But wait, there is more!

After Roxy and I left the Zoo (see the previous post) we didn't go straight home, as one would expect from two very tired people. Instead we decided to catch the nice evening light and do some wildlife exploring at the nearby creek. The place is teeming with life, especially birds - it's a birdwatcher's paradise.

There are at least 6 different kind of birds in this photo - can you name them all?


Well, how many did you get? The black skimmers seem to be the largest group, but there are also gulls, Brant geese and snowy egrets mixed with them, and there is a brown pelican and a few mallards swimming in the background.

Here are the skimmers up close. I still can't get over the strange appearance of these birds.


They may look awkward on the ground, especially those weird beaks, but in flight it all starts making sense and all features appear to be perfectly functional.


This anxious little bird is a killdeer. It spotted us coming from the bush where it was hiding, and jumped out of it, chirping, as if it was trying to get our attention.



The bird seemed unafraid of us; at least it was not running away - just standing there chirping, but as we came closer to the bush, it started doing some strange things on the ground. This was, in fact, quite a textbook behavior - the bird was feigning injury to draw us away from the bush, where it had its nest. "Look at me, I am an easy prey with a broken wing and all"...


We did find the nest with four pretty little eggs in it, after which we quietly went away, pretending we fell for the trick.


Here is a black-crowned night heron giving a speech.


This last photo is not wildlife (strictly speaking), but a Coke commercial, special for pastor Daniel.