Subscribe
- A Cottonwood Seed
- BehindTheBins
- Bird Cinema
- Bird Freak
- BirdChaser
- Birdfreak
- Birding for Handicapped
- Birding is Fun
- BirdingOnTheNet
- BirdNote Podcasts
- Birds, Etcetera
- Central NM Audubon
- Chapel Trail Nature Ctr
- Children & Nature
- Cornell Online BirdGuide
- Cottonmouth moccasin
- Eagle Nest
- Great FL Birding Trail
- Hawks Bluff Park
- Illinois Birders' Forum
- Janine Images
- Jones Meadow Park
- Kane County Audubon
- KidWings
- Laura's BirderBlog
- Les Arends FP
- Lippold Park
- Nature Photography
- Nelson Lake FP
- New Jersey Audubon
- Ornithology Course
- Rick Wright
- S Florida Eagle Watch
- Somewhere in NJ
- South Florida Audubon
- SurfBirds
- The Hawk Owl's Nest
- Tropical Audubon
- Tucson Audubon
- Vermillion River Wildlife
- West Miramar ESL
- Wild Bird Wednesday
- WingAndSong NM Blog
- BirdChat
- BirdNote Podcasts
- Bird News Network
- I and the Bird
- Birding the Slopes of Turrialba Volcano
- Wiggle like a Woodcock
- Bird Guides of the World: Jeremy Yip, China
- Meeting of the Waters in Manaus, Brazil
- Birding Cat Tien NP, Vietnam (Part 2)
- Where north meets south – wintering gulls off Atlantic Iberia
- Birding Impressions from California
- Birding in a Moroccan Town
- Birding the Slopes of Turrialba Volcano
- FL Migration Radar
- General
- Birding & Outdoors
- Rutherford & NJ
- NM & SW US
- Florida & SE US
- Medical
- INDEX to Blog
- Hurricane Camille
- Getting Drafted
- Supai Canyon AZ
- Grandchildren
- Sandia Crest
- Capulin Spring
- Illinois
- Birding “Patches”
- Bald Eagle Nest
- Alaska
- MyWorld
- Wild Bird Wednesday
- Book Reviews
- Bird D’pot
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
Our backyard lake has an abundance of Largemouth Bass. While I am not an avid fisherman, I enjoy wetting a line at times. Since the lake is fed by runoff from insecticide and pesticide-treated lawns, I would not think of eating anything that lived in it. So it is strictly catch and release. Top-water lures are the most fun, if conditions are right and the fish are taking them. Strikes can be dramatic, but the use of these lures requires considerable attention.
More often than not I fail to set the hook firmly, and my fish are able to eject the lure by jumping high and shaking furiously. Fishing and birding, while not mutually exclusive, are not entirely compatible pursuits. It is impossible to use binoculars and a fishing rod at the same time. Many birds are attracted to the lake, so they are a source of distraction. However, if I had not been fishing I would have missed some great views of birds.
Year round, Ospreys patrol the lake and sometimes dive with a wondrous splash, emerge, shake off excess water, and then if lucky, lumber upward with a catch. In winter, a Bald Eagle occasionally shows up out of nowhere to hijack the trophy. More common winter visitors include Caspian Terns, Ring-billed Gulls and one or two Belted Kingfishers.
While fishing the evening of July 12, 2005 I looked up and was startled to see a flock of huge pink birds with long gangly legs, knobby “knees” and the unmistakable hooked bill shape of flamingos. They flew with outstretched necks and their flight feathers were black. Flocks of up to nine birds flew over our lake three times between July 12 and 16.
The evening flocks appeared to be flying away from a point nearly due north of our home. We put out an alert on the Internet, and decided to backtrack them the next evening, July 15. Mary Lou and I walked nearly a mile north on a roadway that was under construction just west of our home, but failed to see them. Then, the next day we got a call from Barry Heimlich, President of the Broward County Audubon Society. Barry and BCAS Board member Fred Griffin wanted to see the flamingos, so they came over after supper and we walked along the same roadway. We were discouraged when it started getting dark and none had shown up, and started back home. Suddenly four flamingos flew directly overhead (Barry took this blurry, but diagnostic photo).
View subsequent related post here “Origin of Flamingo Flock”.