Mocking Birds

The state bird of Florida is the Mocking Bird.This robin sized bird is found everywhere in the state. We have a few families living in our yard area and they make life interesting for we bird watchers.These birds can imitate sounds and noises and other birds and are able to carry on for hours.

Frequently they will land on our window ledges and because we have tinted windows they will fight themselves in the window. They eat flying bugs and Will be seen flying in eratic directions until they catch their prey. Little creatures like geckos are a favourite and many are seen without tails because the birds grab them by the tail and it breaks away and the gecko escapes. We have hundreds of these little creatures around and they are a good friend.

Geckos eat small flies, aphids, mosquito's and fleas and are great at helping to keep our pool area free from pesky critters.The day before yesterday I was greeted by a 5 foot black rat snake. I lifted a piece of wood and it was asleep, all coiled up. My first thought was to take it in to show Teresa but she told me it would not be a good idea. It was beautiful with coal black skin and yellow eyes. The tongue was about 5 inches long and it was happy to be released outside our yard and made a straight bee line for the cover of the pine tree when I released it.

Last year I had two visits from a miniature rattler. These little fellows are only 18 inches long and are pesky but their bite is not very dangerous. Twice I had visits from Tarantulas living in our bananas. One had a ball of babies and they ran in all directions when I uncovered them by accident. I released these as well in the trees outside our yard.

The best find was the family of black widow spiders in my water system. I captured one and took it home to Oakville and gave it to my grandson to take to school to show the kids. Teacher had no sense of discovery and was not pleased. We finally put the spider down but what a chance to see nature at its best. How many kids actually have a chance to see a black widow spider? Well I got in a little trouble but all ended well.

Well now that you have met some of our friends from the neighbourhood you can see why we love it here in Cape Coral. I still think the Mocking Bird is the winner and they keep reminding us that we only share the yard we live in.