Backyard Birds

One of the fun things about living in Lutz is that, it's just far enough out of the city for country living.  I have seen a lot of birds in my backyard.  I couldn't keep enough food in my bird feeder for all of them.  I was seriously going through one pound of birdfood a day.  I must of had half the cardinals in the state of Florida stopping by.  I have also had ducks, cattle egrets, and sandhill cranes stop by in the backyard.

So imagine my surprise when I was working in my workshop (in the front of the house) when I spot a pair of sandhill cranes.  And it's not like they were down the street.  They were just a few yards from me.  I know I wouldn't believe me, especially on the internet.  So I did the smart thing, I took pictures.

That's right.  I took pictures.  The sandhill cranes were digging through the soft dirt looking for worms and bugs.  You can kind of see the one on the left with his beak in the dirt.

As you can see I am pretty close to them, and they don't really seem to care.  They are more interested in the earthworms that are hanging out in the soil.

At this point I am starting to get a wee bit too close. 

And this is where I start to chase them .

The one of the left is not trusting me, and the one on right would not be paying attention.

Now they are running, and I stop taking pictures to chase after them like a retarded 8 year old.  If I would have really wanted to have caught one I could have.  They have gotten pretty lazy.  One of them squawked something at me.  I'm sure a bird translator would have said that it translates as "jerk."  I just can't wait until they come by again.