What’s your favorite fun fact about cormorants? — The Long Haul Swimmer.
I don’t know if it counts as a fact, but my favorite thing about cormorants is their eyes. I saw a couple thousand double-crested cormorants before I clued in on their eyes, which are the color of emeralds, the color of the most beautiful limpid green pool in the world’s most magical place, the color of the reason to live. It’s like serenity in hue.
I also love their dotted eye ring, which brings a little more drama to their look.
I suppose my favorite fact about them is they swim better than they can fly. They swim better than a lot of fish because they have to in order to not starve. Also, I love the fact that in the winter, when large flocks gather and hang out in the ocean, you can sometimes see them flying en masse along the horizon and they look like a single entity. In olden times, before fast boats and high quality optics, these undulating flocks were sometimes thought to be sea monsters.
Do mockingbirds actually want a piece of my dog or are they just posturing? — Woman with a dog goin’ crazy on Caroline Street.
Northern mockingbirds don’t so much want a piece of your dog, they want the dog out of their territory, because they are ramped up on hormones and have a nest nearby. They perceive dogs as predators. Which some dogs can be. (Though of course not yours. Or mine.)
What tools does a mockingbird have to chase a dog away? Aggression, annoyance and whatever violence they can inflict. I mean, there’s a lot of bluff and bravado in there, but they will on occasion fly down and poke at a dog, or pull on the occasional ear or bit of fur. A mockingbird’s physical bravery is pretty damn impressive when you consider the fact that a one-and-a-half ounce bird won’t hesitate to take on a 60-pound dog.
It’s not just dogs. They will go after hawks and ospreys that get too close. And humans. I once found a chick that fell out of the nest, and I was using a ladder to put it back, and the whole time the parent of the chick kept zooming in and yanking on my ponytail.
The good news is breeding season is almost over, and their territoriality will soon end. At least until next spring.
Why are birds so judgy? — Nick the aptly named
Oh, you know, Nick. You know very well. And you know they are right.
What are the best weeks in the Lower Keys for the upcoming fall migration, where are some people spots to see the migrating birds, and are there any migration watch events coming up? — Da Do Ron Ron
I haven’t managed to make it over to Fort Zachary Taylor of late — life keeps getting in the way — but by the sounds of the birds chipping in our mahogany tree, the songbird migration has already begun. It will last through mid-September, possibly later, birds making up their own schedule and all.
The two best spots in the Keys to see migrating songbirds are Fort Zach and the Key West Botanical Garden. Indigenous Park on White Street can be good, too, but it’s hard to know when it is open.
We also get a pretty big hawk migration in the Keys. I feel like a broken record saying this, but Marathon consistently gets more migrating peregrine falcons than any place on the planet. Without a doubt the best place to see, and learn about, migrating hawks, falcons, eagles and other birds of prey is the Florida Keys Hawkwatch which is located in the campground at Curry Hammock State Park in Marathon. And there will be counters working there this year from Sept.15 through Oct. 31, and they always love visitors.
How common are hummingbrids in Key West? I have not seen one yet! — A Gal named Su
We get ruby-throated hummingbirds in the Keys, but they don’t breed here, so you won’t see them in the summer. A lot of them pass through during migration, and a few of them stay over the winter.
I do see them on the regular, but I spend a lot more time staring into bushes than the average Joe.
Some people in the Keys put up hummingbird feeders and get them to come to their yard, but I am not one of those people. I have hung up a series of nectar-filled feeders hoping to get regular visitations from those crazy-fast flapping little beasts, but they never come and I always end up feeling sad and rejected.
I’ve considered therapy to assuage these unpleasant feelings, but the better and cheaper route would be to plant things with red flowers in our yard. Hummingbirds live jacked up on nectar, and apparently plants with red flowers have some damn fine nectar. Fire bush is one of the plants they like. Also Hong Kong orchids. So if you’re roaming around town, keep an eye on things with red flowers.
What is the difference between gulls and terns, and why are they equally annoying? — Rock House Heather
Gulls and terns are all members of the larid family. But terns are definitely the classier cousins, the ones who go to the fancier schools, the ones who are into all the cool bands you won’t know about for another five years.
I don’t have a lot of disdain for gulls, but I get how you could. I do have a talk I’ve given a time or two called “Laughing Gulls Are Assholes,” but that’s just laughing gulls. Who are assholes. I’m okay with herring gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, ring-billed gulls, Bonaparte’s gulls, and any of the other ones that show up in these parts. They are omnivores and opportunists. Most of them are just trying to live their lives the only way they know how.
But how the heck can you be annoyed by terns? They live some of the most upright and proper avian lives out there. They’re pescatarians, so they don’t hang around garbage dumps and landfills. They catch their own food in the ocean. Their calls have about a third of the decibels of gulls. They don’t poop on people at the beach or steal unattended sandwiches and french fries.
As far as looks go, where gulls can look mottled and vague, terns have definitive looking plumage made up of well-defined white, blacks and grays. Where gulls have dull, rounded wings, terns have sharp pointed ones. Where gulls have dull, rounded bills, terns have sharp, often brightly colored, pointed ones. Where gulls live lives of opportunism along the path of least resistance, gulls live lives of adventure and forbearance and self-sufficiency.
Gulls are the Goofus to the terns’ Gallant. They are not equally annoying at all, madam. Not at all.
