Yes, Mr. Reed we have those Ibises too roaming around eating the ants out of the ant hills in our yards here in Central FL, too! We have some film now, with my daughter narrating some footage, & its funny! The problem here is the alligators won't probably come around here much, because our lakes are WAY DOWN without water, but again, that's what happens here in the summertime. We've been in a dry spell for awhile, & when we do get the rain, sometimes its far & in between like many folks, this time of year! It's so interesting to see the snowy egrets, & blue herons are so gigantic though they're so interesting! And then in the winter, we see many of the birds from up north! Canada geese, & robins, red birds, but almost never see our little sparrows! I was so thrilled when I was in OH, I saw them! Cathy > [Original Message] > From: Richard Emlin Reed <remlinr@tampabay.rr.com> > To: <padutch-life@rootsweb.com> > Date: 8/8/2007 5:53:55 PM > Subject: Re: [PD-LIFE] Animals in our backyards > > May I contribute to the Animals in our Backyards series? All this talk of > backyards finally made me aware that I have a backyard, too. It's not very > big as backyards go; but there is a fairly large pond about thirty feet from > my patio. This pond attracts a lot of birds; I don't mean blackbirds and > crows, although there are some of those. I mean great blue herons and gray > herons and ibises and anhangas, and others I can't identify. We can also see > two to four big, and not so big, sand hill cranes strutting up and down our > street at times, so tame that you can walk up to them. Of course, that's our > front yard, so they don't count. My son-in-law, two doors up, is really into > bird watching. He has a camera with a tripod, binoculars, and a bird book. > I'm what you might call a casual watcher. The pond contains lots of fish, > which attract the birds. They wade in the pond, grabbing and eating the > fish. After they have fed, they come out on the bank and spread their wings > to dry; before they can fly away. There is something else in the pond, an > alligator, about four feet long. We see him/her lying on the bank, sunning > him/herself. I don't see how he/she and all those birds live on the fish in > that pond. They must be very prolific fish. My wife is afraid that the > alligator will eat our cat; so she won't let me let the cat out on the patio > unless I am out there with her. I can see the headlines: Ninety-one Year Old > Man Saves Cat From Alligator. > Richard Emlin Reed > Wesley Chapel, FL > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PADUTCH-LIFE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.8/940 - Release Date: 8/6/2007 4:53 PM