When we moved here in August we were told there were ospreys in the neighborhood. But although I diligently kept an eye out for them, I had no luck until today when I saw one circling a stand of trees near the bayou when I was on my way home from my run. It was anticlimactic in a way because it’s just another bird of prey. I’ve been closer to hawks and eagles in the mountains, where if you stand on a ledge they’ll fly so close you can see their eyes. Today’s osprey just flew overhead. But maybe this is a good sign and I’ll have better sightings in the future.
I’ve also identified my mystery bird from the bayou. There are two types of birds I see hanging out on the banks of the bayou— egrets and some black birds that look sort of like loons. Obviously the only way a loon is getting to the Texas Gulf Coast is via a zoo program. It took some clicking, but I finally waded through a lot of useless web sites to discover that my black birds are neotropic cormorants. One site even mentioned how they like to sit with their wings spread out to dry them, a behavior that when I first saw it made me wonder if something was wrong.
So there. I’ve now identified all the new-to-me birds that I’ve thus far encountered at my new home. What I find especially odd is that I only moved five miles, yet there really are noticeable differences in the wildlife. You wouldn’t think five miles, especially inner city miles, would make such a difference, but there you are.
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6 comments:
Wow, you know a lot more about birds than I do.
Although yesterday, we had two wild turkeys walking down the middle of the road right in front of our house. (The birds, not the booze). Which wouldn't be that weird except we live on a major road not far from UC Berkeley. Have no idea what they were doing walking down our street.
What a strange place to find wild turkeys! Dan and I were almost attacked by one once, but we were climbing what the locals quite earnestly described as a "mountain" in Connecticut. It was a very appropriate place to encounter wildlife, especially of the territorial kind.
And sadly, I'm not particularly knowledgeable about birds. Just persistent with google.
Birds! How exciting that you are seeing so many new birds. Just the thought makes me hungry... oops, I mean, excited! Yeah, excited! *big smile*
Purrs and snuggles from Marilyn.
Good for you for finding out about the birds. It's interesting to find out about the world around us.
Those nasty birds are also known at 'water turkeys', they can clean out a catfish or koi pond of fingerlings in a day. They do look retarded when they are 'airing' theirselves out, maybe we should all try it, but I would rather have a vulture as a pet, if you want ugly you might as well go all out...
I laughed at the loon/zoo comment. A few years ago a pink flamingo found its way here for a few months and wildlife agencies were scrambling to try to catch the dumb bird because winter was coming! They finally did (the water was beginning to ice over) and shipped him to a bird sanctuary in Florida. LOL
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