Backyard Bird Count! Ready… Set…

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Backyard bird count 2015, counting birds, Egrets, Herons, magnificent frigate

OK; Not everyone can peer outside and see hundreds of Magnificent Frigates, one of 70 or more species that decorate the landscape around Casa Loca.  Whether you know our feathered neighbors by name or just refer to them as little brown birds, they are our neighbors, and we should acknowledge their presence in our lives.

Take half an hour or half a day or an entire day or the entire period (February 13 – 16) of this bird count, and share your  inventory with the world!  Learn more HERE: THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT 2015.

Magnificent Frigate – “Don’t you think I’m sexy?”

I’m not quite sure how to count all of the birds in my back yard, so excuse me please, while I go back to counting the birds!

Z

How many birds?

How many birds?

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Look Up!!!

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Communicating with Nature, Egrets, Flying Birds, Herons, Howler Monkeys, Jaguar stories, Let's Be Wild Look Up, Mangroves, Moon, Paulo Coelho, The Valkyries Quote, Tree Art

From The Valkyries:

“…Paulo said, “I want you to pay close attention to the people who pass by.”

She did as Paulo had asked.  In the next half hour, only five people passed by.

“What did you see?”

She described the people in detail – their clothing, approximate age, what they were carrying.  But apparently that wasn’t what he wanted to hear.  He insisted on more, trying to get a better answer, but couldn’t do so.

“Okay,” he said. “I’m going to tell you what it was that I wanted you to notice:  All the people who passed by in the street were looking down.”

They waited for some time before another person walked by.  Paulo was right.

“Gene asked you to look to the horizon.  Try that.”

“What do you mean?”

“All of us create a kind of ‘magic space’ around us.  Usually it’s a circle with about a fifteen-foot radius, and we pay attention to what goes on within it.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s people, tables, telephones, or windows;  we try to maintain control over that small world that we, ourselves, create.”

The Valkyries – Paulo Coelho
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Let’s Be Wild prompts us to “Look Up” this week.  Photographers and artists often look way beyond that 15-foot circle mentioned in Paulo Coelho’s book, The Valkyries.     Sometimes we are rewarded with refreshing surprises, like these young boys scampering in the ‘jobo’ tree in search of ripe plum-sized fruits.
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Home on the River

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Frigates, Herons, Ibis, kingfishers, Mangroves, night herons, Pelicans, snowy egrets, WordPress Weekly Challenge HOME

How many birds?  Frigates, egrets, herons, cormorants, ibis, terns, ducks -and about 50 more call this last bend their home!

While flipping through photos, I realized how lucky I am to have sights like this every day that I am home on the river.  The 2013 rainy season kicked off with a strong start, so the river now resembles cafe con leche instead of the colors from a few weeks ago!   The bird life remains phenomenal, and how could I not share some images of those amazing birds that punctuate this last bend of the river ?!

Those amazing frigate birds perch near the tops of the mangroves and suddenly leap into a swan dive that takes them near the surface of the water.  They might swoop lower in pursuit of fish, or they might soar high above and ride the air currents in lazy spirals throughout the day.  During nesting season, they often perch in the mangroves for most of the day.