Squirrel Surprise!

Took a walk this morning in drizzle and rain from remnants of Tropical Storm Fay headed our way. Colors look so rich when it's cloudy, and everything looks good with raindrops on it, even the spent heads of an agapanthus.


Birds were out; ducks, geese, another couple of anhingas (also called water turkeys -- their tails look turkey-like, a little when they spread them to dry), egrets, herons, etc. No good bird photos today because I took the little water proof camera that doesn't have much zooming ability. Look hard at this photo and see anhinga (black on left), egrets, and perhaps a black crowned night heron in the middle?
Rainy days are great days to look at lichen too. These were on branches that had fallen out of the trees. Healthy lichen is said to be an indicator of good air quality, and there is plenty of it around here.

But what surprised me most on this walk was a squirrel eating rose hips. I didn't know that squirrels ate rose hips. But it was eating multiple rose hips, and maybe pulling the seeds from the inside or eating the hip too. I walked up and took pictures of a chewed one -- the squirrel didn't seem to care that it was green. I wonder if it gets vitamin C from the rose hips. More on this another time, but the squirrels our yard are stripping all of the green pine cones and pulling out the seeds. We picked up hundreds of "pine cobs" prior to mowing the lawn yesterday. Who knew that a pine tree even made that many cones?

Bird Island Part II

Tons of different species of wading birds roost on this island, including anhingas. They sometimes perch with their wings spread out to dry their feathers. My understanding is that they don't have oils on their feathers as other swimming birds do; and this allows them to dive to catch fish more easily. But when they surface, they're wet, so they have to dry off. I finally figured out the difference between a cormorant and an anhinga -- cormorants' beaks are curved at the tip and anhinga's are long and pointy like an egret's. So obvious once you know what to look for -- a nice gentleman pointed it out to me one Sunday morning. He's lived in southernLouisiana all his life. I have a lot to learn.

Watching birds cruise in by the dozens, as the sun goes down, is a treat. And it's right there for everyone to enjoy -- not twenty feet from the jogging/bike path. The more I watch, the more I notice. I love to watch the egrets come in for a landing, easing their feet out in front.

Last night, there were a bunch of white ibis roosting as well. Here is one next to a small egret. I had never realized until I took this photo that there's a Chinese tallow tree on the island - probably more than one. They're non-native and invasive. Most of the island is live oak, I think.

Bird Island at Sunset

There's a name for this island, but I can't think of it right now. Tonight, we unofficially named it after a dear friend who is moving away. A small group celebrated before she drives off tomorrow. This is such an amazing place to be at sunset; all manner of wading birds fly in from their day jobs, wherever they may be, and perform all types of aerial acrobatics before they perch, squawking and arguing until dark, when they settle in and the frogs start up. We estimated 800 birds, but there are probably more.

In the spring, you can watch the parents sitting on eggs and feeding their slightly fuzzier, gawky young ones. Even tonight, one parent bird flew in -- her babies are as big as she is -- as she tried to feed them, it looked like they were choking her or trying to bite her neck in two!


She looked so regal when her two giant children weren't biting at her neck and beak!

First Day - and a lovely one!

I've created this blog for me, mostly, to help me pay attention to nature and to keep a location to post seasonal musings, photos, etc. I'm a former science teacher, and still a teacher educator. Now that I'm not in the classroom on a daily basis, I suddenly have time and space to look even more closely at nature than I used to when I worked a long teaching week. Today was the first day of school -- but not for me! This is the first time I've had that "first day of school" morning to myself in sixteen years! So I took advantage of the newfound time and took a walk to the park.







Stopped first at Laurel Street Bakery and enjoyed watching the house sparrows. I think that some of them are juveniles, but it's hard to tell, and I'm not an expert. Either that or they are molting, especially the males, not pictured here. They were relatively bold, willing to take crumbs directly from my table.

Then continued on to the wading pool at Audubon Park -- saw a brown anole doing his dewlap thing, and a flock of ring necked doves drinking from shallow puddles and maybe eating little insects in the mud??? Stayed and drew one of the gorgeous moss draped live oaks. Their giant twisting trunks are amazing.