Ronnie, The Blue Herons and Great Egrets are big birds but they do build nests in trees and perch on roofs at times.

Photo from July 2010, juvenile Blue Herons at their nest in a tree a friends home.


Photo from Nov. 2013, Egret perched on the roof of my screened porch:


Photo from August 2010Heron on a friends roof:

Lin - Those roof shots crack me up! They look like they are spying on the homeowners or they are the official "watch bird" of the property!

LOL Becky, the Egret on my roof was looking down into the water ... probably waiting for a little fishy to swim by.

Ann, that's the first time I've seen a blue heron on the roof too!

Lin, awesome pics of the young blue herons!! and the other great roof shots.

Becky, that's exactly how I felt about the Hawk on my roof the other day! And the fact that he was right on the front just made it weirder. Still can't believe he didn't fly off when I opened the car door. I think I've been digging around the garden so much they view me as some kind of root-digging mammal that's no threat to them.

You are probably right, Melanie! Birds are curious and will perch and watch me whenever I am outside. I can just imagine what they go back and tell their bird friends about me!

Well, if any of you haven't been reading the BBB Articles thread, check it out because crows have awesome memories. They know how to spot a "suspicious person" and can report it to their crow brethren for years! It's a pretty awesome read. http://garden.org/thread/view_...

Some of you from the butterfly thread know I started volunteering at a place in my neighborhood called Joshua House. It's a campus for neglected, abused, and abandoned children. I'm in charge of the library! They also have a small butterfly garden I'll be helping with.

I've noticed when I drive in, I've been seeing quite a few birds. This is mostly due to the fact that they have a small pond in front. So today I walked around and took some pictures! There were several Ibises that seemed to be cleaning and grooming themselves at the edge of the water.




I was walking over to take a picture of this Ibis and didn't see the Little Blue Heron until it squawked and took off flying. So there was a Heron there right before I took this.



There was a Muscovy Duck that came over. I'm guessing someone has been feeding these birds.



The Ibis and the Muscovy decided to be friends.



So on the drive out, I see the Ibises have moved across the drive and over to a grassy area. And there's a Red-Shouldered Hawk with them?!



There was a crowd of Vultures in and below a tree across the street from my house. Most of them flew away when I approached, but I did get a picture of one.



And directly across the street from me, the Sandhill Cranes were hanging in front of the cows.



I got scared when I saw all the Vultures because we have a Gopher Tortoise that moved in recently. But I checked, and my new friend was still in its burrow!

Those are great Melanie, strange to see the hawk with the ibis, hope he didn't get one, or the duck for dinner.

Great shots Melanie. You had variety everywhere today.

There were actually about five Ibises around the Hawk but it just pecked at the ground along with them. Maybe he's been hanging out with them too much and forgot he's a hawk?

Melanie, what wonderful shots!!
I love the White Ibises but I especially love those Sandhill Cranes that I don't see very often. I bet that hawk had something on the ground that it was eating; at least in that second photo it looks like it's bending down to possibly take a bite of something in the grass. Whenever I've seen hawks on the ground like that they've always had something in their talons and bend down to pick at it. Love, Love, Love that Gopher Tortoise, it's been more than four years since I saw one of those neat critters.

Oh, and before I forget, for volunteering at Joshua House! I know you will be a great asset to the volunteer staff and the children will benefit by learning from you about butterflies and gardening!

Here's a picture of the Hawk where it looks like maybe something is sticking out of its beak.



Lin, there's a group of ladies coming on Saturday to renovate the butterfly garden at Joshua House and I'm bringing some native pipevine and Senna because you know I'm pro-native. Have to replace those awful non-native plants and keep those butterflies happy. I told the lady in charge I'm just going to kick back and watch them work, but I'll happily caterpillar-sit any they find while moving the plants. I'm starting back at MOSI on Sunday and I can't wear myself out by having too much fun! Oh, but I did add that I'm an expert at fetching drinks! I help in my own way.

RS Hawks will eat bugs just like the Ibis do. We watched 1 of our RS hawks one day happily munching earthworms. We got the binoculars out & clearly saw the earthworms in it's beak - slurp, slurp, suck, suck, just like spaghetti.

Melanie - Thank you for your work at the Joshua House! I have worked at my school with children at our local Hibiscus House which is for abused, neglected, and abandoned children. There are never enough volunteers.

Lin - You will see lots of tortoises and Sandhill Cranes when you move here!

I'm finally going through my Facebook feed and today is Folklore Friday, once again brought to you by the awesome folks at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (owned by the Audubon Society). Today it's about the Ibis!

Folklore Friday: The White Ibis and Roseate Spoonbill are two beautiful wading birds that can be seen at Corkscrew. Interestingly, spoonbills (Platalea ajaja) and ibises (Eudocimus albu) are in the same family, the Threskiornithidae. There are 28 species of ibis and six species of spoonbills. The species name, ajaja, is a variation of the Brazilian name for this bird, which is based on a Greek word for “sacred bird.” This name was awarded to this family of birds because it includes the ibis, which was considered sacred. In Egypt to kill the sacred Ibis was once a capital offense. It is believed that Thoth, God of Knowledge escaped as an Ibis from a Typhoon. The ibis symbolizes great wisdom and the ability to work magic.They were symbols of good luck and to wear an ibis feather would bring good fortune.

In Native American folklore the White Ibis is a symbol for danger and optimism because the bird was the last to seek shelter before a hurricane and the first to emerge afterwards.The University of Miami adopted the Ibis as its official mascot in 1926, and the yearbook was known as The Ibis. The mascot was later named Sebastian in 1957 after San Sebastian Hall, a residence hall on campus, which sponsored an Ibis entry in the college's homecoming celebration. The Ibis became the official mascot in 1958, when student John Stormont built, wore and performed in an Ibis suit at football games.

Okay, bird people, I need help. I was at MOSI and there were these birds that were letting me get fairly close, but the lighting kind of sucked. So my pictures aren't that good when it comes to color. What surprised me is that I saw the birds eating Beautyberry and while I know they do it, I've never actually seen one until today. There were three of these birds flying around close to each other. They looked mostly gray, but when they flew I could see white and lighter blue areas on them. Hope that helps.

@mellilong
It's really hard to tell with the lighting there Melanie but I'm pretty sure they're catbirds. See the top of the head there? It has a little black cap. At least that's what I think I'm seeing.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/...

Wish I was better at bird ID's.

Lots of birds bouncing around here, some familiar some not so much.

I see these little ones sometimes, they are really playful birds. Maybe titmouse? As you can see (if you can see), bird photography is-not my strong suit!

Thought I would add this fun puzzle from the Audubon Society -

https://www.audubon.org/news/i...