Oh I'd love to see an owl. I've heard them around. I had an American Bittern in my yard not long ago - amazing.
OONK-a-chunk, OONK-a-chunk!
No, no thunder-pumpers here, sadly. We did see loons down on the Outer Banks when we were there a few years ago in late winter/early spring.
Have you ever seen a pileated woodpecker? We had two males in our back woods fighting over a female. Like something out of the Matrix, or Star Wars (the original!) I hear them more than I see them these days. I get pretty much the same birds, except ours are black capped chickadeedeedees.
When I was a kid, a family of pileates nested in a stump in our neighborhood. They were only about 10 feet off the ground and 20 feet from the street. I'd sit on the curb and watch them feeding their babies. When the parents were gone, all the babies would peer out at me.
Last year, we had wrens in the bluebird box in the front yard. I almost got darted by a parent when I was craning to see in the box. The bluebird box in back has been inhabited by families of titmice for 12 years now.
I used to be moritified as a child when my dad would stop by old washers or dryers out by the curb. He'd collect the little pieces inside so that One Day when ours broke down he'd be prepared.
Yeah--I got over that.
Oh, I'll raise you one. When we were stationed at Dugway Proving Grounds in the early 70s (go look it up), a common base-inhabitant weekend activity was to go to the dump and scavenge. Don't ask me why. When you're that age, you just go along with your parents. I don't recall any icky refuse or odors and my parents assure me that, although it was a dump, it wasn't a garbage pit. Very strange.
My sister and brother swear we collected and ate k-rations from this dump. My parents say we didn't. Who knows? Every year, my parents and I consider setting Thanksgiving table with MREs instead of turkey.
