[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Vince Lucas on 21:45:30 07/04/06
Happy 4th of July everyone. Today I witnessed something I've never seen before. I was sitting in my car at the Pelican Landing Shopping Center here in Naples as I waited for my friend to come out of Albertson's. A few parking spaces over from me was a Jeep with a ragtop (for lack of a better word) with all of the windows open. Why? Apparently, there was a dog in there, a beagle to be precise. As I watched, two Gray Kingbirds that had been flycatching from a nearby Laurel Oak started to divebomb the dog. They actually flew through the open windows of the Jeep to try to get at the dog. Shortly after, a woman came walking her dog on a leash nearby and the Gray Kingbirds attacked that dog as well. The woman tried shooing the kingbirds away by flailing her one free hand. The whole scene was reminiscent of something out of "The Birds". Apparently, the Gray Kingbirds were nesting nearby and thus the reason for all of the attacks. Also today, while sitting at my kitchen table, I heard the local badboy Blue Jays causing a tremendous ruckus outside during the heat of the day. The last time I heard this, I found that they were irritated because a Yellow Ratsnake was slithering around the base of the Live Oak outside my door. This time, the perp was a Cooper's Hawk that was standing his ground while several of the jays attacked from all sides. I ran to grab my camera but by the time I returned, the Blue Jays had succeeded in ousting the Coop from the yard. That's about as much excitement that we've had around here during these summer doldrums. . . .
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]