Well, a lot of thing have haven't to me over the years, but nothing like what happened this afternoon. I was sitting at a picnic table down from the Mockingbird bridge on the south side of the foot bridge watching the seagulls, cormorants, and pelicans drift on the water's currents. There was a strong breeze and the seagulls were having a hard time landing on the water. Even the masters, the pelicans, were having a rough time of it landing.
A pair of pigeons came flying over almost as soon as I sat down. One of the pigeons walked right up to me. I do talk to the birds and the squirrels---animals in general---and they are responsive so at least I can get a fairly good close-up shot. While all of this is happening, I'm also watching above Mockingbird Lane toward the woodlands along White Rock Creek for any of the vultures (buzzards). There are six that hang out there and I have some pretty good shots of them on light poles and even on the ground eating in a couple of locations. Then, almost on cue, I see one riding the thermals. But where are the other five? Turning back to a pelican coming in for a landing low to the water (less wind resistance) as he just drops and flop on the water, tilting forward as he comes to a stop.
About the same time, I hear an unusual sound overhead. Being an aviation buff, you learn to recognize the sound of various airplane engines, but because this one sounded different, I looked up. Forget the airplane---there are the other other five buzzards riding thermals over the lake. Without warning, out of the corner of my eye, I see this big black bird with huge wing spans come sailing inland no more than three or four feet from me at eye level. I grabbed my camera and starting snapping images without thought of technique or anything else. All I wanted was to get some shots of what was happening at the moment. I watched the big bird sail across the road where he was diving into the tall prairie grasses, coming up, circling and doing it all over again. He must have seen a rat or rabbit or snake (one was seen crawling on the roadway a couple of days ago). Then, as if nothing ever happened, he is back over Mockingbird Lane riding the thermals again.
After sitting there for a while and thinking about what had just happened, the darn bird had buzzed me. So I was buzzed by a buzzard!! That's never happen before. It was a first.
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| The buzzard buzzing |
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| He's after something in the grass. |
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| Rough landing on a windy day. |
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| My dude, the Pigeon! |
