Bird Brain

A strange sound was coming through the southern windows of the sun room. I looked up from the book I was reading and listened. The sound was a cross between a gurgle and a turkey’s gobble. My mind remembered the Belted Kingfisher and the Burrowing Owls, that have graced my backyard. I stood up in anticipation of seeing another uncommon backyard bird. Something brown popped up behind the bush. Was this bird standing on my neighbor's fence? I grabbed my camera, and he Popped up again. He was a she, and she was my neighbor, bent over, pumping an insecticide/weed killer spray canister.

No picture today.

Sunday May 27th

Charlie got her first car ride with us today. She was a bit antsy. Linda had to make sure Susie stayed up front on her booster seat, and Charlie stayed in the back seat. I didn't want any dog fights on the way to Walsingham Park.

We didn't do our usual walk. We wanted Charlie to get accustomed to walking. She did pretty good for a first time on a leash. Yes, she did all the rookie mistakes. She tried to lead me, and choked herself. She also tried to bite her own leash. It wasn't as bad of an experience as I've had with previous dogs. I think having Susie next to her helped. She did make Susie growl once, when she bit Susie's leach.

Linda went to visit Art and swim. I grabbed the kayak and headed for Largo Nature Preserve.

Unloading the truck, one man starts to chat me up. "Good thing you have a truck."

"Yea, I wouldn't want to lift it on to a car."

"Do you need help?"

"I'm alright."

"Can I watch you launch it?"

" Do you think one could be stored in an apartment?" I suggested a inflatable kayak. "Don't you think it will puncture?"

"They make them strong enough for white water rafting."

He continued talking as I made my way to the little launch site. When I got there, another man was looking out at the water. He asks the first man about kayaking. Man one says, "it's not mine. It's hers." Man One and Man Two start talking.

Finally Man One leaves. Man Two asks questions like, how long it is, how much it cost, and how far I will go. "I don't go far. I spend most of my time taking pictures."

"This is a great place to take pictures. I have albums full."

Finally I'm on my way. Two women on the trail tell me to towards the golf course, "there's an otter over there." I missed the otter. (A Largo Police Officer didn't. Later in the day, while checking out the Osprey family at the pond, I stepped off the trail to let the police car pass me. He says, "I seen something like an otter over there."

"There are otter in the park."

He said, "I didn't know that they live around here. I guess you learn something new every day.")

The favorite son didn't show much but his wing span. Poor Mom is having to stand on the edge of the nest. Her three little ones are getting very big.

Didn't get to see the King Fisher. I got lots of pictures of birds flying, but always flying away from me. The heron came out pretty good. Always trying to get that perfect picture.

For all of you afraid of me out there with the gators. I did see one. He was sleeping at the pond, and I was on the board walk. So far I haven't kayaked past one.




On my way to the board walk I heard a really strange sound. I looked up in the tree, and seen a Hermit Thrush. My Kodak Z612 takes pretty good pictures. Actually I take better pictures with it than I did with my Minolta SRT201. The only problem is autofocus. This is the only picture I got of the bird that came out. The camera kept wanting to focus on the leaves and branches.

Life with Charlie

Things were going pretty good today. I came home for lunch, and let Susie and Charlie out. Susie was enjoying the sun, while Charlie ran around like a nut case. Susie didn't seem to mind her. Tonight we had a little bit of trouble. The dogs in the neighborhood started barking. Susie joined the chorus, while Charlie sat between Linda and I on the couch, watching and listening to Susie. When Susie came back into the living room, Charlie jumped down near Susie, and Susie went after the little one. Thank goodness Susie doesn't like water. I have a sprayer ready for such a situation.

Charlie seems to like my Pooh Bear slippers. As you can see it is almost as big as she is.
I still can't figure out what she is. It's been over 30 years since I had a German Sheppard puppy in the house, but she just doesn't have the paws to be a German Sheppard. Those long slender legs have me baffled.

There can be peace. They are both sleeping.

Puppy

I pulled on to my block and seen this little puppy sitting in a yard. She was looking at a moderately busy street. Then she crossed my street. I stopped the truck, hopped out and went in search of the little one. The dirty wet thing came running to me. I picked her up, and she began licking my face. I drove her the half block to our house.

I thought Linda was going to blow a gasket. But she understood why I brought her home. I aksed a couple of neighbors if they knew whre she lived. One said a woman yesterday was asking her the same question. Roger's wife couldn't figure out where she belonged either.

Susie's view is, "she belongs at the pound."


I have to admit the Pinellas County Animal Shelter would be a lot better that where she was.
I let her out in the backyard, because she was so dirty. She started drinking water from pond I'm constructing. Now I understand, why she was so dirty. She had probably tried to get water down at the creek.

This little critter has one thing in common with Susie. She doesn't like baths. (She wasn't coming into the house without one).

Will I name her. I've come up with name Scamp. She reminds me of Tramp from Lady & the Tramp, but being a female, Tramp just doesn't sound good.

I never thought this time would come. She and Susie are both a sleep.

I thought about putting up signs asking if some one had lost a dog. Then I thought, if she's been running around the neighbrohood for 2 days, someone really doesn't care about her.

It's official. Linda says we should keep her. Linda has named her Charlie.

Walsingham Park

It was a good day to take Susie for a walk. It's a great day, when I can get a picture of a bird that I haven't photographed in the past. Today's bird is the Loggerhead Shrike. I was about to give up finding his name in the National Audoubon Society Field Guide, when his picture popped up towards the end of Pearching Birds section of the book.

I also got a pretty good shot of a Great Blue Heron standing on the little island. I think I'm going to need to take my kayak over here. Because not only was the Heron standing on the island; so was Deb's "favorite bird", the Limpkin. (Limpkins make too much noise at night for Deb's ears.)

Someone has to tell this Limpkin he's supposed to be sleeping. Limpkins are said to be very active at night. That's why Deb hears there crys at night.

Hey Deb, you should move near Walsingham Park. Those Limpkins seem to like the daylight hours.



I don't under stand people. They walk, bike, or jog through the park hooked up to their iPods. I can understand the area next to Walsingham Road, because then you can hear the cars. But the rest of the trail is full of nature's music. Today an Osprey caught a fish, and it set the rest of them off. Including this one standing on the light pole, in the ball park. Either this one was giving the other a chear or begging the other to share the catch. I think it is the latter. When one catches a meal, the others try to take it away.

Osprey Family

When I first spotted the Osprey Family at Largo Nature Preserve, May 5th I just seen the two. As you can see those little ones were making a lot of noise.

I thought there might be a third, but I wasn't sure until today. They are getting so big, it's getting harder for them to hide.

Largo Nature Preserve May 12th

Katie took me to Sam's Club for a Kayak. First, we have to find someone to help us. Then, we have to convince "the man" that the kayak I wanted is red, not orange. They did have an orange kayak, but it was a sit on top built for two. ( Linda doesn't want to kayak. She says it it too close to the gators. I'll have to go it alone.) I guess Katie and I subscribe to the same philosophy, you don't argue, just let "the man" think he is right, and you will get what you want. We paid for the kayak, and wait. A woman shorter than me, (I'm 5'4") comes over with they kayak on a cart. I can see that it's red through the bubble wrap.

Of course, I parked as far away from the store as possible. We get it to the truck, I tell the Sam's woman that I'll have to remove the bubble wrap. (I wouldn't be able to tie it down in the truck bed.) The Sam's woman and I get it into the bed of the truck, when I wake up. It's the wrong one. Yes, it is for one person, but it is a sit on top kayak. Didn't know they had a single sit on top, they didn't have it on the floor. I paid for a sit in kayak, not a sit on top. We all head back to the store.

Once we enter, the woman that guards the door, insisted that a sticker is put on the kayak, and we go stand in the return line. The Sam's woman tells her all she has to do it put it back and get the correct one. The sparring between the two goes on and on, until Sam's woman calls a superior. She trumps the Sam's guard.

Again Katie and I wait.

Finally, I'm in the water at Largo's Nature Preserve. Thank goodness there weren't a lot of people around to watch me in the beginning. (The picture below shows the area for launching a canoe or kayak. You can also see how desperate we are for rain. Water levels are too low.) It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it. I would row to the left and then row to the right. Finally I figured it out. I sat back, put my feet on the foot rests, and my further down on the paddle. Hey I could paddle straight.

I spent time chasing the Belted Kingfisher. He would fly from one tree to the next as I tried to get closer. The picture included is best I could get of that elusive bird.

By the time I got around to the Tricolored Heron I was feeling pretty good about being so close to nature, and more than a little repulsed by my fellow human beings. There is a lot of trash in the water. Lets try to forget that, and concentrate on the beauty of it all.

It was the first time I had ever seen a tricolored heron. I kept snapping away, when I looked up to see two people walking on the trail. Someone was taking a picture of me. I squinted to get a better of that someone's walking partner. She looked familiar. The sun and looking through a camera lens was making my vision a bit blurry, but I swear that was Mayra. If you look closely to the right of the picture you can see Mayra and Linda's (not the aforementioned Linda) reflections in the water. Mayra has a few select words for me, because I'm in the water and she is on a trail. Too bad.

I love this picture. Birds in flight are so hard to get, and to get 3 species, at one time, just floats my boat.

Largo, FL looks like one big ugly strip mall. And yet sitting on 31 acres, off of East Bay Drive, in the middle of this strip mall is The Largo Nature Preserve . The access road into the preserve has an abandoned Winn-Dixie on one side and a gulf course on the other. The sign is a wood monument type. (Largo's City Commision doesn't like free standing signs.) As you can see from this picture, power lines run through the preserve and on the right there is housing. One can canoe or kayak for 5 miles.

There is a board walk around Alum Pond, and if you take a stroll on the board walk through the woods you do forget that you are in the city. The osprey and Red-wing blackbirds hang out around the pond area. There is an osprey nest on a pole toward the middle of the picture.

It's becoming a habit of mine to see how big the little ones have grown. I'm looking forward to seeing them Saturday.