Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Urban Dwellers

I have been thinking for a long time about doing a Coffee Table Book. My subject would be animals and birds that have adapted to the Urban setting. To me the only bird that seems at home in the city is a Pigeon! But yet when I go to the grocery store, or any mall for that matter, there are tiny Wrens, "Town Birds" we call them, flitting in and out of the overhangs, nesting in any opening under or in an eave, or behind huge back lit letters, in little median bushes, or trees in the middle of parking lots and these little birds are so busy, and just a sing'n, they seem happy to be in this Urban Setting! As a matter of fact, I don't have any of these flitting around my yard, with their never ending chirping. I just have the normal Cardinals and Blue Jays  and a few Chickadees, but nothing like the parking lots seem to have! The other week after coming off the ramp on the expressway, I noticed on the side of the embankment, there were five huge Wood Storks, just hang'n out! Cars just whizzing by, exhaust fumes washing over them, but yet there they stood! Actually quite majestic looking, for a Wood Stork. Then yesterday when I went to the Dollar Store, right in the middle of this huge parking lot there was a White Heron in one of the small round medians in the lot. Same scenario, cars whizzing by, exhaust fumes washing over him (or her), but yet this White Heron just stood there, not minding at all that I had backed up to get a better view, I took a picture. The Heron did not move, this bird was at least three feet long, his wing span must of been huge, but his eye kept looking right at me, I drove around the little median the Heron was on, driving so slow as to not make it fly away, but as my car crept up closer , the Heron just looked at me, I took another picture. Honestly I truly think we shared a moment, so still, just looking at each other, I wondered what it thought of me just sitting so close and staring..the Heron was still looking at me as I slowly drove away. Even while out riding our bikes we take a route that goes down a big sidewalk that has a drainage ditch between us and the road, and in the ditch we have seen Snapping Turtles, Wood Storks, Ibis and Herons, in drainage ditches! Same scenario, cars and bikes whizzing by, exhaust fumes washing over them, but yet there they are adapting to the never ending sprawl of "Urbania"!  (my new word)

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