Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Other Birds on the Trip

It came as a surprise to us that Florida offers much more in the way of bird-watching opportunities than anywhere we visited on this Mid-west summer trip. I had been excited by the idea  of seeing different birds--and we certainly did as described in the two recent posts when we saw brown Sandhill Cranes and Trumpeter Swans. However, these were the exceptions. There seemed to be fewer species as well as fewer birds in numbers. What were noticeable were the red-winged blackbirds that were EVERYWHERE. I had no idea so many existed.

We saw sparrows nesting in the beer garden in downtown Madison.




I think this was a song sparrow.


Goldfinches were nesting at the botanical gardens a few miles away.





There was a variety of swallows and swifts. I think these were barn swallows nesting under this  bridge in Columbia, Missouri.




We stopped for gas and I noticed a pile of sand with holes in it behind the building.


On closer inspection, I could see swallows flying in and out of the holes.



Along with these live birds, we noticed a few notable reproductions. I loved the skateboarding chicken in this shop in Columbia,



as well as the signs at the farmer's market.


But this has to be the most creative: using an old satellite dish (one of the big ones) and chicken wire and (we think) orange foam insulation, someone has designed a turkey and it is coming together...



one can at a time!


Not the yard ornament that I'm looking for--- but, clever!

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