[Jeff]

My neighbors having longer horns than yours, Al.

 

[BrassMan]

Hmmm...not exactly birds, but since you brought it up, try this varmint:

These are actually neighbors:

OK; back to birds. Our bird expert friends say the owl I posted several pages back is a great horned owl. Here are some more local birds. In the second picture, it's not dead, it's just taking a dirt bath.

 

[Jeff]

You win.

 

[BrassMan]

Nah. Not a contest. Besides, that was a Mexican longhorn, from Monterrey.

BTW, I shot some pelicans from a T-head restaurant in Corpus Christi a couple years ago:

 

[Dori]

Wonderful photos.  I love the little hummer in hand.  Glad that he was ok.

Long Horn pics are great too.  Birds could use those guys for a landing place. 

 

[Carol Hanrahan]

Dori,
Did you do a little dance after the BIG post?
I think birds landing on the longhorns would be funny..... how many would fit per horn?

 

[Dori]

Probably at least enough birds could fit on the longhorns to bake a pie.

I do a lot of happy dances.  Most of them sitting down, much to Luke's chagrin.  He once said Aunt Do the hokey pokey is much more fun when you stand up.

 

[Carol Hanrahan]

LOL!  Too cute, Dori!

 

[BrassMan]

It doesn't seem fair to post someone else's picture, but this one, which came from I know not where, you just gotta see. These are supposedly Australian parrots.

 

[Dori]

OH MY,  what an unusual shot.  Thanks for posting the parrots.

 

[Anju]

ok guys, I am going to have to get with it and get some pictures of our wildlife!  Not many longhorns, but ordinary cows, and horses so I'll leave those alone but will try for some fun birds!

 

[Tippy]

Brassman -- would love to hold a hummingbird.  Great photo!  The parrot phot is fun -- love the colors!

 

[Dori]

I think it funny that the green parrots hang together.

 

[BrassMan]

That was a friend holding the hummer. I guess his wife took the picture. The closest I ever came to holding a hummingbird was way back in junior high. We were at a cookout with friends, and I was wandering around their back yard at dusk--I could barely see. There was a clothespin left on their clothesline, and I grabbed it to pull it off...and it flew away! It was a surprised hummingbird. So I can't actually claim to have held one, but I did touch one once.

 

[VictoriaP]

When I was a kid growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, we kept a hummingbird feeder that attracted nothing but ruby throated hummers--but it usually had 4 or 5 at a time around it.  One day I filled it & went out to hang it back up.  I had just stretched out my hand to put it up & heard a bird coming--he came in right over my shoulder, next to my ear!--and proceeded to feed off the bottle I was still holding for about 5 minutes before he finally took off.  It was sheer magic.

Today was my most recent "close encounter of the hummingbird kind".  Most of what I've seen up here in Washington state are the rufous sided hummers, both males & females.  Over the winter though, I had spotted one at a bit of a distance that I was fairly sure was a female Anna's, which is the only species known to overwinter on this side of the mountains.  This afternoon, I was out on the deck with our new red patio cushions when I heard that distinctive hum.  Looked up from my Kindle to find a male Anna's about a foot from my face.  He was eyeing both the cushions & the red flowers on my shirt, and seemed pretty disgusted that neither was edible.  LOL

That's all the incentive I need though to finally get my containers filled tomorrow.  I've got a couple of lists of hummingbird plants pulled up already so I can go shopping in the morning. Hopefully this boyo & his mate will stick around long enough for pictures next time!

 

[Tippy]

Great story Victoria.  I have planted 'butterfly mint' I think it is actually called agastache. . . or something like that.  It had very pretty coral color tubular flowers.  The hummers loved them.  However comma it seems we attracted brown hummers, forget what they are called.  I was hoping for something more colorful -- but ya get what ya get.

 

[Brenda Carroll]

It doesn't seem fair to post someone else's picture, but this one, which came from I know not where, you just gotta see. These are supposedly Australian parrots.

Loved the picture, Brassman! Those Australian parrots have a lot of discipline as well as beauty. LOL. I like they way they lined up. Reminds of those seagulls and pelicans down at Galveston Bay. They like to line up on things. Don't look real. Right now I have huge Centex doves beating against my patio doors, demanding breakfast. Hey, everything's big in Texas and they're scary too. Heeeey, just saw the picture of the Longhorn... and realized, duh! You must live or spend a lot of time in Texas. Longhorn watching, which is akin to bird watching, is my second hobby. We have some doozies around here. Beatiful beasts.

 

[BrassMan]

Nuts! I meant to post this on the pets thread. I'll move it. My bad! Sorry!

 

[Brenda Carroll]

It doesn't seem fair to post someone else's picture, but this one, which came from I know not where, you just gotta see. These are supposedly Australian parrots.

Brassman, couldn't resist showing off one of my former neighbor's bulls. This is a Watusi in case you haven't seen them before. Awesome.

My apologies to all the bird people. I promise not to do it again.

 

[drenee]

Just change the topic to Birds, Birds, Birds, Bulls, Bulls, Bulls.
deb