If you want to see something really freaky, check out my video of the birds we saw on Queen Bess Island (near Grand Isle, Louisiana).
I think there were more than usual going to the island because a storm was approaching. The video is a little shaky as I was shooting while the boat was moving. We got in and out really fast because of the storm.
It seemed as if we had boated into Land of the Lost. Birds were flying just a couple of feet from us. Pelicans are the state bird of Louisiana.
Look who’s back…
It looks as if he’s been fighting, there’s a bald spot on the back of his head. I’ve seen him in the pool for a couple of days and Blane saw him once. Every day for a week now we’ve found feathers in the pool.
I wonder if there is a nest somewhere in the yard? The dogs have been sniffing out the bushes more than usual. I’ll let you know if I find any eggs. I thought breeding season was over. Hmmm.
Two days ago I went out in the backyard with the dogs and while scooping leaves out of the pool I noticed Scrappy had something in her mouth. I told her to drop it and, whoa! (If you are sensitive you may want to skip this post)
She dropped a baby bird. Mireille had one in her mouth too. I made her drop it. I couldn’t understand how those ducklings were hatching so early or how they got so far from the nest. I’d been watching over that duck and they did not raid the nest. They found those baby birds on my patio which is across the pool and about 25 feet from the nest.
I was clueless as to what to do. The house was full of Spanky and her friends, about six of them and i didn’t want them to know what was going on. I called Blane outside and he said those were ducklings.
What to do? They were alive and seemed well.
Blane thought we should put them back in the duck’s nest. So we did. A few minutes later that duck came out with the baby bird in her mouth. She was trying to eat it. When she spotted me she flew off with the bird in her mouth.
The other bird was still in the nest. An hour passes, no mom duck. I knew the baby bird did not have enough feathers to retain body heat, so I held it in my hand. It died about fifteen minutes later.
All the duck eggs in the nest seemed fine. But the mom wasn’t coming back, it seemed. I kept watching out the windows for her and then noticed two doves looking all over the patio for something. Come to think of it, those baby bird beaks were sharp. Not flat like duck beaks.
Oh no!
I’d seen those doves hanging around a lot lately. Even took a photo of them last week. I suspected they had a nest around somewhere but couldn’t find it.
Doves: Bad Parents
The mother duck returned, was a little confused by the barriers we put up to block the dogs from getting to that side of the pool (the patio table and chairs turned over sideways, bags of mulch). She swam across the pool, climbed onto the side and went back to her nest.
The doves have not returned. I wonder how their babies got on the patio?
____________________
|
