Braveheart~does it get much better than that! Beauty everywhere, you live in such a wonderful place! Where abouts in Asia? I will always think of them as jungle chickens from now on, that's so cute!
Heron pics
Interesting about the chickens. We have some feral ones here and can run you out of your mind when they start crowing and you're wanting to sleep. The man who lives up the road bought them for what he said was tick control and let them run freely and they would roost in our yard.Owen got so fed up one day that he got out the shotgun and was going to shoot them and it took alot of pleading with him not to do so. He didn't but he confronted the man about them and he must have caught them or some creature has killed them.
Thanks for the interesting info. Lee
LOL lee, lots of people keep chickens here, even in the center of town! Their crowing is the cause of many complaints from newcomers who are forever trying to ban having chickens in urban areas, but it's a way of life here and I don't believe it's going to change anytime soon! Unfortunately I believe that quite a bit of cock fighting still goes on despite the authorities efforts to put a stop to it, which is a crying shame.
Gardnerkett, I don't really know if they are jungle fowl, it's only what I call them - and I am no expert on chickens! I believe Jungle fowl were the origional chickens before we started to breed them out. Google Jungle fowl and see if you think they look very similar, as I do.
BHM, yes, I can understand the frustration. We live in a rural area and there are no laws that restrict having chickens. Don't get me wrong, I do so love animals of all sorts, I just wish the cocks would be a little more considerate LOL. Owen, the friend with whom I live was born and reared on a farm and he said that they always put them in a coop at night.
One morning I looking out the window and lo and behold, a hawk swooped down and off it went with a chicken(a hen) in his talons. I know hawks have to eat but it troubled me all day that I had witnessed it. As annoyed as they make me, I felt sorry for the hen. Also, they are subjected to predation by foxes, coyotes and bobcats.
Thanks for your response and update me about the chickens. Lee
Jen is right, they are Junglefowl or Moa (Gallus gallus).
They are descendants of the birds brought here by Hawaiians. Much smarter than barnyard chickens (less likely to get caught by marauding dogs).
It's LouC's birthday today. Here is a link to the Happy Birthday thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/916207/
You didn't hear this from me. As a matter of fact, I was never here. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
Sylvain.
Sylvain~you are so thoughtful, thanks for the link.
Metro~found a link, now I have lots of photo's to paint from-the chicks are so adorable!
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/NDG/BRKRedJF.html
Thought I would include one of my favorite birds from the coast of Mississippi.
Most people call them a Brown Pelican, as always the males are much prettier.
Wouldn't you just love to feel the down on the pelicans head, it looks so soft.
Braveheart~That's funny I always think the same thing! They only let me within about 5 feet, don't think they are a good candidate for the petting zoo....tee hee.
Thanks for the link Gardenerkett.
Not only are the birds colorful, they apparently make good pets. It is not uncommon here to see local boys walking around with their pet chicken in one hand and ukulele in the other!
Now that would make a good photo~pet chicken in one hand ukulele in the other!
Pet chickens... that's interesting.
I am reminded of the first time we stopped in Antigua. As we were touring the island, we saw hundreds of goats all over the place: in parks, in cemetaries, on private lawns, walking in the street, goats, goats and more goats. I asked our tour guide where all these goats came from. He answered that when a boy reaches the age of 8, his parents give him a goat to teach him responsibilities.
I had to laugh. I couldn't help myself. All those goats roaming all over the place only testified to that custom's unbelievable failure rate. Plus, the goats being left to themselves did what comes naturally and only produced more goats. We returned a few years ago and there was not a goat in sight. I guess the government decided to catch the goat by the horns, have a huge goat curry party (YUM) and clean up the place. As the nefarious Martha would say: "It's a good thing".
Come to think of it, we saw loads of chickens running around when we visited Waimea Canyon on Kauai (HI). They kept to themselves in the underbush and bothered noone.
Aloha,
Sylvain, A.K.A. Pu'ole.
Gardnerkett, we must have had the same tour guide on the road to Hana. The roosters are beautiful and so was his harem. Having driven from Dallas to Corpus Christi on the back roads this week we saw lots of goats. A favorite food of our Mexican citizens. Some of them were in the pens with the chickens.
Aloha, PK
I'd like to share some bird pictures as well. These chicken walk freely on Key West streets, not bothered by the human beings. Sometimes it's harder to see them, if they "go to bed" or decide they are shy.
A bird with a sweet tooth (part 1). I thought it's funny, forgive the blur, the camera just decided I wanted to take a pic of the chair...
A bird with a sweet tooth (part 2). These pics were taken on the St. Petersburg Pier, we were having lunch on the terrace.
Pelicans in Naples
Pelican in St. Pete
A beggar... I'm a bit ashamed to share this, as it is very blurry, zooming in bad light, but I thought it to be too funny.
some sea-birds waiting for the food to show up...
...and the food
Did she drive here?
I wish I knew more about birds. This one is in Key Largo
Great bird pictures! No pelicans over here..
And a bird (Florida black vulture?) waiting for a rocket launch in Cape Canaveral.
Good morning, Jen!
Morning Alexandra, all well in your world? Just drinking my cup of tea before heading out for a serious date with a bougie which is huge and very scratchy!
Nah, but looking for pics in my older folders cheers me up a bit. I've got some health issues that keep me bummed.
Well, good luck with the bougie! That reminds me, when we were in Miami, we had a huge one "hanging" on the fence towards the street. One fine Saturday morning, the postman saw us in the back yard, and wanted to ask us a favor... it seems he couldn't walk on the walkway anymore because of how bigh that thing grew, so he had to step in the street (US1, bad traffic...). Hubby went to hack it back right away. Next month, it was like it never met the scissors. Postman said nothing anymore...
Sorry to hear that you are having some problems, Alexandra - hope all will be okay...
LOL on the bougie - I have a real love / hate relationship with them! This one is in the back corner of the garden (most of the others have been back-hoed out) and you would think the darned thing would not be a problem, but it's taking over quickly. It's a particularly prickly purple one too.
I would love to have a bougie that would take over my back fence!
Speaking of which a photo, of such from your neck of the woods Jen
Back to Herons - one in flight
Are any of you submitting pictures to the photo contest? I've been scouring my hard disc all morning. I got a few entries in. Judging by the quality of previous contests, only my best pics need be posted.
Sylvain.
Great pics everyone...Alex - very funny pics! Hope you are feeling better soon.
We are having a Latin party at the beach tonight in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. I won't be on the pooter long cuz I have a date in the kitchen with DH to make chile verde. The pork has been roasting all night and my house smells like a luau!
We have the occasional heron out here too. And they are huge! They land in a palm tree and the fronds bend down nearly to the trunk! My favorite out here though are the fairy terns...so graceful!
Hasta las vistan amigos!
Shari
Thanks for the wishes, Jan and Shari.
I'm happy if you liked the pictures. Unfortunately, though I appreciate the beauty of birds, I have no knowledge about them to attach to the pictures.
Sylvain, I would love to enter some pictures in the photo contest, but mine are mostly amateurish, I might have beautiful things, but the technique... I was a bit better with the manual cameras, the digital one has a mind of her own sometimes... I just love to take pictures of either beautiful or funny or new things, or some that make me remember of something. And sometimes I have a very strong desire to share them.
But I hope to see many pictures from our talented TZG photographers!
I'm at the computer on and off, as I really need to finish bringing inside anything that might not like lower 40s! We've had that two nights in a row now. I don't know if this is normal, I forgot what normal is... or is it relative???
Since we have been here twice before, didn't bring the cameras this time. Went to one of the bird observatorly areas yesterday and had a great time trying to id the birds. This part of the Texas coast is the winter roosting grounds for many, many birds. The most amazing thing we saw yesterday was a HUGE white pelican that hails from North Dakota. Funny place for a water bird. We are on the fifth floor and can almost reach out and touch the brown pelicans as they fly the length of the beach.
Beautiful Sunday morning.
PK
Gardnerkett, your pics are beautiful! Just saw my first Red Bellied woodpecker yesterday. Can't believe you got a pic of a Pileated. Awesome! Just got back to NY the other day.
A Japanese White Eye, Zosterops japonicus, flew into my window this morning. Luckily he regained his senses and, with some encouragement from his mate, flew away!
Dave, it is such a cute little fellow! Seems really really little, and a bit dizzy (still?)!
This weekend I've seen for the first time a roadrunner running on the road... not tropical at all, and certainly not the one you see in cartoons...
Awww that little Zosterops is so dear, bad headache after that episode.
I remember seeing my first roadrunner on a trip to AZ when I has early teens, and I was so disappointed that they did not look like the Bugs Bunny cartoon roadrunner! But they are kinda cute.
Here is a sorta tropical type bird I spotted on a walk a while back - it was holding so still I had to take its photo....tee hee.
Sad news. The original company that "birthed" the pink flamingo went out of business early this year. The raw products were all pertroleum and they could not afford them any longer. This is now an endangered species.
Metrosideros, how lucky the Japanese whey eye survived. Can't tell you how many birds, esp,. hummingbirds, we have reasued due to their hitting one of the windows,
guffybulb, love the roadrunner pic. I, too, have only seen them on the cartoons.
Lee