Brown Pelican Lifting Off Lake Houston– HDR Image by kenne
The look of skiing, wings high for lift-off I notice the scary sound of the big beautiful bird, but most of the time, I felt nothing in the moment as the wind moved over the lake waters the pelican moving at the speed of a second hand.
Pileated Woodpecker in East End Park on Lake Houston (October 7, 2023)– Image by kenne
Hugh and I were walking through the thick woods of East End Park when we heard picking from the woods and noticed the hole high up in one of the trees. Figuring by the size of the hold, it might be a pileated woodpecker, so we turned on our Merlin app and guess what? They stuck their head out from the hole.
It’s been a two weeks since this dove flew into our patio door. She was stunned, so I approached her to see if she could still fly. She walked away but didn’t fly. I later realized that she may have injured her left wing. Since then, I have been making sure she has seeds and water. She instinctively protects herself by staying in a prickly pear cactus; when leaving the cactus, she only walks around the edge of the patio wall.
In recent days she has increased her attempts to fly. Yesterday she was getting two feet off the ground. The patio wall varies in height from four to seven feet, so she knew where to practice getting up on the wall. I didn’t see fly over the wall, I only know she has left the patio.
The summer heat helps bring a lot of birds to our patio water fountain, including this juvenile cooper’s hawk. He/she has spent much time in the olive tree, which looks down on the fountain and bird feeders. They haven’t learned yet that other birds know they are there, so waiting will get he/she nowhere.
