Last weekend while I was visiting my family in Columbus, Ohio, my mom and I visited the yellow-crowned night herons that nest above a quiet suburban street in nearby Bexley, as I’ve blogged before. It’s something we do nearly every time I visit in the summer time, and I’m always amazed that such odd and interesting birds would choose to nest above a residential street. Bexley is a quiet neighborhood, but still: there certainly are quieter, less-populated places for a couple of secretive wading birds to perch and preen.
But apparently I don’t think like a bird. Yesterday here in Newton, I saw two red-tailed hawks perched at the top of a tall conifer not far from the Waban T-station: a sometimes bustling spot. Although I’ve seen a lone red-tail in the vicinity and assumed he or she had a mate somewhere, I didn’t expecte to see the two of them perched side-by-side, quietly calling to one another while I walked the dog far below.
I know there are wild turkeys in suburban Newton as well as the occasional great-horned owl…but an encounter with one of these wild things always catches me by surprise. Being accustomed to seeing Newton, Keene, or even Columbus as being “my” human habitat, it’s easy to forget that other beings share our space. The very fact that humans are largely oblivious to the wild things in their midst–especially if those wild things perch quietly overhead, far above the comings and goings of earth-bound bipeds–makes a quiet suburban street or subway right-of-way a surprisingly apt place for otherwise secretive birds. I’m well accustomed to watching my back when I walk the rough streets of my parents’ gang-infested neighborhood, but now I know I should keep my head up even when I roam the lush and leafy suburbs.
Jun 8, 2009 at 7:41 pm
They often pop into my garden for a SNACK. I have loads of bird feeders and baths and often the pigeons from the Marriott who go for the duck and swan feeders, come by to clean up the garden, they nab a pigeon and then have a plucking and vivisection in the back garden. We also have a lovely pair of orioles who I only spy flitting in and out the oaks.
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Jun 8, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Great shot of the herons.
Since I took up birding four or five years ago I’m constantly amazed by what I see. While waiting for my daughter this morning, I saw a Scrub Jay in her alley, and there aren’t supposed to be any Scrub Jays this far north.
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Jun 9, 2009 at 1:36 am
Lovely picture of the night herons.
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Jun 9, 2009 at 6:02 am
Watching a pair of nesting swans in the Boston Public Garden carefully tending their nest, I wondered how they could feel safe among the hundreds of daily human onlookers. They’re not even above our line of vision! At least the parks people put a wire fence around the nesting spot.
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Jun 9, 2009 at 9:53 am
As always, your pictures are superb. I loved the idea of those other creatures in their habitat juxtaposed to ours. I have been reading a lot of stuff about the brain, and I suppose that, with brains somewhat different from ours, the world for them may be very different.
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Jun 9, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Amazing photo!
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Jul 14, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Good pics. I’m located a bit West (and South) in the Kings Island area. Nice day today…80s and sunny!
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