er, sorry? I was away?
Hey, billytea, I saw Dall Porpoises, and sea lions, and some bird that was described as being a lower-48 penguin-y thing. Dang memory. It nests in little caves down near the water line on rocky coasts, has pink or red legs, kind of runs along the water while flapping furiously, gains flight but flies only a few feet off the water (the better to get lift from the downstroke of the wing)... hmm. I'm trying to remember if they had red beaks or not. Also a kind of oystercatcher with a red curved bill.
bt, I waved in your general direction twice today. Once as I passed through Philly, and once again as I passed through going the other direction.
What? It's travel related.
er, sorry? I was away?
t blows raspberry
I shall not be appeased.
Hey, billytea, I saw Dall Porpoises, and sea lions, and some bird that was described as being a lower-48 penguin-y thing. Dang memory. It nests in little caves down near the water line on rocky coasts, has pink or red legs, kind of runs along the water while flapping furiously, gains flight but flies only a few feet off the water (the better to get lift from the downstroke of the wing)... hmm. I'm trying to remember if they had red beaks or not. Also a kind of oystercatcher with a red curved bill.
...Ok, maybe I will. The latter bird would be an avocet I think. Not sure about the penguiny thing. I'm thinking auks, skimmers, guillemots, that sort of thing. Was its lower bill longer than the upper? that's be a skimmer. (I like them, they're delightfully ungainly, and occasionally very optimistic about how big a fish their chicks can manage.)
Oh oh oh! Also, some rich taxidermist dudes imported African exotic ungulates to an island, went broke, and left the animals there. The good citizens of a neighboring island tried to round them up, many escaped, one animal flung itself into the water, they realized the animals were probably fine, and left them there. It's now 30 years later. So, I saw fallow deer, some other kind of deer, and the kind of ungulate where the males have the curved striped long horns.
Then, a native black-tailed deer flung itself into the water and swam from that island to one that seemed not very far away if you're in a boat, but looking at it as if I were swimming, seemed really far away. The entire crew of the boat had never seen anything like it. We stopped and watched until it landed and got out. WHEW! I was really worried. The water's, like 50 degrees, and deer do not paddle-effective feet. It was swimming pretty fast, though.
bt, I waved in your general direction twice today. Once as I passed through Philly, and once again as I passed through going the other direction.
Twice through in one day? Was it work-related, or a dare of some sort?
guillemots
That's it! Pigeon guillemots.
Also bald eagles all
over
the place. Being dive-bombed by smaller birds on several occasions.
a dare of some sort?
Sadly, no. Just a picking up of Realtive A from Relative B's home in ... er, Landenberg? and returning to Del.
Being dive-bombed by smaller birds on several occasions.
Gutsy little birds.
Oh oh oh! Also, some rich taxidermist dudes imported African exotic ungulates to an island, went broke, and left the animals there.
You realise that the first time I read this I assumed they'd stuffed them first, right?
They're more common than turkey vultures. Really! I saw, like, 2 tv's and something like 15 eagle sightings. Some of them had to be the same eagle. A spotting scope was available for one nest. Man, those nests are honking huge. The kayaking guide was saying that the nests can get up to 2 tons and actually bring a tree down from the weigh.
The dall porpoises are way cool. They look like little orcas. They played in the bow waves of the boat and surfed the wake.
