Bird of the Day: Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull

After 5 years of walking on the beach almost daily, I've never seen this bird until today.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Unless you're this bird who was flying solo as far as I could tell.

Whimbrels on Hollywood Beach

Pelicans

 I love their even spacing.

A real photographer could do so much better, but I'm okay with that.

Bird of the Day: Dark-eyed Junco

The houses are very close together here in beige-world and are separated by block walls. I hung a big mirror outside my dining room to mitigate that walled-in feeling. The bird, one I've never seen or heard before here, really likes swinging on a trailing tendril of the ivy geraniums. He likes to admire himself in the mirror too.

Take a close look at the photo. There's a shadow bird in the background--not a reflection of the junco, but a stained glass window ornament of a hummingbird, hung in my neighbors kitchen window. I'd never noticed it before since I try to avoid looking into my neighbor's windows.

I heard the junco before I saw him. What I heard is the third line of the SONG under the "songs and arm call" button.

Bird of the Day

These creatures recently appeared a few doors down from me.  I'm amused. Delighted even. But I suspect our homeowners' association might not be. There have been letters of late reiterating old rules, enumerating new ones. Our boat docks need to be cleaner; kayak racks must be removed,; nothing is to be hung from patio fences or set on top of patio walls; and be careful where you prop that broom or  kayak paddle; and for god's sake you must have saucers under your patio potted plants. We all have plastic owls (I have four) everywhere to keep the swallows, gulls, and pigeons from encasing the neighborhood in guano so maybe the swans are cool. I hope so.

My neighborhood pet peeves? Loud motorcycles, my neighbor who leaves his car running while he does who knows what, and all the water that gets wasted around here on watering outdated un-waterwise landscaping.

But it's still paradise.

Bird of the Day: Snowy Egret

See the bright yellow feet? Spectacular with the black legs and white feathers.

I was happy to get a photo with the bird's neck extended, but I also love how it looks with its neck tucked in. My neck was certainly tucked in today. It was gray and cold and windy out there on the sand.

Bird of the Day

Let's start with yesterday's bird:

Staking out a nest in a dead palm tree, the hawk refused to budge while two ravens lost their minds circling round and round.

Today a turkey vulture and some gulls fought it out over a sea lion carcass on the sand. I'd never seen a turkey vulture on the beach before, but they are pretty unmistakable. I can't think of another bird that is more emblematic of death. Nature's dracula-winged clean-up crew.

Say what you want about spring. Renewal and rising from the dead, birds chirping, bunnies doing what bunnies do. Yes, go ahead and picture this:

It's there right outside my window. And it's part of the story. But Mother Nature likes to clean her house too. Now excuse me while I throw another load of bedding into the washing machine.

Bird of the Day: Pelican

I've seen plenty of pelicans on boat rides and while walking on the beach since I moved to Margaritaville. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned them in a number of posts--and, indeed, pelicans merited a bird of the day mention last spring not long after I bought my house. Until a couple of Sundays ago, however, a quick fly-by was the only back yard sighting. The recent excitement began with a very large pelican paddling by our boat dock. Then came the breathtaking swooping and diving. It was the pelican super bowl around here with my mom and me cheering after each splash.

I've learned that while there are eight species of pelicans, only two do the amazing dive. This acrobatic feat now occurs with some regularity just outside my window. Unfortunately, being the ridiculously bad photographer that I am, I've only been able to capture the dive's aftermath.

This morning there were two pairs of pelicans (or the romantic in me imagined them to be pairs) floating by in the water while two more pairs circled and dove. Why so many pelicans all of a sudden? It's mating and nesting season. And with the perfect nesting environment in the massive sand dunes beyond the canal less than a block away, I'm guessing that there might be an opportunity for viewing the maiden flights of baby pelicans in a couple of months. Baby. Pelicans.

photo credit: the picture of my mom and me was taken by M with her iphone. The iphone is, according to M, the best invention since fire.

Bird of the Day: Eared Grebe

We actually spotted this creature some weeks ago, and I forgot to post it. So here it is in all its wondrousness to take your mind off the mundane.

I am realizing more and more that I am a bird geek. I want a better camera. Fancy binoculars. A trip meant for bird watching.

True confessions: I even like sparrows.

Secret: Pelicans blow my mind. If a pelican flies overhead when, let's say, you are walking with me on the beach, you will have to repeat what you just said.

Yours truly,

Very geeky bird lover

P.S. A snowy egret flew right in front of me today as I was driving. My life flashed in front of my eyes. Well. Maybe not. But my brain said egretegretegret!!!

Bird of the Day: Bufflehead

If bufflehead were a word in the dictionary, it might have a definition like this: 1) a confused person who doesn't know how things work 2) a person who who hears, but misconstrues 3) a person who wraps his head/ears in white swaddling in order to remain oblivious to reality

But a Bufflehead is simply a small sea duck. What I find interesting about the group hanging around my boat dock this afternoon is that there's an extra female. What happened to her Mr. Bufflehead? And will the paired-off Buffleheads still invite her to dinner?

Bird of the Day:Belted Kingfisher

Spotted by my mom on the neighbor's boat dock.
We keep the binoculars on the end table these days.

The funk I was in has, coincidentally, flown off.

photo credit: Wikipedia      Having never seen a Belted Kingfisher before, I couldn't get my camera because I was too busy looking through the binoculars making my inventory, i.e. long straight beak, russet feathers on breast, white band around neck, short tail, really short legs, plump body....