Linda and Regis travel...
Enjoying the gifts of the day with two dogs
Counting Birds
I included a couple pictures I recently took while doing our weekly bird count at the Alligator Farm. The Alligator Farm has been closed to the public for a while because of Covid 19, so the only people in the park are the caretakers. The small group of us that count the birds continued to do so since it is outside and there are few people around. I usually bring my camera to take pictures of any banded birds we see. I’m there to count, not take photographs. But, last Tuesday I couldn’t resist getting a few pictures.
Update on the baby birds: I had to take one of the blue jays back to the Ark today because it was ill and I was unable to feed it. I only got the bird yesterday but I was never able to get it to take food. Someone with the appropriate skills will see if something can be done for the little one.
After returning the bird, I took all my remaining six birds out onto the lanai. I gave them the freedom to roam the lanai and I read a book all day in between watching them. I was fascinated by their behavior. Every bird has its own personality.
The grackle mostly crouches down on the bottom of the cage, so I hoped having some space would perk it up and it did. It stretched its wings and wandered about. I put out a porcelain pie plate filled with water. The bird went to the plate, drank water, took a bath, sunbathed, then groomed itself. He was beautiful afterward, even without all his feathers. It was a joy to watch him.
The older blue jay has some flight capability and it took advantage of the freedom to fly around. I was a little concerned that I would have a hard time getting it back and I would have to chase it around the lanai. There was no need to worry. After we sat out there for awhile, the bird flew to my shoulder and opened its mouth for food.
I decided to let the little ones out later in the day and opened their cage door. Only the youngest mockingbird came out. That little bird never stopped running around, jumping, and stretching its wings. When it was hungry, it came to me and let me know. If I started feeding the other birds, it came to me to get fed too. Sometimes it spits the food back out, but I think it does that when its full. The other three birds stayed in their cage all day and slept while the crazy one ran around all afternoon. When I got up to feed them, one or more would pop out to be fed and then return to the cage when finished.
I was too busy enjoying them between pages in the book to think about capturing the moments on video. Perhaps I can remember to do that tomorrow.
Linda and Regis travel... 
Made me smile. How do the spoonbill youngsters stay in the nest? They are rather large for the space available. And those heron chicks have a definite Einstein look about them… 🙂
LikeLike
The spoonbills do a pretty good job and I don’t know how they do it. It doesn’t take long for them to spread out in the tree and hang out for while they are waiting to get a little bigger. It is amazing to me how quickly they get as large as their parents. When counting, we are supposed to identify the chicks separate from the adults. The chicks reach a point where the only way to tell the difference is they are paler in color. Its amazing that some of these chicks start off so unattractive and grow into the most beautiful birds.
LikeLiked by 1 person