Take your kids to Disney World over the years, and they change like time-lapse photography.
This place makes you notice time passing. You also notice birds. Including a favorite, which I’ll get to in a minute.
First, quick impressions: A Mockingbird on an umbrella table. A pair of Ospreys hunting over Bay Lake. They don’t care if the lake’s manmade. Its fish are real.
Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants are on the shoreline. White Ibises walk among crowds. Long-legged tropical birds acting like pigeons. Goofy.
Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures watch. Maybe a goofy Ibis is dead. Or a feral pig rots in the palmettos. There’s a lot to eat at Disney World.
A Wild Turkey walks the golf course. Boat-tailed Grackles are common. American Coots float in Fantasy Land. A Bald Eagle circles above it all.
Then there’s an all-time favorite bird. He was around when you were a kid and still is. Things change, but not him.
wow my comment flaked out on the iPhone. what I was trying to say is that I also like Donald Duck because he’s cranky. I like cranky.
I’ve never been to Disney either but if I ever go, I’ll l
We always loved the Tiki Room when my kids were little. Last time we went, though, it had been updated to have recent Disney characters doing the narration, and it just wasn’t the same. We missed the old birds…
Late afternoon, Disney World Orlando, on the lot where Tower of Terror is Featured. Screams were whafting on the wind. I was beat and glad to sit at yet another picnic table for a cheeseburger, fries and a drink. Soft drink that is. No adult beverage ever seemed available and I could have used one. That’s why I know I didn’t imagine this….A bird flew out from a sloping shubbery planting right onto one of the picnic tables not 10 feet from us and helped itself to a french fry and flew back into the hedge. Not unusual. Pigeons, sparrow, seagulls do such all the time. Naw, it couldn’t have been what I thought it was. But there it came again and again and again. It was a bird of prey. What was it? Can’t say for sure but I can describe it. Brown, curved beak, conspicious legs, 12 inches or more in length, nimble. It could spin and dart in and out the shrubs as neat as could be. Didn’t take a picture. It probably would have scared it away and really, I was just too darned tired to get up. No one else seemed to notice it so I just shut my mouth and enjoyed the show. But somewhere in my mind I see a cartoon bird of prey, Disney, Looney. Just can’t place him but I think it was him out to lunch at Disney.
Ive never been to Disney but I did live in Florida for a while and found the birding to be spectacular! Didn’t fit in with the too many of the people there, but I sure was among friends in my yard!! Song birds, Pelicans, Anihingas, Herons, gangs of scavaging Ibis, all right out my front door . . .
That said, Disney’s older bird animations are equally spectacular relative to the world of animation/cartooning. From 1933’s Birds in Spring, to later Snow White, Bambi and more, the cell work is incredible. Disney really did the best when ‘cartooning’ was at it apex.
Doc’s got a point. What… kind of duck is on that wristwatch? And what would its latin name be, doc? Donald is an old favorite of mine too. Not Mickey. And if you thought a Mockingbird was an unusual sighting you must have come to Florida from someplace else. They’re not unusual here. Nice home-made pic. A change from digi-scoping pics on all these birder blogs which are too perfect. Thanks for the memories.
Maybe the White Ibis – Eudocimus albus – is evolving into a tame scavenger like the city pigeon and even the Herring Gull. It’s interesting to see a bird that looks exotic like something out of a jungle swamp walking with people and eating French Fries and popcorn. It’s also disturbing, but I’m not sure why. Love the D. Duck watch! Technically, he’s probably a bird, but is he really? Always wondered about that.
– Doc
I love organizing my list of favorite birds…Until recently, there were only two: the Blue Jay and the Great Blue Heron. A few weeks back, a new bird was added: The Acorn Woodpecker. He shot instantly to the top. Now that I am putting around the…Sacramento River, and seeing great blues on derelict pleasure boats, the big guy seems to be making a charge at returning to his #1 position.