This blog is for the birds

I rarely think about birds, unless they are singing or leaving me a present to clean up. However, this last weekend birds kept coming up in conversations.

First bird conversation - Dennie, my sister, took her two grand kids to Turtle Bay. They thought the main attraction would be Sue the Dinosaur, but they liked the bird house the best. I had not even heard of the bird house. The kids were able to feed them seed on a stick and some birds even landed on shoulders. Dennie reported they stayed in the bird house for almost an hour. The kids were fascinated. Of course, they liked seeing Sue and enjoyed the butterfly house , but the bird house was the hit of the day.

Second bird encounter of the weekend: A big white Egret had landed in our very small back yard and was eying my koi for breakfast! Jim chased it off, but it just flew onto the roof of the house behind us (where he could still see my koi). So far, it hasn't been back. I am so happy, all three koi are still in the pond. It was weird to have that big of a bird in our tiny backyard.

And last but not least, have you seen the Caltrans eagle cam lately? When the triplet chicks hatched, 0n March 17th, 19th and 22nd, there was a lot of excitement. There was also some speculation that since triplets are rare, and difficult to feed, they may not all survive. I had marked the website as a 'favorite' but had not checked on them in weeks. According to the website, they are doing well. The parents are doing a good job of feeding them and they "are anticipated to begin fledging in mid June."

I think it always takes mothers by surprise how fast their chicks go from being dependent, to flying off and surviving on their own - but there is also a great sense of satisfaction is watching that transition.

Top photo: by Dennie

Egret: stock photo