Egrets in my yard!
Jun 10th, 2004, 10:48 AM
#41
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I just remebered the BEST of the SW Fla....BURROWING OWLS. They are the cutest creatures in the western world. There is one 80 ft a way from us, with a burrow and owlets....they are soooooo cute, nothing is cuter IMO. 
Jun 10th, 2004, 11:06 AM
#42
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Gee, I wasn't going to reply but had to after I saw Olive Oyl's post (yes Olive it was I who wrote about the ducks in the casita pool lololol) Nice resort, my boyfriend thougt it was VERY funny, but i do admit, every time the ducks came in the pool, I got out!
Yeah, all I get to see every day is your everyday cat, dog, pigeon & so on so, for us that nervy duck's attitude reminded us of home (lol).
Yeah, all I get to see every day is your everyday cat, dog, pigeon & so on so, for us that nervy duck's attitude reminded us of home (lol).
) I would truly LOVE blue egrets, as I love everything blue!
Jun 10th, 2004, 11:14 AM
#46
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Hi Scarlett...Thanks for this great thread!
I envy you all who get to see dolphins, pelicans, manatees, sea turtles! And the ACE basin must be wonderful. I must have salt water in my veins.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we live in the high dessert, on a little lake which is a protected preserve so we see Blue Heron, geese, mallards, and wood ducks. There's a muscrat who makes the same journey around the lake twice a day at the same time. Lots of birds too so we have a chorus in the mornings! And a couple of huge ol bull frogs who sound wonderful in the evenings.
We once watched a Bald Eagle swoop down, snag a fish and fly away...all about 25 feet from where we were sitting on the patio! That's only happened once though.
Prior to this house, we lived in the foothills above our city. Lots of fox, deer and the occasional coyote. This spring, former neighbors woke to a Bobcat looking in their window! Imagine waking up to that...Ack!
I envy you all who get to see dolphins, pelicans, manatees, sea turtles! And the ACE basin must be wonderful. I must have salt water in my veins.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we live in the high dessert, on a little lake which is a protected preserve so we see Blue Heron, geese, mallards, and wood ducks. There's a muscrat who makes the same journey around the lake twice a day at the same time. Lots of birds too so we have a chorus in the mornings! And a couple of huge ol bull frogs who sound wonderful in the evenings.
We once watched a Bald Eagle swoop down, snag a fish and fly away...all about 25 feet from where we were sitting on the patio! That's only happened once though.
Prior to this house, we lived in the foothills above our city. Lots of fox, deer and the occasional coyote. This spring, former neighbors woke to a Bobcat looking in their window! Imagine waking up to that...Ack!
Jun 10th, 2004, 11:45 AM
#48
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Our Paradise by the Pacific is just next door from San Juan Capistrano and we get their overflow of swallows every year when they "come back".
The marshes along our caost are also home to egrets and herons which are seen all the time.
More rare are coyotes but they are here and we see one occasionally. Cougars have become a problem in the last few years (we are encroaching on their home ranges) and the man who was killed by one and the lady who was attacked a few months ago were just a few miles from here.
My home backs up to an undeveloped ridge line and if I get out early enough or stay out late enough, I almost always see a rattlesnake or two every year. It's the ones I don't see I worry about.
We also have large numbers of hawks and are famous for whale sightings in the early spring and late fall as they migrate between Alaska and Baja as well as on occasional pod of porpoises playing just off shore. We don't have as many seals, sea lions or sea otters as they do further north but we do see them occasionally.
Even in the heavily developed areas of south Orange County, we still get fairly frequent sightings of birds and animals.
The marshes along our caost are also home to egrets and herons which are seen all the time.
More rare are coyotes but they are here and we see one occasionally. Cougars have become a problem in the last few years (we are encroaching on their home ranges) and the man who was killed by one and the lady who was attacked a few months ago were just a few miles from here.
My home backs up to an undeveloped ridge line and if I get out early enough or stay out late enough, I almost always see a rattlesnake or two every year. It's the ones I don't see I worry about.
We also have large numbers of hawks and are famous for whale sightings in the early spring and late fall as they migrate between Alaska and Baja as well as on occasional pod of porpoises playing just off shore. We don't have as many seals, sea lions or sea otters as they do further north but we do see them occasionally.
Even in the heavily developed areas of south Orange County, we still get fairly frequent sightings of birds and animals.
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:08 PM
#49
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Let's add Pup to the list of "people" enjoying the wildlife here~
This afternoon, he was standing at the glass doors to the patio, wagging his tail.
I wondered, who is out there?
I looked and there on the edge of an empty flower pot was a gekko..who seemed to be looking right back at Pup.
His tail never stopped wagging ((&))
These stories are all so wonderful, we should put them in a book!
They make me want to jump in the car and start driving (to everyones house LOL)
I saw a pelican close up a few years ago on Captiva Island (the bridge) where a fisherman had caught a fish, the pelican grabbed the fish and my darling Yankee, stood at the bottom of the bridge and waited while the man walked the pelican to the end, where my husband was going to try to remove the fish/hook from the pelican.
But happily for all, when the pelican saw he was headed for a person, he let go and flew away~
Olive Oyl, " the mating is incredible, it goes on for hours"....is that what the girl manatee said
This afternoon, he was standing at the glass doors to the patio, wagging his tail.
I wondered, who is out there?
I looked and there on the edge of an empty flower pot was a gekko..who seemed to be looking right back at Pup.
His tail never stopped wagging ((&))
These stories are all so wonderful, we should put them in a book!
They make me want to jump in the car and start driving (to everyones house LOL)
I saw a pelican close up a few years ago on Captiva Island (the bridge) where a fisherman had caught a fish, the pelican grabbed the fish and my darling Yankee, stood at the bottom of the bridge and waited while the man walked the pelican to the end, where my husband was going to try to remove the fish/hook from the pelican.
But happily for all, when the pelican saw he was headed for a person, he let go and flew away~
Olive Oyl, " the mating is incredible, it goes on for hours"....is that what the girl manatee said
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:10 PM
#50
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I would be thrilled to see egrets. What a delightful thread.
We live in Canada's southwest and routinely see herons flying overhead because they nest in a park a few blocks away. We have no yard unfortunately, but occasionally a pretty male house finch comes to our balcony and sings up a storm. We like to watch the nesting gulls on neighbouring rooftops (we can tell when a bald eagle flies over by the ruckus they make) and get quite caught up in the raising of the young throughout the summer. Sometimes it is agonizing! But it is always fun to watch them learn to fly.
At a flying field not far away we often see red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and vultures circling. Deer sometimes wander through, swallows zigzag over the field and ravens do some pretty fancy aerobatics.
We live in Canada's southwest and routinely see herons flying overhead because they nest in a park a few blocks away. We have no yard unfortunately, but occasionally a pretty male house finch comes to our balcony and sings up a storm. We like to watch the nesting gulls on neighbouring rooftops (we can tell when a bald eagle flies over by the ruckus they make) and get quite caught up in the raising of the young throughout the summer. Sometimes it is agonizing! But it is always fun to watch them learn to fly.
At a flying field not far away we often see red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and vultures circling. Deer sometimes wander through, swallows zigzag over the field and ravens do some pretty fancy aerobatics.
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:31 PM
#51
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... and what about the huge FL storks that hang out on the same house nearby, by the hundreds, for no apparent reason, apparent to humans, that is, and invariably return to the same roof time and time again, and yet are never fed or coddled. Recently, all but one disappeared, and we imagined, for lack of a reason, that possibly s/he was a sentinel to confirm the location during some future fly-in. The owners are still waiting, and presumably will hear them landing.
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:34 PM
#52
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Just dropped by while my latest batch
of hummingbird sugar water is cooling
(2C. sugar, 5 C.water-never,ever any food color-boil-let cool).
We have 3 humbird feeders off our 3rd floor deck and I find the more feeders you hang, the more birds you will see.
I have had the same experience in Tucson, Boulder, Denver,Boston, San Francisco and now Petaluma. We get both Anna's and Frank's species.
On the other side of this deck I have a feeder that usually attracts wild house finches and steller jays-yet on occasion we will have a pair of mourning doves, robins, titmouse
chikadees,thrush,woodpeckers and california towhee.
Our kitties love it! The very best in cat tv!
We have a wetland preserve that we
hike in over by the river and see
egret, eagle pairs, meadowlarks, pelicans, canada geese,white and black swans, blue heron. Truly cool to be there at sunset
The egrets fly off into neighboring
eucalyptus trees to nest-it looks like someone tp'd the tree from a distant!
Do you know what species of egret you have? Snowy(about 2' tall looking shaggy like it needs to comb it's hair)
or Great (3' tall slender long white neck)? I'dlove to know!
R5
of hummingbird sugar water is cooling
(2C. sugar, 5 C.water-never,ever any food color-boil-let cool).
We have 3 humbird feeders off our 3rd floor deck and I find the more feeders you hang, the more birds you will see.
I have had the same experience in Tucson, Boulder, Denver,Boston, San Francisco and now Petaluma. We get both Anna's and Frank's species.
On the other side of this deck I have a feeder that usually attracts wild house finches and steller jays-yet on occasion we will have a pair of mourning doves, robins, titmouse
chikadees,thrush,woodpeckers and california towhee.
Our kitties love it! The very best in cat tv!
We have a wetland preserve that we
hike in over by the river and see
egret, eagle pairs, meadowlarks, pelicans, canada geese,white and black swans, blue heron. Truly cool to be there at sunset
The egrets fly off into neighboring
eucalyptus trees to nest-it looks like someone tp'd the tree from a distant!
Do you know what species of egret you have? Snowy(about 2' tall looking shaggy like it needs to comb it's hair)
or Great (3' tall slender long white neck)? I'dlove to know!
R5
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:39 PM
#53
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Lizards...we love the lizards, visitors love the lizards (geckos & anoles)...we get a kick listening to them chirp at night. Also, it's not that common to see blue jays in south TX but we started with two in our back yard and now there are five. Sadly, I have yet to see an armadillo in an upright position. Great thread, Scarlett! 
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:41 PM
#54
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Gotravel, Floridafran says she has hummers (haha, hummingbirds) in Pensacola. I think they prefer cooler weather -- I'll bet you see yours in SC in the winter or fall, don't you? I'd love to see some down my way but I've not ever. Not even with one of those little feeders.
Bird territories change constantly. That's why the Audubon Society does bird counts at Christmas and also in the summer, I think it is. White pelicans from Canada now are in Florida all year long though they used to be migratory.
Has anyone seen any of those crazy Snowbirds of late in Florida? Seems like they've left and gone back to Canada. Guess it's OK to venture back onto the streets now. Until November.
Bird territories change constantly. That's why the Audubon Society does bird counts at Christmas and also in the summer, I think it is. White pelicans from Canada now are in Florida all year long though they used to be migratory.
Has anyone seen any of those crazy Snowbirds of late in Florida? Seems like they've left and gone back to Canada. Guess it's OK to venture back onto the streets now. Until November.
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:44 PM
#55
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Scarlett, naughty naughty. It was a menage a cinq ou six. No dolphins though...that'd be too too kinky.
Egrets...when we first moved here and were beginning to identify them, the easiest way for me to remember the Snowy was that he was the guy who looked like he was wearing little yellow galoshes.
It was a menage a cinq ou six. No dolphins though...that'd be too too kinky.Egrets...when we first moved here and were beginning to identify them, the easiest way for me to remember the Snowy was that he was the guy who looked like he was wearing little yellow galoshes.
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:54 PM
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... lol, TG, thanks for the timely alert, but are you suggesting we watch our step or don appropriate helmets and goggles! I assume the beaches are off limit, that this influx is strictly an inland phenomenon. I think the winged critter population may thin out as one heads west, although we get a share of egrets, including the rear thonged variety common to sandy strips, and the great and lesser herons. Some of the older ladies do a great imitation with their hair hues.
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:54 PM
#57
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OO & Scarlett, you two are VERY naughty girls!! And it's not even Friday yet!
No, no, Bonnie, wine before, during AND after lunch. I love blue, too! My absolute fave color. Wouldn't you love snowy blue egrets??? LOL!
No, no, Bonnie, wine before, during AND after lunch. I love blue, too! My absolute fave color. Wouldn't you love snowy blue egrets??? LOL!
Jun 10th, 2004, 12:57 PM
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TG, one of our kids gave us Florida's Birds when we moved here. According to this book, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds "return to FL in early March when they can feed on nectar produced in early-blooming tubular flowers....Some birds remain in central or south FL throughout the year, while others depart in October for Central America". Their habitat is pine scrub; mesic hammocks; mixed pine and hardwood forests; urban environments; pine flatwoods; sandhills; agricultural environments. Their eggs are the size of peas, which was surprising 'til I thought of the size of the bird!! Imagine the size of a newly hatched hummer.
Jun 10th, 2004, 01:14 PM
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I've only seen a hummingbird once in my backyard. Looked up to see it flying, but looking like it was standing still on the porch. By the time I realized what it was, I was stammering, look,look,look,it's a, it's a,come here,look,hurry,hurry!
And it was gone.
No one saw it but me.
And it was gone.
No one saw it but me.
