Thursday, May 5, 2011

Bird memories, recent sightings and observations

Today I was lucky because I caught a glimpse of an egret. I believe it was the Great White Egret but I'd like to call it a white heron. This is because it's neck was extended and the little white fluffy parts of it's tail feathers were hidden from view.

Yesterday I had to laugh because I heard a cat-bird. Nothing is funnier than listening to a cat bird call. Their song is pretty good too. What this reminds me of is how at the Nature center a loooooong time ago a naturalist was demonstrating how he could catch birds in a "birding net" mid their migratory routes. He had a fledgling and asked us how we knew it was a young bird.

There were many ways to answer his question, and I said "by it's cry". The naturalist said "No". The Gray cat-bird he was holding could not be identified as a fledgling by the noise it made. This is something to ponder and I'm sure a scientist out there somewhere is asking the same question. Is there a significant difference between an adult and a juvenile cat-bird cry?

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