Mowing companions

[DAP]

Tim .. try and snap a pic of that raptor. Kestrels are easy to identify; they have a distinctive double mustache and they hover like hellicopters when when targeting a meal.

and .. egrets? called cowbirds? wow. That's confusing as there is a species here called cowbirds that could not be confused with an egret. The cowbirds here (brownheaded cowbirds) are 'brood parasites', they eject another species' eggs from a nest, and lay their own where the host species will hatch them. Very destructive.

 

[cstocks]

Yes DAP, when I was growing up in Ark. we called the brown birds cowbirds, too. I think they are actually starlings. Here in TX they call the white egrets cowbirds, I guess because they hang around cows.

Reminds me of a story. When I was a kid the p.k. (preacher's kid) at the Baptist church down the road a piece decided to shoot some blackbirds and have his mom make a blackbird pie. So, he shot the birds and his mom made the pie. The next day the p.k. commented to some of his grade school classmates that the "blackbirds" that went into the pie were actually brown with speckles. Seems the good reverend and his family actually had themselves a nice, tasty cowbird pie! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Chris

 

[TimSullivan]

I just came in from mowing the front area where the kestrel does its thing. I took the camera and cut grass for two hours. No escort today, I will try again the next time I cut the front area.

My neighbor was cutting hay on a forty acre field so I may have lost out to the competition.