Mizz Scarlett: those birds with their wings out to dry are Ahingas. An interesting bird that does not have the natural oil on their feathers to repel water.

A funnny story and very much Sanibel: When we first moved here we went to the beaches of Sanibel very often. Once we saw an ahinga on the beach standing for a long period drying his wings. He was approachable and did not move as I came in with my camera. I thought perhaps he was injured and called CROW, the wildlife rescue group on Sanibel asking if I could bring this injured bird into them. They gave me detailed instructions on how to capture and transport him and we started on our task only to have the bird take flight when I finally invaded "his space:" (about 3 feet.) We were surprised and amused when we later learned about this commonplace but interesting bird. They are also on my pond daily.

Here is a picture for those who do not have the Ahinga near them
http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/n....ever2057.html

Bless his heart, I have seen those birds, they are great! and not so small either, I think you were brave to approach one!
To keep this Travel related and off the delete list-
Ding Darling is one of the best wildlife sanctuaries and nature centers that I have been to.
I hope as Sanibel gets more and more popular, that their wildlife does not suffer..
Tonight the fruit bats were out in force :)

winerycat,

We had almost the same thing happen several years ago. That summer we had literally hundreds of hummers at our camphouse on the Black Warrior River. They just swarmed around the feeders all day.

Of course, we spent a lot of time there, enjoying them and refilling the feeders.

One day, one flew into the house. We, too, have high ceilings, and the little fellow lit up on the ledge of a high window.

We didn't know what to do. John finally got a broom with the thought of gently "shooing" him out the door, but when he climbed up the ladder and raised the broom, the little bird jumped onto the straw, and stayed there while John very carefully brought broom and bird down and out the door.

Then he walked over to a feeder and the hummer flew over to it!

We were so relieved to get him outside where he belonged!

I wouldn't have believed that scene if I hadn't seen it.

Byrd

Byrd: Yours was a smart little guy! Thanks so much for the story! I guess birds get into people's homes pretty often, but I've never talked to anyone else who'd actually had hummers in the house! :-) I just love it when I'm sitting outside and they fly up close to my face, then hover there for a few moments, as if to say "hello!" , then suddenly they're off again to drink from my flowers. Always a delight!

Byrd, what a wonderful story! We love our hummers, have two feeders......... they are such exquisite little creatures. I was surprised to find that they will actually chase each other off, protect their territory, like a mockingbird, for instance. (Those mockingbirds can REALLY be little devils!)

Well, it looks like bath time at Tara. We have a set of mourning doves, both bathing together in our birdbath ((L))

I must get hummingbird feeders! Do you hang them away from the house so they are not frightened away , in the trees? where?

Scarlett, actually you can hang them very close to the house, and that doesn't frighten them. You will see some people even put them on a window, with a suction cup, but that's not a good idea because they can fly into the window! We have one about six feet from our family room window, then another hanging in a tree at the edge of the grassy area of our yard, maybe 40 feet from the house.

And speaking of animals in our yards....I found a new worm yesterday residing with us...one named W32.Netsky.P@mm!enc....ugly critter that he is. I think I've zapped him, but I've been MIA in the process. My first worm and heavens only knows how I got it!

Scarlett you asked about feeding the hummers....our daughter and s-i-l have hung several hummer feeders on their patio, within 6 ft of their kitchen window. While I was there in March they would come and feed while we sat outside, just feet from the feeder. It didn't seem to bother them in the least. Also witnessed them chasing others off territorially.

Bonnie your mentioning the aggressive Mockingbirds reminded me of something I've seen twice here, the last time just a couple of weeks ago: Mockingbords diving and pecking at a hapless black racer that was in our patio. Poor thing slithered off as fast as he could, getting under a prickly bouganvillea for protection. It was the first and probably only time I've every felt sorry for a snake!

OO,
Missed you but thought you were out having lots of fun! Sorry the worm came along, as you know, the Yank and I have gone through some computer stuff too..no worms though .. phew~
A black racer would not bother me but I have been warned to keep our grass shorter, snakes hiding, etc. Ick ick.
I am off to get hummingbird feeders and syrup today~Thanks to all who have contributed to a Not Exactly Travel thread ((L))

This is a really fun post, thank you Scarlett for starting it.
I live on the Monterey Bay so when I take my morning walk I'm usually lucky enough to see sea otters, harbour seals, California sea lions and bottlenose dolphins. During the winter and spring I see grey whales although those sightings are pretty rare.

OO, we had a mockingbird in PA who was unbelievably obnoxious....... it commandeered this one tree for the whole season, and we named it after a particularly bitchy female relation!:-d

It doesn't surprise me at all to hear that they're after a snake!:-)

Floridians, do you know if those awful lizards are still around that make a cats neck go crooked when they bite them? I recall seeing cats like this and having people (non-professionals) explain this phenomena but I haven't seen many cats with crooked necks nowadays. Have those poisonous lizards gone away?

Any takers on this one?

Great thread! I live in semi-rural Marin County, where we have all the usual suspects -- squirrels, raccons, wild turkey, skunks, woodpecker, mice, lizards, foxes, snakes, quail, vultures, etc. We barely notice the deer anymore (except when one fell into the pool), but our visitors are always amazed by the number of them lurking. Especially my father-in-law, who hunts them in Georgia.

I have never gotten used to seeing the owls and hawks; I still think they're incredible.

CATS NECKS GO CROOKED??? I've never heard of this. Hopefully it's not a variety of the little guys we get in the house?? Truly I don't know about that, but there is a frog outside that one of our cats had the misfortune of putting her mouth on. It made her foam and drool as if she were rabid. Scared the beejeebies out of her and us! She never did chase frogs again though.

bonnie, we've had tree-protecting grackles too...especially annoying if it's a tree you have to walk past...like between your house and your car. We had one of those one season too...he came so close in his bombing runs he occasionally actually touched our heads!

OO, I thought it was a lizard but my memory is clouded, and frankly it's something I've not seen in awhile, the half-cocked cats, that is. The poor little kitties looked so pathetic, they were always looking askance and would have to position themselves at an angle to look ahead. Whatever it was, it would release a poison that would affect their nervous systems, I suppose, and create this weird deformity. I always worried about it because I've always had cats.

And so your kitty survived the frog? That's good.

Scarlett,

Greetings from the wilds of the East Village, NYC.

Last month I looked out my bedroom window. There on the fire escape railing sat a red-tailed hawk. I sat carefully, he/she sat calmly surveying the neighborhood. (That head-turning-around deal is something to see from six feet away.) After a few minutes, the hawk shrieked just like in a nature special and dove away.

Not your usual pigeon visitor.

Great thread! It sure gives us renewed hope for our environment, I guess we haven't ruined it after all, if there're still red-tailed hawks in the East Village!

My two tidbits to add:

We love to stand in the water, knee deep, in the summertime (Gulf of Mexico). If you stand very still, the schools of stingrays will swim right by - and between - you. Of course, they cannot hurt you unless you step on them, so this is an awesome and safe way to really see them up close. People on the beach sometimes yell at us to GET AWAY!!! We just smile.

Birds...ha! We have a completely wooden house, except for the metal chimney rising from the roof. Guess what the woodpeckers LOVE to peck on. Just imagine what that sounds like, right above your head, at 6:30 am on a Sunday morning...gets my husband to wake up cursing!

joan, we had a house in the country that was all cedar...all summer those pesky woodpeckers would hammer away LOL

TG,
we looked at a house one time that had a bunch of cats living in it. One of them had a crooked neck, but this was in NY state..no lizards I think but a run-in with a car..
But he did remind me of something in a Exorcist for cats movie..

Joan, I love those schools of rays that flap in unison while they move down the beach. But I've never had the nerve to stand in the middle of a school as it travels along the shore. And I always worry about showing the tourists something that will prompt them to do something that will lead to either environmental disaster or human misery. I've had to pull in a pelican from time to time to release them from tangled fishing line or to cut a hook out of their wings or skin, something I learned to do from a wildlife rehabilitator. Too bad more people don't know how to do that as there are soooo many injured pelicans in the wild.

I love all the doves at Sunset Beach.

Scarlett, the exor-cat? Hmmmm. Move over Linda Blair.