After a couple of days of dreary weather, and more of the same in the forecast for at least the next few days, it was spectacular to have a sun and blue sky intermission for the ride home this evening. I rode to Stanley Park, and walked my bike slowly from Lost Lagoon to the heronry. It seemed every bird and beast felt as elated as I did. A young seagull took a bath, a heron met an American Coot and a swan, a goose drank some water, a squirrel climbed up on the wheel of my bike, some raccoons waded in the pond, and Sam and Serena worked on their nest. I've decided to break up the posts. Here is the seagull bath.
Fluff and shake up feathers.
Flap like crazy.
Put the right wing in.
Wash face.
Right wing up.
Left wing in.
Arm pit check.
Two-wing flap.
Step out of water. Shake.
Fan the wings.. Hang on by tippy toes to avoid lift off
One clean seagull says, "Who are you looking at? A little privacy please."
There were lots of other people around, but no one so much as glanced at the seagull. I guess I have to conclude that I have some unique (positive spin) interests, but that bathing ritual was great entertainment today .
That is a great (and very entertaining) series of shots! In the last couple of days I have watched a robin bathe in the creek out back, and a crow bathe in the neighbour's pond, but I'm never quick enough or close enough to get shots of them. Thanks for the play-by-play!
ReplyDeleteHow I love all the pictures and the accompanying text which is so lively and perfect for the picture ( see bathing routine!). Stanley Park is a place of so much wildlife activity, but it takes someone like you to capture it so vividly!
ReplyDeleteI saw my first robin on Thursday as I walked up to see the Red River which is giving Winnipeg so much grief right now. The robin was sitting on a wire and singing its heart out. I wondered if he was saying, " What? Why is there still so much snow and ice? Where is my material for building a nest!!!?" On that same walk, I saw a pair of geese swimming in what is usually a soccer field ( now buried in eight feet of Red River water! I suspect they enjoyed it because there was no ice which is causing ice jams and therefore problems for certain areas along the Red. The water is not as high as in 1997 when one third of the Canadian army was in Winnipeg in order to evacuate us if the floodgates at the south end of the city broke allowing all the water to flow through the city instead of being diverted around the city! Life is never dull in Winnipeg! Phyllis
Thanks, Jean and Phyllis. I loved watching that seagull.
ReplyDeleteJean, I'm glad to know someone else likes to watch birds take a bath.
Phyllis, I loved your robin story! A soccer field under 8 feet of water? Oh my goodness! I will hold good thoughts for all of the people under threat of flooding. Keep us posted, please.