I'm Flying!

   I have a tendency to name a lot of the critters on the Bayou.  When you spend as much time with them as I do, you begin to see that critters, like people, have personalities.  They are unique.  Some are cranky and wish to be left alone.  Some are daring as they face danger with flair.  Some are comedians who wish only to garner attention.  It only seems natural that they have given names.  I usually watch a critter for a few weeks before the perfect name becomes apparent.

  Meet Rose!  This cormorant has been hanging around the pier for the past few weeks.  Others have come and gone on their merry way but Rose lingers.  That is all good.  Rose was, at first, timid and would make a hasty getaway when I ventured too close.  Now, she has broken free of her fears and is quite the happy thing.  Watching her brings smiles knowing that she is learning to trust me.

  Now why Rose?  Why did I choose this lovely name for my new friend.  Well, one morning as I was nearing the end of the pier, the cormorant was on my brother's pier across the way.  She had obviously been busy catching breakfast by diving deep under the water and needed to dry her feathers.  She stood facing the sun with her wings spread open.  The first thought that entered my head was how great the resemblance was to Rose on the movie "Titanic".  From her new found freedom to the open-winged stance, the cormorant demanded the "Rose" moniker.  From this point onward, our lovely cormorant shall be called "Rose" and will be welcomed as a friend.

The Dining Table

  Down by the Frog Pond, there is a rather large piece of driftwood.  Driftwood is not naturally found in a man made pond but since I needed a "turtle ramp" to help the turtles climb up the steep, slippery sides, the wood was hauled up the hill from the marsh.  This piece and several others not only give the turtles an escape route but provide the other pond critters a handy shelter or perch...whichever is needed at the moment.  Today, a blue dragonfly was utilizing the wood as a dining table.

  The dragonfly was happily snatching up grasshoppers and katydids from the remnants of the garden.  With each catch, the dragonfly would fly back to the Frog Pond, alight on the driftwood and begin to devour is prey.  It was fascinating to watch this amazing creature while it was on the hunt.  Dragonflies can fly in any direction...not just forward.  They can fly up, down, sideways and even backwards.  Having two sets of wings with muscles that can work independently allows the dragonfly to change the angle of each wing.  This gives them the amazing flying skills.  The independently hinged wings makes them superior fliers.  They pretty much can out maneuver any prey.  Speed and endurance also play into the dragonfly's predatory skills.  They can fly up to 30mph and some species can fly across oceans during migration.  

  My little dragonfly was not out to set any records of speed, endurance nor agility.  He just wanted a meal.  The grasshoppers and katydids were readily available so he really did not have to work hard. My visit with him ended when he decided that a stinkbug should be on the menu.  Have at it, Dragonfly Buddy!  You can eat any bugs you want!

The New "Karate Kid"??

  Anyone who has ever had to sit through the old movie "Karate Kid" as many times as I have (thanks to sons), should remember the infamous scene involving the "Crane Kick".  In the movie, the "Kid" practices an unusual stance of standing on one leg with his arms flailed out like some wimpy wings.  I never could understand why this was such a fantastic thing but, during the course of the movie, that kick was the spotlight of the whole fight.  Arms up and droopy, stand on one leg and kick your opponents head.  Yep, it was a tad ridiculous, if you ask me but, then again, I am an old lady and not too overly excited about these types of movies.  Still, that pose....that weird pose has come back to haunt me....almost, anyway.

   While on the pier this morning, I had flashbacks of that crazy old film.  It seemed as if every pelican was trying to do a "crane kick".  I realize that the birds were just trying to take flight after a dive but the position of their wings resembled that floppy arm pose from the movie.  I first noticed it on a pelican that was close to the pier and, later, found that every pelican was doing the same thing.  They were all "Karate Kids" doing their best to emulate the character, Daniel.  Most of the birds, however, could never get that leg up stance to work!  They have the wing...errr...arm thing down pat but the rest was a flop.  Perhaps this is all because the pose was merely the idea of a film director and not some true pose.  The birds keep trying, though, and yeah, I do have a vivid imagination!

  This morning saw hundreds more birds migrating to the Bay.  Several large flocks of ducks landed just far enough away to remain unidentifiable.  We are definitely in the "Winter Mode" here on the Bayou.  Even though we do not have the cold weather like up north, we see winter with our migrating friends.  It is all good regardless of the pelicans thinking they are karate experts or even cranes.

 

 

The "Flasher" of the Bayou!

  The Flasher of the Bayou is called this for a simple reason.  The pose it has resembles what has been referred to as a flasher all these years. For those in the dark about this, Wikipedia (and most other dictionaries) defines the term as "a person who displays his/her body in a form of indecent exposure".  Well, the Flasher of the Bayou is not a person nor is he/she doing anything indecent.  It is just a term applied to a certain habit of some of the larger birds.  The Flasher of the Bayou happens to be a Great Blue Heron.

  If you watch critters as much as I do, you often can observe unusual actions.  Most of these have a logical explanation behind them.  Take the Flasher, for instance.  The heron spreads its wings and sort of lets them droop down to its sides.  This action makes the bird resemble the action of a person wearing a large overcoat that is held open in the front.  The bird is usually facing the sun when doing this which should give a hint behind the action.  With the sun beaming down upon the breast of the bird, not only can the bird warm itself but the sunlight kills any mites that are creepy-crawling around between the feathers.  

  On the other side of my brother's pier, I noticed several Great Blue Herons performing the same ritual high in the pine trees.  The morning sun was just getting quite bright (and actually a bit toasty) when each bird opened its wings and let them sag.  It was quite comical to see the three birds doing this in unison.  Being the only one on the pier at the time, I suppose that I was being "flashed" by all three!  Oh, my....the birds of the Bayou need to start behaving themselves!  (Just so you will know, this is the actual term applied by birders to the strange behavior of the herons.)

How I Wish I Could Fly!

  Wouldn't it be the grandest thing to be able to take off in flight under your own power?  Just imagine if we had wings and could soar across the horizon!  Well, perhaps I would not be doing a lot of soaring as I prefer to have good solid ground beneath my feet.  While I am not particularly afraid of heights, I like to be..ahem...well-grounded. It is definitely not being high up that scares me...it is more the falling that causes me to get jittery!  (heehee!) Falling and hitting the ground is not on my list of fun things.  It would, however, be positively wonderful to have wings as a backup means of transportation even if that need for transportation is just to get me back to the ground.

  Out behind the shed, there is a dead pine tree that serves as a roosting spot for so many birds.  The ospreys especially like the tree since it is devoid of needles that have a tendency of getting in the line of view when they are scouting fish.  The tree has started leaning at a precarious angle causing all stubs of limbs to also tilt at weird angles.  An osprey decided to perch itself on one of these slanting broken limbs.  As I photographed the bird, I pondered just how uncomfortable that spot would be for me.  My fear of falling would have had me clinging to that tree like cat hair to a sweater!  

  Birds do not have this problem since they can just swoop off the tree and glide to another spot.  Still, that perching spot did look as if the bird used poor judgement.  I cannot imagine sitting at a tilt for any length of time and yet, that bird stayed there for hours.  I would have been frozen with fear!

Wind Chimes and Garden Faeries

One of my wind chimes had finally died after being banged around in all the wind coming across the Bay. I love wind chimes, whether they have a beautiful tone or sound like a tin can. I think they add a lot of ambiance to garden areas. This particular chime was in the shape of a butterfly so I immediately thought "What great faerie wings!". Yeah, my brain does work in a strange ways..or at least I have been told this on many occasions. My daughter, being the sweet girl she is, tried to console me about this one day and told me that I was just "eccentric". Ahh, that had a much better sound to it! This made me feel some better..until I looked up the actual definition of eccentric. ~~Eccentric: deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially in odd or whimsical ways. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Ummm, Yep! I feel a lot better now! Thanks.

Today, being Sunday, was a quiet, work-free day on the Bayou. Things could be put off until tomorrow! Actually, I spent the day piddling around in the craft boxes, creating another "chair leg" character. Wire butterfly wings in hand, I dug through the pile of wood turnings to find the perfect "fit". The one I chose is not really a chair leg, I think it is part of a shelving system. It had a removable wood ball on top that made the perfect "head"! Garden Faerie had a body and wings! An hour later, she was painted and had a gourd hat. Now for arms! Nothing quite looked right. A faerie would light and wispy and the wood turnings made her look remotely like Popeye The Sailor Man. Not exactly what I had in mind. Ribbon would have to do. Add a tin lid and moss base and she is finished. Another cutie made from trash!