"My Town" Wild Animal Shoot Out

Those of us who know our very talented Butler and Bagman think Bagman tried to play a practical joke on us by trying to send us all out into the woods to stalk lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my! But Butler made it a little clearer.

I did my "jungle" time in places like Cambodia and Thailand, so unless I am paid to stalk anything in the jungle or even my back yard, I will take the easy way out. Being extra busy this week, I did.

Ans since there are no rules in our town shoot offs, instead of stalking I shot what was in front of me (except for one photo that I will explain later) while out on regular assignments. To make my photos more interesting, I filtered all except one.

Oh, we have a few new additions to our town shoot out this week, so please take time and visit their sites and see what other photographers came up with. We are all dying to see what B&B has in store for us.

Stay tuned for our Friday 13, assignment.


Be sure and click to enlarge all photos for filter effects.

I will start with buzzards. Being that we are surrounded by marshlands, we have a lot of buzzards around these parts. I find them quite interesting.

Drying the wings.



An unsuspecting kayaker passes a Turkey Vulture that seems to have an eye on her.


These buzzards were fighting for a perching place on top of the chimney on one my favorite old houses.



Taking off.



For you continued vulture enjoyment, here are some facts:

The Turkey Vulture is protected by international Migratory Bird treaties. It is against the law to kill one in the state of Maryland.

They enjoy playing games. Almost every evening when they return to the roost there will be about half an hour of follow-the-leader, tag, and speed soaring, if the winds are favorable.

Turkey vultures can raise only one brood a year, consisting of 1 to 3 (but usually 2) blotchy-looking eggs. Both parents share the responsibilities of incubating and caring for the brood.

Turkey Vultures are often seen standing in a spread-winged stance. This is called the "horaltic pose." The stance is believed to serve multiple functions: Drying the wings, warming the body, and baking off bacteria.

The Turkey Vulture's primary form of defense is vomiting. The birds do not "projectile vomit," as many would claim. They simply cough up a lump of semi-digested meat. This foul smelling substance deters most creatures intent on raiding a vulture nest. It will also sting if the offending animal is close enough to get the vomit in its face or eyes.

In some cases, the vulture must rid its crop of a heavy, undigested meal in order to lift off and flee from a potential predator. In this case, the regurgitated material has not yet been digested. Most predators will give up pursuit of the vulture in favor of this free edible offering.

The Turkey Vulture often directs its urine right onto its legs. This serves two very important purposes. In the summertime, wetting the legs cools the vulture, as the urine evaporates. In addition, this urine contains strong acids from the vulture's digestive system, which kill any bacteria that may remain on the bird's legs from stepping in its meal.

On the flip side, they also defecate on their feet to keep them warm.

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Seagulls are not rats with wings.





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A redbird sitting in a tree with his back to me.



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Pigeons sittings on wires.



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Blue Herons.




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A bevy of birds.



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Quackers





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Seagull and Pelicans.



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Shells and one of our famous Maryland crabs.





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Caught this cat (can I say tiger?) stalking prey.



If I had not been there his prey would have been this squirrel. This little fellow was on the other side of the bushes so engrossed with his prize, he did not detect the cat. I did not filter this photo because that cute little acorn in his mouth would have been lost.



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Speaking of tigers, here is one at out door. Oh, don't feel sorry for her. She was enjoying the screened back porch and heard us opening a can of cat food. We are slaves to our cats, nothing more than automatic can and door openers.



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I took this last year. OK I cheated a little. These are cows in corner of our backyard. Being from Georgia, cows are an everyday site. But around Crisfild, we just don't have too many cows, and I have no idea where they came from. But if any of you know a what black cow box is, there are standing by it.

A black cow box is a black box made out of plywood with screen on top. The bottom is open and black flies, not being very bright, fly up under the screen and die. The black cow box got it roots at some ag university that was trying to find a way to lesson black fly problems on farms. It sure works. When the black flies head our way for the season, the black cow box keeps our yard fly free. Guess those cows were pretty smart. Anyway, they left a few hours later. Still have no idea where they came. Perhaps alien cows?



I know buzzards don't say much about our town, but they were in my line of site, and so I shot them.

Crisfield, however, is teaming with beautiful wildlife, so we invite "all ya'll" (I said that for Si) to come on down, up, or over, and enjoy the beauty that can be found all around our town.

If you fancy taking to the woods, you just might meet some big game, or even an alien cow or two. And don't forget, we have the best fishing around these parts. If you don't have a boat, check with one of our head boat fishing captains.

If you are not up for fishing bring some string and try a little "chicken necking" for crabs. Whatever you do, Crisfield is a great place to kick up your feet and forget about the world.