Today started out with me thinking of Finding Nemo, thanks to the hundreds of gulls in front of my tower asking: "mine?" "mine?" "mine?" as they walked around, largely ignored by the dogs. With the gulls cluttering the study area, I had two more visitors fly over, a pair of Avocets, which are beautiful, if not slightly weird birds. They have upcurved bills which appear to offset their elegant bodies, giving them a comical look. The females are in charge (go girls), and have the brighter plumage, which is exactly opposite of most bird species.
The bird oddities continued through the course of the day...I watched the badger emerge from the sage, and start to make his way toward my tower.....until he was stopped by four highly aggressive geese. He attempted the 'stare-down' technique, which basically failed, as it was OBVIOUS he was afraid of them. They advanced, he attempted to meet their advance, and ended up repeatedly giving ground. They flapped their wings at him, and in the end, he decided it wasn't worth it, throwing in the towel, and beating it for easier hunting. Hopefully far, far away...
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, 2 was bugging the girls again; this time his target was 92. He sidled up to her, and nonchalantly (he thought) sniffed her butt. She gave a few alarm barks, and then spun on him, biting him right in the face. He ended up going down a burrow to sulk. Next in line to harass 92 was a mother gs, who apparently decided 92 was too close to her nursery burrow and her babies. She spent the rest of the afternoon leaping around 92, darting back and forth, nipping her repeatedly on her butt and around her face. It was if she was saying: 'I kill you!!!', and 92 was responding with: 'Okay, okay....I'll move this way....HEY!! STOP IT!!' (cue chase sequence). Repeat. It was entertaining to watch.
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