Mother Nature did give me a pleasant surprise on Sunday evening.
At dusk, as the sun was setting and darkness started to
creep in, I was looking out my window at an empty lot which directly abuts the
back of the hotel property. Unexpectedly, I saw a
Bem-Te-Vie dive bomb a bird that was sitting on the hotel’s very tall back wall. Being an avid bird watcher, (and being better
prepared for observing birds that dealing with inclement weather), I took out
my trusty binoculars and honed in on this mystery bird.
Since the songbird dive bombed it, I knew that the bird on
the wall was a predator of some sort.
When I finally got the bird in my sights, I found it was a local
burrowing owl (coruja). As I watched the
first owl, a second one appeared.
Wow. 2 for the price of 1. As I watched longer, I saw one on the ground,
and eventually found a fourth one. As it
turns out (upon closer inspection), there were 2 adults and 2 owlets.
Fortunately, the owlets could fly. (Also,
I found their burrow.) The adults sounded
their alarm call and let me know they didn’t appreciate an intruder in their
empty lot.
Here is the irony of the story. About 2 weeks ago, Camila and Itamar took
Daniella and I to an empty lot, on the edge of town, near the industrial
district to see a pair of burrowing owls. I was very appreciative of
Itamar’s willingness to show me the owls.
That lot is about 20+ minutes away by car. And here, directly behind the hotel, was a
family of 4 burrowing owls. Amazing (to
me anyway), and yet the story is true.
#ibmcsc brazil
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