Friday 11 January 2013

Birds

Moving to America and the differences in wildlife is in incredible. We're in metro-ville, and while we're over 10 miles from downtown Detroit, we're certainly another good 15 miles away from countryside and you'd known countryside in the UK. But that doesn't appear to stop nature. Once we saw a deer just happily walking down one of the roads near us by an industrial park, woodpeckers are now an everyday sight when we visit the Metroparks and more recently we've been seeing hawks everywhere. I lived in the middle of nowhere town in proper countryside in Yorkshire - I'd be lucky to see a bird of prey once a year. 

GEDC0733
Apparently this bank has a hawk on security duty. 

Popping to the bank in suburbia and you don't really expect to see a hawk just hanging out on the telegraph pole. But there he was, just chilling out. What was even better was last weeks spotting of a bird of prey (I suck at knowing which is what) just on the snow opposite our apartment entrance obviously eating something - a matter of meters away. I quickly managed to grab my camera and take a few shots before it moved away. 

American wildlife, being able to get up so close just in the neighborhood is incredible. 

8 comments:

  1. That's amazing! I saw a badger on my way home from work a few weeks ago that was pretty unusual! x

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  2. I heard that in Europe the squirrels are different colors than here in the U.S. They aren't the gray color. I never would have imagined there'd be such a difference! That's so cool!

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    1. In the UK we basically have red and grey squirrels - we don't get those vividly black ones and the red squirrel is all red too - I've seen some red squirrels here with white chests.

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  3. I recently saw a hawk sitting on the side of a busy road here in NY. And a skunk walked right past me this summer, not at all bothered that I was standing nearby. So, who knows, maybe our wildlife is just that little bit less wild. ; )

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  4. Your photos are amazing. I'm so jealous that you just saw some hawks chilling

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  5. That photo of the hawk in the snow is great--I love how you can see his eyes and his markings so clearly! I live in a rural/suburban area--on a lake, but right off a busy road--and one day I looked out into my backyard to see a hawk on top of our bird feeder, and bird feathers scattered all over the ground around him. He'd obviously swooped down to eat one of the smaller birds drawn by our feeder. It was horrifying and fascinating all at once. We do see a lot of hawks and occasionally eagles and other birds of prey. I wonder why you didn't see as many where you lived in England? It's always a bit worrisome when wildlife is outside its natural habitat. My parents live in suburban Denver, and they have to be careful about leaving pets outside, as mountain lions have been known to come down out of the mountains (lack of prey for them?) and snatch pets out of backyards to eat.

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  6. I remember when I went to Canada and there was wildlife everywhere, I saw skunk, deers, racoons, bears, orcas, lots of birds and a moose casually eating by the side of a very busy road. When I went to Florida I swear I saw a crocodile, as well as my Dad spotting a giant turtle. In the UK it's rare if you even see a fox these days, but the species of wildlife are so much greater in America/Cananda than in the UK.

    Hannah
    www.daintyandivory.blogspot.com

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