Adventures With Birds

Thursday afternoon I arrived home from work and was checking in online. Yes, that is the first thing I do on the days where I don't drink another cup of coffee. On days when I am having more coffee, the first thing I do is get a cup brewing and then go check in online. :-) Anyway, I'm in my office on the computer and I hear this thumping noise.

After a few minutes, it gets really annoying and I go to check out what it is. I thought it was coming from the front door, but there was nothing there. I check out all my windows--still nothing. It's not the refrigerator making noise and my next guess, that something is stuck in the center island, was quickly dismissed as well. I walk around the great room trying to pinpoint where the thumping is coming from. I decide it's on the roof, just off the center of the room.

It's lightly raining outside, but I go out onto the deck to check it out. I look up at the spot the sound is coming from and see a crow standing there. "Hey!" I yell at him.

The crow flies off the roof, dropping what he's holding in his beak. It rolls down the slope of the roof and stops just short of my gutter. It's a piece of wood, maybe two inches or so long, about an inch wide, and half an inch thick. The damn bird was standing on my roof, thumping a piece of wood against my roof. The even weirder thing is that this isn't the first time I've heard this thumping noise, it's only the first time I've figured out what was causing it.

Can someone tell me why the hell a crow was thumping wood against my roof? Does he harbor a secret wish to be a woodpecker? This was truly bizarre.

Wild Kingdom

Well, it happened again. I don't know what it is about Sundays in my neighborhood, but the wildlife always comes out on this day--usually when I'm writing. It's getting to be almost routine to look up from the computer and see some kind of animal or bird around. Today, though, I think takes the award for weirdest sighting--a wild turkey. Yes, I kid you not, I had a wild turkey in my backyard.


Here he is, walking up the side of my yard.



He's walking from my yard into the one next door




In the middle of the yard next door




And now he's walking toward the house beyond the one next door


And here I thought the hawk sightings were cool. :-)

Other than this, it was a very quiet weekend. This hero and heroine are nocturnal again, preferring to work late at night than during the day. That makes me nuts because I like to sleep. :-/

My dad goes in for his surgery on Tuesday. I'll try to post on Wednesday, but no promises.