Urban Wildlife

Hmmmmmm.............maybe you'll fall in love with one of those precious lil ones?

Well, I still can't take a cat into my apartment, much less a kitten, and of course I did fall in love with Frisky last year and was heartbroken after he was killed by the car

Kinda makes me think the next one to steal your heart should follow you home, right up the stairs (or is the elevator working?) and in the door....... That's how my mom got Fiffur, he sneaked in the door right on her heels one day as she brought groceries in.

Speaking of wildlife. I think they've given up on the trapping project around
here.

I just read an email from the Humane Society saying that NY has okayed shooting mourning doves!!!!
What the hey?

I do a little more research on that. Somehow i can't see dove hunting in Central Park. If it's true and they
are not going to eat them well that's just out right obscene.

Probably upstate.. I happen to love the mourning doves in my neighborhood, even though they are pretty stupid. LOL
now I can see them going after the doves cousins, the pigeons.

I have an Asian Ringneck dove nest in my mulberry tree just outside the bathroom window, and a mourning dove nest in the honeysuckle vine in my back garden. We're trying to keep an eye out for the babies. Once they fledge, they run around on the ground for awhile before they can fly. The ones from the honeysuckle nest should be ok; there's lots of cover in the vines, but the ones from the mulberry tree will probably end up right in the dog area of the back yard. If we don't see them before the dogs go out, they won't have much of a chance.

I think we've got a lot of nestlings right now. I'm seeing broken empty shells on
the ground.

I found the empty eggshell before I saw the nest in the mulberry tree. The top was very neatly pecked off. Looked like they used egg shears. (You know, like some folks use on soft boiled eggs in the little egg stands.)

That's what the ones around here look like.

I've seen a few eggshells here and there around the neighborhood too. All looked like the one you described gbste.

I can't believe they want to shoot doves! What will the falcons eat in NY?
We have mourning doves here all over, they are sweet if stupid birds. I've even rescued a few that got trapped in my outer hallway over the years.

I don't know about mourning doves but white wing are very
tasty.

That reminds me of how the unusually warm March messed up mom and dad starling who usually "nest-up" in the oak outside my bedroom window. Not to worry though, the next door neighbors and their poorly maintained home provided other alternatives. Just this morning I heard some babies chattering from a hole in one of the overhangs!

Saw a VERY pregnant deer in my back yard this evening just before sunset. I guess faun watch begins soon.

There was one in the big pasture tonight. She looked like she was about to pop. Definite faun watch!

Wish I could see them, I only see adults occasionally, never any expecting moms or lil ones running around.

I saw a huge heron flying about 20 ft up above me at work yesterday.

Did you now? I saw a heron flying by as I was at a stop light the other morning. I think of them as strictly shore birds, but I guess they're not.

I get to see Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets all the time at work. They're just beautiful.

Egrets and I think Herons frequent White Rock Lake. Dallas is on a major flyway and it does
cause problems at times. Still I'm glad to see the birds making a come back.

We have a resident heron at home. He roosts in a tree and then, when we have puddles or flooding in the back pasture, he hops down and hunts. Our floods come from a creek, so we get fish swimming through. I see an egret at work a lot. He hangs out in the drainage pond, which connects to a creek. It's a nice break to look out the window and watch him patiently waiting for lunch.

I heard we have a resident heron living behind the cemetary, but I've never seen him since the brush in that area is so high you can't see the creek except from IN the creek. But I have no doubt it's there, fishing all summer long.

I remember when I was living up in the Bronx, right on the Hutchinson River. On the other side of the river was a park and bird sanctuary, but it wasn't until they dredged the river that we got a healthy population of egrets and other water birds moving in

I just read in the paper that there is a a Wildlife rehabilitation and education center in Manhattan, on Columbus Ave and 87th st. They will be having an open house this weekend

Are you going? I would love to go to something like that.