Thursday, June 19, 2008

Black-crowned Night Heron

Night Heron

Here's a picture of the Black-crowned Night Heron waiting for a fish to come by. We like that way that his world blends with ours in this photo. We have better night heron photos elsewhere, but not a better story. In the evening, we went for a walk and came upon this heron again at the dam. He had a fish that was at least 6 inches long and 4 inches wide in his mouth still flopping about. We watched him for a while, and he positioned the fish and then swallowed it whole. Didn't he ever hear that your not supposed to eat anything bigger than your head?

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Spotted Sandpiper

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Sunday, June 15, 2008

Blue Jays eating nuts

Blue Jay
Blue Jay

Mike got the nickname peanut man in Brazil from sharing his peanuts with some spider monkeys. This weekend he left some peanuts in the shell on the deck railing. Some blue jays quickly discovered them, carrying them one by one to nearby trees to open and eat. Then something weird happened. A blue jay brought one of the nuts back, placed it on the railing and flew off. It had pecked a hole in it, but didn't get the nuts out. So Mike shelled it and some others and the bird came back. Not content with half a peanut, it stuffed several in its mouth, rearranged them and flew off. We also tried marconi almonds, and pistachios. They liked them all. Next week, it's hazelnuts.

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Anonymous Lynn said...

To the rest of the world hazelnuts and almonds might be a bit expensive to feed to birds. Although it sounds like they might enjoy them a bit more than I would anyway.

June 28, 2008 at 3:29 PM  

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Another Nut

Red Bellied Woodpecker
Red Bellied Woodpecker

This red-bellied woodpecker surprised us by coming over to the deck rail for peanuts. He is fairly awkward on a flat surface.

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