This Weather is For the Birds!

Mood: doing laundry
Last ate: vegetarian chili beans and rice
Word: Flibbertigibbet (hint: Bella)

(Before you all send me hate mail about what a perfectly wretched boyfriend I am, please know that it was Bella herself that suggested she was a flibbertigibbet.)

Yep, this weather is for the birds, apparently. All day has been a great day for casual birding. (I usually don't have time for any other kind of birding; instead, I enjoy watching birds as I'm out and about doing other things.)

Waiting for the bus this morning, I saw what I believe to be an American Kestrel (formerly known as a Sparrow Hawk). It flew out of a tall palm tree, soared briefly, then perched atop a telephone pole. I identified it as a male, not by it's telltale blue-grey wings, but instead by what it did next: he dove off the pole, caught an updraft which carried him up to another palm tree, and he landed, not on the tree, but on his mate's back. He did his thing as he clucked away. (Not like a chicken, mind you, but that's the best way I can describe it.) Satisfied, he dove from his mate, caught another updraft, and perched on a flag pole. I could see him smiling contentedly from where I stood across the street.

This afternoon, walking to the Stater Bros. near my school, I caught sight of what I suspect was a Red-Tailed Hawk. (It's possible it was a Red-Shouldered Hawk, but Red-Tails are more common.) It was raiding nests high up in palm trees, disturbing nesting parents to chase them through the air. It didn't seem to be very successful, and after several attempts, it gave up and flew off with another hawk. The birds in the neighborhood--crows, starlings, sparrows--were doing their best to scare the hawks, with little success. The crows made the most racket, and even dared to chase the hawks, albeit half-heartedly.

Also, seagulls were out in abundance, probably enjoying the overcast weather. One flew over me as I was eating lunch and it dawned on me: that bird is a living, breathing, thinking creature. I wished I could ask him how to fly. Maybe... one of these days... I will!

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