Look! A bird!

[mamselle]

Ok, sorry, double, but many hours later...

Early walk this AM was cool...both swans were out with the four little cygnets (...still too young to turn their heads side-to-side while doing emboites en ligne, of course),  and the blue heron was doing his "stand-still-and-look-like-a-stick" impression, which nearly did fool me, since he was right next to a knot of branches--probably windfall, from all the mast on the path.

I forgot to note the other day that a huge ol' turtle was beside the path near the main part of the river (I live right along its confluence with a very old brook), about 10" x 12" or more in ovoid dimensions, and at least 5" from mizzenmast to keel. His tiny 4" x 5" cousin was sunning himself on a log midstream.

I heard a very loud "plop" behind me as I passed that point today, and I'm guessing that was him/(?her) diving in.

I must have missed him lumbering along right next to the bank as I was walking by.

M.

[cathwen]

This morning my husband and I watched a hummingbird greedily gathering nectar from our salvia (we have two kinds).  He would fly off, then come zooming back for more, and then more again.  I never get tired of hummingbirds!

[Catherder]

This morning my husband and I watched a hummingbird greedily gathering nectar from our salvia (we have two kinds).  He would fly off, then come zooming back for more, and then more again.  I never get tired of hummingbirds!

Neither do I, but I just took down the hummingbird feeder because in this heat it's probably unhealthy. So the little guys are seriously annoyed and keep flying at me and chittering.

[ciao_yall]

This morning my husband and I watched a hummingbird greedily gathering nectar from our salvia (we have two kinds).  He would fly off, then come zooming back for more, and then more again.  I never get tired of hummingbirds!

Neither do I, but I just took down the hummingbird feeder because in this heat it's probably unhealthy. So the little guys are seriously annoyed and keep flying at me and chittering.

They probably need the water! You should consider putting it back up. Maybe drop in an ice cube and leave it in the shade if you are worried about it getting too warm.

[mamselle]

This morning's walk netted many photos of two swan families.

The first had two cygnets, larger and probably older than the four I saw a week ago; the second two appeared to be empty-nesters.

So, I'm guessing, three families along the brook, river, and three nearby kettle-hole ponds that are all connected to each other.

My guess is the older, chick-less swans live on the pond further upstream; I've seen one next along the brook that feeds into that stream, which I suspect is the home of the family of six, and the couple with two older offspring could be anywhere along those connecting lines.

It was fun doing the "silent point" to passers-by again; later in the day (i.e., 8 AM instead of 6) there are more folks about, as well as birds, it seems.

The older pair seemed to have found a good spot for underwater food, they kept diving half-way down, just with their necks, looking like mounds of whipped-cream floating on top of the water.

M.

[apl68]

This morning's walk netted many photos of two swan families.

The first had two cygnets, larger and probably older than the four I saw a week ago; the second two appeared to be empty-nesters.

So, I'm guessing, three families along the brook, river, and three nearby kettle-hole ponds that are all connected to each other.

My guess is the older, chick-less swans live on the pond further upstream; I've seen one next along the brook that feeds into that stream, which I suspect is the home of the family of six, and the couple with two older offspring could be anywhere along those connecting lines.

It was fun doing the "silent point" to passers-by again; later in the day (i.e., 8 AM instead of 6) there are more folks about, as well as birds, it seems.

The older pair seemed to have found a good spot for underwater food, they kept diving half-way down, just with their necks, looking like mounds of whipped-cream floating on top of the water.

M.

That sounds like a lovely set of birds in a lovely environment.

I'm told that some years ago the big pond at our city park had some swans on it.  Then an alligator wandered in and ate them.  The park hasn't had gators in recent years, but there have been no subsequent efforts to bring in swans.  Just some notoriously cranky tame geese, and an itinerant population of grey herons, egrets, and wild ducks.

[mamselle]

The only crocs here are the ones the kids wear, thankfully.

;--}

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Three vultures this morning. (Turkey, surely.)

[Puget]

Yesterday evening both cats had their noses pressed to the window that leads to their catio. I thought they just wanted to go out (they had been shut in during the day with the AC on), but luckily their intensity made me look and there was a recently fledged sparrow hopping around in there. I have no idea how it got in, as the mesh is too small, but it clearly couldn't get out. I went out and opened the exterior catio door, but it kept hiding in corners until I went in and herded it out with my hand. Poor things was terrified, but not as terrified as it would have been if I'd let the cats out!

[apl68]

The only crocs here are the ones the kids wear, thankfully.

;--}

M.

Reptiles seem to like it around here.  In my tenure at the library I've had to evacuate lizards from the building, deal with snakes on several occasions, and relocate a big snapping turtle that showed up one morning in the library's driveway.  We're far enough from the nearest stream that we've never seen a gator.

[mamselle]

I'm worried about some of the swans, although the herons seem to be doing very well.

With all the rain in the last week-ten days, the brook and the river it feeds were up a lot....I'd say 6 inches at least.

I know one of the swan nests used to be down a ways, on a ledge right on the water's edge, and when I walked that way yesterday it looked washed out. I don't go down that way as often, so I don't know if any of this year's birds were using the site or not, but if they were (they often return annually to a nest site) that might explain their absence...I'm guessing it was the six I was calling "Family A," with 4 egrets, who haven't been out since the rains began.

I saw "Family B" both yesterday and today, but instead of 2 gray-white juveniles, there was only one.  I also saw whitish-grey feathers up on the bank (could have also been a seagull squabble). So they may have come through with just one loss.

The mature pair haven't been down at all, but if I'm right and they live up in the feeder lakes, they may not be for a bit...probably re-doing their own nests.

There were four herons, though, most I've ever seen in a day.

Two did the Jurassic full-spread flight thing under the bridge, heading upriver. One was standing a ways from them, downstream by the submerged branches, and much smaller one was near a small cross-town bridge where there are sometimes human fisherfolk.

No camera, it's full, gotta download stuff today.

But visual memory is also compelling.

M.

[mamselle]

Update 5 days later...

"Family B" is all together, alive and well, and they've camped out near the confluence of the brook and the river with both juveniles; I've seen them there or nearby three times since the last post.

Another family ("Family D"?) was upriver a bit, with one similarly-aged, light-grey juvenile attended by two full-grown adults.

No sight of the two larger, apparently older, chick-less birds (Family A) and still no sign of the 4-little-swans+2 parents group (Family C), although again, there are several further areas up- and down-stream that would take me longer to walk to in the AM than I can usually spare.

One heron came joyfully zooming past me in the large open lane running over the center of the main river, going so fast I barely got my phone up for a picture, and it's probably a blur.

Ducks in abundance now, too; a family of 5 slightly older ducklings were going under the bridge yesterday, and what looked like 10, total (8 little ones, 2 adults) were making their way along the reeds on the side of the brook where they seem to have started hanging out and foraging along the boardwalk.

I've been out every AM now, looking for them, which has improved my walking time AND given me many more pictures to peel off the phone's camera files before it fills up again....

M.

[paultuttle]

I've had lots of visits by cardinals, sparrows, wrens, blue jays, and a beautiful two-toned dark-gray on gray bird I haven't yet managed to identify.

My "home office" is set up in a corner of our dining room, so the wrought-iron railing on our front porch is just outside the window nearest my desk. It's amazing how close some birds will come to my window.

[mamselle]

Cool!

M.

[nebo113]

I've had lots of visits by cardinals, sparrows, wrens, blue jays, and a beautiful two-toned dark-gray on gray bird I haven't yet managed to identify.

My "home office" is set up in a corner of our dining room, so the wrought-iron railing on our front porch is just outside the window nearest my desk. It's amazing how close some birds will come to my window.

Might the grey bird be a catbird?