Birds

Sunday April 11th

I'm staying in the Audubon Signature Society Evergrene, house sitting for some friends.

http://www.evergrene.com/audubon_sig_program.php

Within a couple of days of being here I saw some birds I didn't recognize. I love bird watching, and I feel like I've seen at least a hundred different kinds of them. I like to make the comparison of Bird watching to collecting Pokemon. You want to catch them all, (in your mind at least, or at best on a camera).

I saw a red shouldered black bird, and a moorhen. I also noticed the typical black birds, crows, mocking birds, egrets, and ducks.

The moorhen was a really neat bird. It's related to a coot, and I'm so proud that I knew that when I went to look it up.

I was driving in Hobe Sound this week and saw a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers off of Pettway street.

I think one of my favorite birds seen in Evergrene was the red shouldered black bird. The first time I saw one, I was driving down Bridge Rd. about to get on 95. A black bird with a flash of red on it's shoulder flew above my car. I was shocked and amazed, as soon as I got to school and looked up the bird in my bird book and was really pleased to add a new bird to my "collection." I became even more excited when I was sitting on the back porch here and one sat on a tree in front of me. It's one thing to see a bird flit across the sky and only remember that second in time. It's an entirely different thing to study the bird, and hear it's call.

Last week, after Easter dinner I went to Erin's house. She had told me that she found a dead bird in her yard. Being the bird enthusiast I wanted to see it. I took a bunch of pictures and started researching it.

I believe it's a Blue Winged Warbler.

It of course makes me incredibly sad to see a dead bird, but it offered a great opportunity to identify it and inspect it's body and colorings.

Two days later I found a dead rabbit in my front yard. I thought, what is this, are there vampires in Hobe Sound killing small animals? It was by the front of my house, next to a bush under a palm tree. It had no bite marks, no broken skin or blood on it. It was really hard to tell what killed Mr. BunBun. My brother thinks it was a coconut. "More people die every year from coconuts than shark bites," he says. I guess I'll stay out from under coconut trees. But I'll keep watching for more birds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-winged_Warbler

Just me and the Dog.....oh yeah and the two cats.

Sunday April 11th.

I'm home today, not feeling well, I woke up with a migraine, so I didn't go to church. I hate missing church, but I would have been miserable with a headache around other people.

It's my fifth day dog sitting for some friends in Gardens. They have a Rottweiler mix. She's really a funny dog-I mean her behaviors are strange to me. Granted I didn't grow up with dogs, I have watched enough t.v. and read enough books to know about some typical dog behaviors. She's 11, and I can tell she has some hip problems typical to large breeds. The owners gave me a few directions for her: feed twice a day, give her medicine wrapped in cheese, let her out back on the leash, and keep her away from small active children on walks. I took her for a walk during lunchtime the first few days, but I'm worried about her hips bothering her, so I haven't yesterday or today. When I was walking her Thursday, the lawn maintenance guys wanted to pet her. I warned them that she's not my dog, I'm only watching her and that she may be aggressive. I have also learned with dogs that if you as the owner (or dog walker) are calm, the animal will be calm. I would like to think that because I was calm and the lawn guy was calm, there was no problem. She laid down to get pet. The other thing the owner warned me about was her food habits. She gets protective when she has food and doesn't want you to come near her when she's eating. I've been the one feeding her and I don't perceive this as a problem at all. I give her space after I feed her, but I've approached her with food in her dish, and even petted her. I don't think she's as aggressive as her owners think, although they do claim that she's nipped at some kids before. My best guess is that the kids weren't respecting her space or treating her the way she needs to be treated.

This morning was funny. When I took Maxie (the dog) out I could hear an ambulance siren, police siren and so could she. She started howling, which she hasn't done at all. How funny. I hope the neighbors didn't mind.

The two cats are pretty great too. Sammie is shy and Maddy is mouthy and friendly. Neither of them will sleep with me like my cats, but I like them none the less. I'm not a fan however of the litter their owner uses. Tidy Cats Crystals. Now I don't like cat litter in general, but I prefer to scoop out the pee and the poo. With these crystals, they soak up the pee and turn yellow, the crystals don't clump and they don't sift well through the scooper. I think in the long run it's smellier than clay litter.

Overall I don't claim to be an expert on dogs but I do like to think that I have a way with animals, they like me and I can understand their needs. Maybe I should have been a vet assistant.


Nah, I'm good at my job. :)