Friday, October 12, 2007

Now I Know Why They Mow Lawns

Living where we do in Florida, we have a plethora of wildlife that hangs out around our house. Lizards, turtles, the occasional gator and a variety of bird life that would make Audubon jealous - roseate spoonbills, golden hawks, herons, even a bald eagle once. Among this group is perhaps our most frequent and dear visitors, the sandhill cranes.

They have become so comfortable with Hotrod that they eat out of his hand. I've started calling him "the bird whisperer" - funny, aren't I?

Anyway, when he's away, which is often, they barely tolerate my presence when I bring them seed, eyeing me like I'm somehow responsible for Hotrod's absence. Usually I end up dumping the seed, then going inside to watch them. Yesterday as I was doing this, our next door neighbor's yard guys stopped their mowing and edging for a moment.

The edger pointed at the sandhills and proudly proclaimed (with great seriousness and wonder) to the guy on the mower, "Look! Pterodactyls!"

Um...I think even the sandhills started laughing.

5 comments:

  1. That was one thing I loved about living in FL - the birds. There's such a variety all year long, and since I birdwatch, it was like giving me candy every day. =o)

    Thanks for the picture and the story.

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  2. lol We have lots of birds, too. The fairy wrens are so cheeky they sit on my boot while I'm gardening waiting for me to dig them up a worm. And we have Sparrow-zilla, who is so big he tips the bird bath over when he sits on the edge. Then he knocks on the window to let me know it's dry again. (So hard to get good help!)

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  3. I envy you the beautiful birds, but not those gators. Nope. You can have 'em. :-)

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  4. Gee, we don't get nearly the interesting and/or extinct birds you seem to get. LOL!

    We get the standard stuff and a few trash-digging seagulls.

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  5. I'm impressed that you have ptetodactyls at your house. I bet that's fun when the T-Rex comes to visit. You do know that Jurasic Park didn't turn out too good so you might want to watch what you introduce into the wild. Of course it's Florida and you guys have giant mice.

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