Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Life Along the Gulf Coast

The folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology come up with great ideas for bird watching. A recent one which I got involved with was called “FUNKY BIRDS IN FUNKY PLACES”. They wanted people to enter pictures of bird nests that just weren’t in the traditional tree.

My entry was a dove that nested on a door closer arm. The door was to the recreation room at a friend’s condo in Sarasota FL. That particular door couldn’t be used. I don’t really think the door (part of a double entry to the driveway) was ever used, except for emergencies. There was an entry from an inside corridor.

Go to www.CelebrateUrbanBirds.org and check out my entry, number 176.

After you check out the rest of the entries, because I know you will want to, surf around the website. There might be a new challenge that you could get involved with.

Another Cornell site to check out is Project Pigeon Watch at www.pigeonwatch.org.

We have had the pleasure of watching a pair of Bald Eagles (one adult and one juvenile) flying around our house this week.

I’m guessing it a mother teaching its young to fly.

Yesterday I got an awesome look at the two. As I was on my driveway with my dog, the two birds swooped down low and I thought they’d land on my house roof (its a one story home) but then they swooped up rather high, circled around and came back again. This happened several times. I guess I watched them for five minutes before they took off over the neighbor’s house and headed east. A while later we were eating dinner on the lani and I saw, over the trees out back, the eagles once more. It was like playtime. They seemed to be having a blast swooping high and low, landing on a tree limb and taking off again. The last I saw of them was after dinner they headed west toward the beach. I’m sure they came back, but we went for a family/dog walk before the sun set.

Shortly into the walk, however, a dozen Osprey flew over heading east. What a noisey bunch but they’re so cool.

The Osprey and the Bald Eagle sound so much alike. I like to go to the Cornell birding site to listen to bird sounds. Check it out: www.birds.cornell.edu Click on the left side “about birds”, then click on the top bar “bird guide”.

Cornell has an Ornithology study course that I’m thinking of taking just for fun. You can find that information by clicking the “learn about birds” tab. Happy surfing.