And why are Kilo and Milo so fascinated? They're watching our new friend Harley fishing on the edge of the pond.
Why the name Harley? Well, mostly because I'm bird-ignorant and have no clue what type of bird Harley is. Also, because the feathers on his head look like a tied bandanna. Harley, it seems, is a biker bird. He weathered the gray afternoon out here today, mostly hunkered down against the cold rain. Harley stops by fairly often, and is one of my favorite birds to watch. I am beyond fascinated with the way his (her?) neck curves, and the long crest feathers on the head.
In other bird news, Scott and I watched a snake bird the other day catch and eat a fish that was at least three times the size of its head. Those things have a flip-top jaw and necks that stretch like one of those egg-swallowing snakes. It was neat, but I found myself swallowing really hard - sympathy swallowing I guess - for a while after.Eventually I'll figure out what all these birds are. There's always something new stopping by for a drink or a fish.
4 comments:
Harley is a Great Blue Heron, he's a handsome fellow! We call the fish eating bird a "snake bird" too but its proper name is American Anhinga.
When we worked at Baytree I bought an Audubon Field Guide for Florida. It was well worth the money and I had a lot of fun checking off all the different birds I spotted.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is February 12th to 15th this year. You should think about participating, it's kind of fun. You could even blog your observations! http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/
Hey thanks for the info! I'll check out that bird count thing when I'm not late for work and still reading blogs. (my new tagline: 'striving for mediocrity since 2009') That might fit well into my life. I was considering doing NaBloPoMo for February... you interested?
(note: I'm not late for work. My shift technically doesn't start until 1. But we have a trainee and I'm trying to be supportive of the operation by being there her hours, which start at 11. Obviously that's not going to happen, since I'm still in my PJs and it's 10:30 and there's scones downstairs that I'll be eating before I leave.)
I'm in for NaBloPoMo. I don't know what the theme is but I'd just ignore it anyway, maybe we should make our own theme, "Florida Wildlife" or something? Anyway, let's do it!
Mm, scones! Do you have clotted cream to go with them? Yummy!
the theme is "ties," which I'm completely ignoring.
Our scone condiment of choice is currently lemon curd. We've gone through almost an entire jar in 2 weeks.
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