(no subject)
So I'm really getting into birding!
I've got a guide book and everything, and I've started a (so far extremely short) list of the birds I've positively ID'd.
Yesterday I saw two Glossy Ibis overhead, which were spectacular - the red, hooked beaks in particular! - and today I saw four (!) red-tailed hawks perching on telephone posts by the water. I had a hard time ID'ing them at first, but after a bit of searching I realized that there are so many different kinds of morphs regionally that not finding a picture with the precise markings I saw wasn't a huge deal - I went more on the shape of the wing, general size, and the fact that red-tails are common as all fuck.
I've also seen purple martins and a variety of small yellow birds which I think might be tanagers. So beautiful!
Took my dog for a walk this morning in a small 10-acre wood which has the distinction of being the only "virgin" patch of forest on the island (although the local Narragansetts might choose to take issue with the "virgin" part). I call my dog "the worst beagle" because he has absolutely no hunting instinct -- I was the one who spotted the deer tracks and scat, and had to point it out to him. He went nuts when he smelled the deer, dug up the tracks and everything to get at the smell, but by 7:30 in the a.m. the deer were long gone - you'd have to get up at 5-ish to see them at this time of year.
I've got a guide book and everything, and I've started a (so far extremely short) list of the birds I've positively ID'd.
Yesterday I saw two Glossy Ibis overhead, which were spectacular - the red, hooked beaks in particular! - and today I saw four (!) red-tailed hawks perching on telephone posts by the water. I had a hard time ID'ing them at first, but after a bit of searching I realized that there are so many different kinds of morphs regionally that not finding a picture with the precise markings I saw wasn't a huge deal - I went more on the shape of the wing, general size, and the fact that red-tails are common as all fuck.
I've also seen purple martins and a variety of small yellow birds which I think might be tanagers. So beautiful!
Took my dog for a walk this morning in a small 10-acre wood which has the distinction of being the only "virgin" patch of forest on the island (although the local Narragansetts might choose to take issue with the "virgin" part). I call my dog "the worst beagle" because he has absolutely no hunting instinct -- I was the one who spotted the deer tracks and scat, and had to point it out to him. He went nuts when he smelled the deer, dug up the tracks and everything to get at the smell, but by 7:30 in the a.m. the deer were long gone - you'd have to get up at 5-ish to see them at this time of year.