZ Lifestyle. It will be about the World Cup and I've decided to make the subject matter about the fandom here in Toronto during that time. You know, how all the bottled up racisim shows up base don which country lost. Your country and nationality sucks big time because your national team lost. Oh brother. It would help if they actually watched soccer all the time in between the 4 years.

Anyhoo, this post has gone on long enough and the longer I'm on the computer, the less I'm weightlifting and/or drawing.

Can you believe I went from rescuing birds to painting to wannabe World Cup soccer fans in one post? Get used to it :)