An Educational Partnership That Soars

To raise a golden eagle, according to Gus Ben David, you need a way of life and time. But even he didn’t know how much time he would give to Chameli, his 40-year-old longtime educational partner.

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Are You My Momma? Barn Owlets Get a Second Chance

Each spring, Gus Ben David makes sure he has a large group of hens in various stage of motherhood. He’s not doing this because he loves chicken eggs and baby chicks, though. He’s maintaining a roster of foster moms.

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Cold-Stunned Kemp's Ridley Finds New Life
Aaron Wilson

A juvenile, cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is on the road to recovery Friday after washing up on the Chappaquiddick side of Norton Point Beach Thursday morning.

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New Species of Brown Snake Discovered on Island
Aaron Wilson

Wildlife specialist Gus Ben David has been looking for Dekay’s Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi) on the Vineyard since he was a boy.

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Is There a Mouse in the House? Not on Island
Aaron Wilson

An unusual story of extinction on Martha’s Vineyard revolves around a humble mouse. To be exact, the house mouse.

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Great Horned Owl Joins Gus Ben David's Flock
Holly Pretsky

Island naturalist Gus Ben David stopped by the Gazette Wednesday morning with a strigine guest in tow: a five-and-a-half-week-old great horned owl.

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Gus Ben David Takes Great Horned Owl Under His Wing
Sara Brown

Mr. Ben David paid a visit to the Gazette Tuesday with his newest charge, a three-week-old great horned owlet that fell out of a nest near the Blue Hills reservation in Quincy.

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A Gentle Man With a Wild Soul, Gus Ben David Is Island's Dr. Dolittle
Mollie Doyle

Gus Ben David considers his yard. There is a pond with two trumpeter swans, two mute swans, a flock of geese and two call ducks. Then there are the giant water tanks containing large snapping turtles.

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Gus Ben David, Osprey Daddy
Mark Alan Lovewell

Three baby osprey chicks are being hand raised by Gus Ben David in Edgartown following an accident aloft over Chappaquiddick last Thursday. The birds, which are about two weeks old, fell from their nest when the electrical pole that held them and their nest caught fire. Suddenly homeless, the three little birds were rescued by NStar crews and turned over to Mr. Ben David, a noted naturalist and owner of the World of Reptiles and Bird Park off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.

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