Meet Huevo

Picture it: you're leaving a wedding reception in downtown Orlando, dressed in fancy clothes and full of lunch and sweets.  You see a tiny baby bird on the sidewalk, flapping its wing stumps, mouth open wide with no sound coming out. 

Welcome to the moment where my life temporarily turned on its ear.

I looked around for a frantic bird momma, and when I didn't see her I scooped up the baby.  Scott and I eventually found the nest, about 10-15 feet up a tree.  I left the chick with Scott and went back into the restaurant we had just left to see if they had access to a ladder.  Apparently they did, but couldn't let me use it because of liability issues.  I called Animal Control, but they were closed.  We sat on a bench, Scott still holding the tiny (now sleeping) chick, and tried to come up with a game plan.  We figured our only options were to put the bird back in the grass at the base of the tree and pretend the mother would realize it was there and take care of it, or take it with us and try to come up with a better plan.  You know, one where the bird lived through the night.

It was a long car ride home, especially since every time I talked the little dude would start begging again!  I texted my mom and got the recipe for baby bird food that we used when I was little and we raised wild baby birds.  Recipe in hand, we stopped at the store and I sat in the car while Scott went in for the most random shopping list ever: hard-boiled egg, wheat germ, canned dog food, and liquid baby vitamins.  We got him home, built him a nest (which he promptly pooped in), fed him, and then tried to figure out the next step.

It's been two days, and we're still sort of dealing with him one day at a time.  I named him Huevo, and since he's a blackbird (or some other type of black bird), Scott decided Huevo Negro was better.  Mostly, he just answers to "PEEP!"

Huevo's left leg is either broken or dislocated (you can see the bump in the bottom picture), and judging by his lack of feathers and closed eyes, I'm pretty sure he's less than a week old.  For this reason, I decided not to immediately try to research wildlife rehab centers.  I have a pretty strong feeling that he would be too much work for a non-profit.  If he survives to the point where his wings feather up and he gets a little mobility, then I'll find him a new foster family. 

Realistically, I don't think he's going to make it.  And I've been crying about that multiple times a day since we found him.  But I'm certainly not going to give up on him.  He eats enthusiastically, peeps when he's hungry, poops when he's not, and flaps his little wings when the food is too slow getting from the bowl to his mouth.  It's pretty normal.  So for now, I'll just be in love with this tiny, fuzzy, bug-eyed baby and worry about him 18 times a day.



he fell asleep sitting up after Scott fed him



his wing feathers are sprouting



Murderer

I killed a bird this morning on my way to work.  Scott and I talked about filming a dramatization, but we're probably going to be too busy for the next few days so you'll just have to rely on your imagination.

There I am driving down the road when a little bird swoops down from the other side of the road and hits the front of my car with an echoing thud that actually resonated a bit like a gong.  I did what I always do in this situation (this is the 3rd bird, and 4th animal, I've hit in my driving career): I immediately craned my neck to get a good look in my rearview mirror to see the damage.

No bird behind me.  Did it bounce off onto the shoulder?  But before I even had a chance to consider that perhaps I had a new hood ornament, the bird must have dislodged from my bumper.  While I was still focused on the view behind the car, the bird rolled up the hood and thud thud thud up and over my windshield.

I actually yelled "oh my GOD!" and in retrospect am shocked I didn't crash the car.  I was stunned and freaked the heck out. The resulting adrenaline dump got me to work, but the mental crash was awful.  I hope that never happens to me (or another bird) again... but if they don't stop swooping in front of me I guess we don't have much of a choice! 

For the Birds

Here's a bit of randomness for you on a Sunday morning:
(and if the video doesn't embed, which the preview suggests it won't, here's the link)

Poacher!

The dog next door was barking like mad a little while ago.  She's not a barker by nature, so I figured there was somebody outside.  When I looked, there was Harley walking along with a fish in his beak that was about the size of my hand.  Harley's head, as you probably remember, is about the size of a ping pong ball.

I was upstairs and immediately galloped downstairs (yeah, about as graceful as you're picturing) to grab the camera.  When I got to the side window and opened the blinds, Harley was there but had put down the fish.  There was no way he was going to swallow this thing whole, so I guess he was going to pick at the flesh?  And so I focused the camera as well as I could through the screen and waited.  Before I could get a single picture, he flew away.  Without the fish.

What the...?

...and then an eagle landed on top of the fish!  That son of a gun is poaching fish from other birds!  OK, I get that he has two increasingly large mouths to feed that can't quite leave the nest to hunt for themselves, but it just seems such a cruel way to make a living.

(at this point I will refrain from pointing out how interesting it is that our forefathers chose the bald eagle as the symbol of our country - the predator that sees something it wants and takes that thing away from the 'lesser' creature that did all the work in the first place)

Anyway, I did manage to get two other pictures before lunch flew back to the nest.  Hope you enjoy them!

 

PotD: Bird Sex!

The sandhill cranes were out this morning, and I thought I'd try to replicate this picture, only with Elphie sitting in the doorway.  Unfortunately for me, the grill is further on the patio than usual, and got in my picture attempts.  But while I had the camera out, the bird closest to me flapped her wings wide. I lifted the camera to my eye to get a picture of the wingspan. The other bird jumped on her back. I snapped the picture. The second bird dismounted.

The whole thing took less than 30 seconds.  Scott missed it completely, though to his credit he did hustle back over when I said, "umm...I think they're mating!"  I actually Googled 'sandhill crane mating' to make sure that's what I had seen.  Yep - that's definitely bird sex.

Actually, it's been a big "circle of life" 24 hours here in the neighborhood, though all out-of-order.  On my way home last night, I stopped at the dumpster and snapped a picture of the eagle nest, complete with one bird peeking out the top.

And then around sunset, we spotted a sandhill crane family out front.  The colt is in the middle:

At this point, I think I'm done with wildlife photography for the weekend. But we're planning on heading out to enjoy the beautiful weather today, so who knows what we'll see?

PotD: Let the Eagle Soar

This is actually a picture of the eagle landing.  With wings spread and one foot in the air, the only thing keeping this from being a really great picture is the fact that you can't see its head!  Here are some bonus photos:



PotD x 2

Below are two photos I missed posting earlier in the week:

Scott displays his "big catch" (which is actually a 6" baby hammerhead shark and a little trick photography)

A completely NOT trick shot of a Florida red-shouldered hawk

Nesting

Alternate misleading post title:

What to Expect When You're Expecting (Baby Eagles)

Do you see it in the picture up above? It's pretty well camouflaged. How about in the picture below?


I could barely see the birds in the nest with my naked eye. And not at all in the camera viewfinder. I lucked out with my timing - one bird had just flown back to the nest with a new stick, and they (I assume) were tucking it in where it needed to go.


So while I don't have any clue if or when we'll actually have a whole big eagle family, I know that for the immediate future I'll have plenty of photo opportunities.

It's Been A While...

...since I shared any backyard wildlife photos. And truth be told, these pictures weren't taken in the backyard. They were taken by the dumpster at the end of the street.

Wild Kingdom

The local sand hill cranes were out this evening after my post-grave-shift nap, standing at the corner of our building and warbling non-stop. It turns out they were yelling at the next door neighbor's cat, who was innocently sitting at his front door curled up avoiding the last of the afternoon rain.

That seemed like unnecessary bullying to me, so I went out to hang out with the cat for moral support. He came running over and I pet him for a few minutes, which enraged the cranes even more. WARBLE! WARBLE! WARBLEWARBLEWARBLEWARBLE!

I went back inside, and Scott asked what I did to make the cranes squawk even louder, and I told him. They were still out causing a ruckus, so I took my phone out, thinking I could get a good picture. (I couldn't.) Scott came outside after he saw the wing flapping war dance through the window, and proceeded to imitate the birds. It was awesome!

Eventually, the cranes moved on and the cat lost interest in my company, so we went inside. Peace has been restored... for now.

The Birds and the WHAT?

Did you know that little blue herons have red necks? It's true...check it out! And if you don't believe my identification, here's my proof.

And here's another bird picture. The snake birds love when the fountain gets out of sync with local time!

Oh, and don't you just love it when you find photos on your camera that you don't remember taking? Nope...no drunk photos here! Apparently Scott is documenting the way I'm most likely to die...and reminding me to wear shoes in the garage!

Unpleasant, party of two, your table full of poison is waiting.

I just asked Scott if he killed the spiders after he took the pictures and he said no, "I was waiting for you to see them." And he claims they aren't scary. I think he's full of crap!

Irony, Thy Name is Harley

Scott and I both saw the sick heron catch fish today. Separately. As in we collectively saw him catch and eat two fish. I guess that means he's "not dead yet."




Here's how the heron catches fish:
1. Walks sideways near the water in what could best be described as "bird's last steps"
2. Takes an ungraceful tumble face-first into the water
3. Emerges with a fish in its beak
4. Walks up the bank about 5 feet, prolonging the life of the fish and leading its human audience to believe she has time to grab the camera and take another "OMG BIRD WITH FISH" photo
5. Waits until she turns the camera on and gets to the glass door
6. Swallows fish whole and turns to walk away
7. Waits for human to put down the camera and then spits out a bone. Literally. That damn bird hocked something out about 2 feet. Scott saw it too.

He really does look a little better. Something still seems a little off, but he's not spending 16 hours a day out back anymore either. And now that I know the steps to a successful fishing excursion, eventually I'll get the damn picture!

Bird of the Day

What do we have here? This little guy really befuddled me this afternoon. Something about his behavior made me think he was a juvenile, but not so young as to need parents watching over him. And I knew I'd never seen a bird that looked so much like wet newsprint before.

After reading descriptions of every dark-feathered heron at allaboutbirds.org, I finally decided he's a little blue heron, probably about a year old. And how did I come to that conclusion? Well...

It is the only heron species in which first-year birds and adults show dramatically different coloration: first-year birds are pure white, while adults are blue... Enters adult plumage in the first spring after hatching and may be pied white and blue.

So I guess you could say he's in his ugly duckling phase right now. It's a good find for me, since I've only seen a little blue heron out there once or twice before.

In related news, it's been raining a lot this week. The pond is way swollen. Compare these two photos, taken back in April (with the ducks) and the yesterday:

OK, so maybe they don't look so vastly different in the pictures, but trust me. There's a lot more water out there now!

Scorcher

It's another day with a heat index over 100. If I had to be outside, I think I'd follow the example of this sand hill crane and take a quick dip!

How do you dry off? Easy - just flap your wings!

It was a little alarming watching the crane sit down in the water, especially since I was convinced there was some sort of avian "hydrophobie" going around. But watching them (yes "them" - it's hard to get 2 large birds in an action shot) frolic was good fun.

(also, you might notice that the first picture above was taken where I last saw the heron. he's flown the coop for now)

Worrisome

We haven't had many birds to watch ever since the weather heated up. I imagine they've gone somewhere in the low 90's, or at least to a pond with trees and shade. Basically, there's been one egret and that's about it. But yesterday a heron appeared on the shore and was doing some weird stuff I've never seen one do before. Case in point:

I thought he had just caught a fish because his throat was doing that flutter-wiggle thing, but he kept it up for a while. Scott suggested the wing position was a way to cool down, and I accepted that because it's easier to believe something positive than to worry about something negative.

I kept an eye on him, and tried to figure out whether the brown on the tip of the right wing was an injury (of course, my first instinct was "that damned alligator!) or natural coloring or even oil. I still don't know. But I've gone back through all of my old Harley pictures, and have never seen coloring like that. See the picture below for another view. I took some other pictures, and it's on both wings at the same spot.

He's back out there again this morning, which makes me wonder whether he even left. He's spending a lot of time grooming, which makes me think whatever is going on there must either hurt or itch a lot. Of course, there's a pretty abundant supply of fish, so I don't think he'll starve. Still, it breaks my heart to think he's hurting.

Beach, Nap, Food, Repeat

Before our vacation, I had made very simple plans: beach, nap, food, repeat. Today, we spent a little under 2 hours at the beach, then showered and headed out to lunch at Aunt Rose's (where we also saw Gary and Aubrey and Laura). No nap. I've been in a sort of zombie trance for the past few hours, even after the tasty dinner we had at Scott's restaurant of choice.

I posted family pictures to my Facebook vacation album, but for here I thought I'd stick with another beach photo from last night. With a little editing, this picture might be really sweet.

If you'll excuse me, I'm off for cookies and then bed.

Please Don't Hate Me...

If it helps, future me already resents present me for this!

And Janette, I want you to know that I haven't stopped bird-watching just because I'm on vacation. In fact, here are a few pictures I took tonight ON THE BEACH OMG CAN YOU FREAKING BELIEVE IT?!?!?

Collage

Lucky me! Snapfish came out with a promotion - 50% off collage posters - just in time for me to create my own bird-spotting guide! Here's what I came up with:


Before you judge my placement of the photos, know that I spent 45 minutes hitting 'shuffle photos' again and again trying to come up with something that didn't tweak my OCD. They let you pick out the pictures, and then they place them for you. As you can imagine, that was challenging!

While I wanted to include the otters and the alligator, I didn't want them to be focal points. And at one point (this may have been when Scott almost removed me from my seat), the bottom row of birds were all facing left except for one facing right. *twitch* At least the way this one is set up, they're in all different directions.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. The poster size is 16"x20", and hopefully we can find a frame for it and hang it downstairs right next to the sliding door. It's not much of a bird spotting guide, since there's no labels, but I'll probably print a small legend to hang next to it. We'll see.

Now I can't wait for it to come in the mail!

Houston, We Have a Problem

Cute little ducklings, right? Sadly, we may never know how cute, because the only photo editing software that came with this computer was PAINT!

It's not really a crisis. I mean, it's not a crisis at all. It just means either I'll have to throw myself on the mercy of online photo editing software or find the CDs that are probably in the closet in this very room. The printer came with a program that lets you do layers and all sorts of fun stuff. Not it's just a matter of finding it!

Anyway, thanks to Scott for taking this picture while I was trapped at work. He thinks, given their extremely small size, that the nest must be around our pond somewhere. If that's the case, I worry about their chances of survival, considering not just the alligator(s), but the hawks and eagles in the area as well. I count at least 6 of them up there... it'll be cool if they stick around and I get to watch them grow up. Plus, Scott really has an affinity for the ducks. They might be his favorite of all the pond birds.

Reflections

I'm too scattered to sit down and write all about how exciting it was last night to stand at the screen door and watch a great blue heron.

Enthralling, right?

Well, long story short, the heron was walking way up away from the water, which spooked the cats. I've never seen them with their feet on dry land! So I watched it walk about 10 feet, ruffling its feathers and walking really strangely. The bird was spooked too! So we thought maybe the pond log was back. And we kept seeing something in the water. It just didn't seem alligator-like to us, but we weren't sure. And then the heron walked into the marsh and neither of us could bear to turn away, thinking the poor thing was about to be eaten by the dinosaur in the water.

So that's basically why we were watching. At some point, I tore myself away to grab my camera, since the heron was in a place with a near-perfect reflection of itself shining back. By the time I got the camera, I missed that picture, but came close with another one:

I dig symmetry! So about the time I took that picture, I had two simultaneous problems: the batteries in the camera were dying, and the memory card was full. So I stopped taking pictures. And then the heron lunged into the water - I really thought the gator got it - and came back up with a fish. I was standing there with my camera and couldn't take a picture!

And then, maybe 2 minutes later, a snake bird popped out the water with one of those big fat catfish, but the catfish got away.

So I changed the batteries and deleted some old pictures, but by that time the heron had moved on down the shore to another patch of marsh. And that's when the weird lump in the reeds popped back up.

Can you see it above? The reason we thought it was a turtle or a frog at first is because there was only one lump sticking out of the water. Usually with an alligator, you'll see the eyes and the nose sticking up. Keep in mind that picture above was taken with my camera on the highest zoom. It's much more visible than to the naked eye. And it wasn't until I did some photo cropping this morning that I saw the tiny nostrils, barely visible above the surface:

I'm still not sure whether this itty bitty alligator was hunting the heron or spooked by it, but either way it made for some excitement out back! And all of a sudden I'm dreading the idea that at some point I'm going to see one of my birds as the prey instead of the predator. I'm also secretly hoping that I can take pictures of it. Hopefully that doesn't make me a bad person!