I took Sandy (my dog) for a (leashed) walk at the L-P Preserve today, incidentally encountering:
A Northern Mockingbird, perched in shrubs across the road from the main parking lot. It was eating rosehips and occasionally darting down to the ground for insects. A Horned Lark. Although there are extensive fields of stubble and a cow pasture nearby, this lone bird was concentrating all its energies on a tiny area right in the parking lot, about 30 feet from where I’d parked. I got out, and even set up my scope for a closer view of what it was doing. It pecked at this small area continuously for a good ten minutes while I watched. After it flew off, I inspected the spot for any clues about what it was after. I thought I might find tiny insects or weed seeds or whatnot, but I couldn’t see anything of the sort. Instead, the one thing that distinguished this spot from the rest of the parking lot was that someone had spilled a thin scatter of crushed oyster shell or clam shell there, like the stuff we offer to laying hens to keep their eggshells strong... Later I witnessed a pretty agonic-looking Bluebird chase. Tree Swallows were busy sweeping the air over the preserve’s numerous bodies of water. -Geo -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
