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Monday, February 16, 2009

Flamingo

Here we go, driving up 4th Street, one of the busiest in town, and a flamingo flew right in front of us. I'm sure, because they are very distinctive and hard to confuse with a dove or a seagull. Then, too, CJ also saw it.

There is no flamingo sanctuary anywhere near here, but who knows how far they might fly on a lovely day? From Busch Gardens? I'd like to think there are some nests happening in our few wildd nature spots near the bay. What makes this amazing is that he was near the bridge to Tampa, between two large cities that are wall-to-wall people. Maybe they are adapting to us.

Bald eagles and ospreys have adapted to city life. I've read abouut peregrine falcons living on New York skyscrapers so they can get a good swoop down on their food. Ospreys have built nests on several of the big light poles at the playground near us. They usually carry home a fish in their talons, but one went by the other day with a live, angry bird in its beak. The bald eagles in the neighborhood have been seen toting sticks back to fix up their old nest. They stand near the road on top of a dead tree, looking off over the ponds. Last week they started making out in front of one and all walking by. We pretty much figured out that the larger one is the female. Hope the nest is ready.

It would be nice to think the flamingo was heading for its mate, back in the salt marsh, fixing up a nest.