Wild Neighbors

Just a few of the wild creatures we share space with in South Pas.  Here are a few more.  And even more here.  And, heck, this from nearby.  (And this guy who just thinks he's wild.)

Got a wild story of your own?  Tell me here.

Week of South Pasadena Noir #6

"Deep into that darkness peering, long ago I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before..." --Edgar Allen Poe

Still feeling a Halloween vibe?  I'm wrapping up my latest noir week tomorrow.

Quote the raven: Nevermore!  Quote you?  Go here and say what you will.

Caption This Photo (#60)

I know I've counted on your captioning skills a lot more than usual lately, but this one leaves me without words...

New Tradition

It's the Allee household's annual turkey cookie baking time again! Last year, Little Bit added a peacock cookie to the flock. This year she asked if they could all be peacock cookies.

"Mommy," she said. "There aren't any turkeys walking around South Pasadena. What do turkeys have to do with anything?"

Bird's Eye View

Well, the one on the lamp post anyway...

Peacock on the Roof

Just another day in South Pas.

Creature of Excellence

It was odd to see a seagull so far from the beach. Did he want to visit the mountains for a change of pace? Maybe he wanted to hang out with the San Gabriel Valley wild parrots? Seeing this little guy reminded me of the classic 1970s novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. I like this quote in particular:

How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!

Showing Off

Take a look at who was strutting around my neighborhood yesterday. Neighbors told me that a group* of peacocks live and breed somewhere in Monterey Hills, but nobody remembers seeing one below. The consensus was that this one is a young male -- too little to have grown the showy tail plumage yet but old enough to take off on an adventure.

Just when I thought South Pas couldn't get anymore magical. I mean, really now ... we already have wild parrots. But wild peacocks, too? I love this town!

(*A cursory look at the internet tells me that a group of peafowl is called a muster or an ostentation. Ostentation? Perfect!)

Everyday Wonder

A couple of ordinary birds perch on one of the many rather design-challenged, late 20th Century street lamps that illuminate neighborhoods all over this country. These aren't the sort of birds that prompt people get out binoculars or guidebooks. (Or cameras.) But when my 3 year old daughter spotted them the other day, she said, "Look at those shiny birds sitting up there! How did they get so way up high? It's like magic!" And when you think about it -- really and truly think about it --it IS like magic. We've just gotten so used to everyday wonder, we no longer notice the thrill of simple miracles. Like shiny birds in flight. Or electric lights. Or deep blue skies.

In 1938, Thorton Wilder introduced Our Town -- a masterpiece of simplicity about two families experiencing everyday magic and universal human truths that are part of being alive on planet earth. Most of us have seen or read (or performed in a high school production of) the play. It's a thoughtful meditation about the theme of realizing life as you live it. It's about recognizing wonderful, ordinary things. (Like shiny, magic birds on a streetlamp.)

As Emily Webb says toward the end of the play, “Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

Indeed.

Woodpecker in a Palm Tree

The wild parrots of San Gabriel Valley are well known. And we certainly see our share of hawks. But a woodpecker in a palm tree is something new. Doesn't this image seem rather incongruous and genre-busting? Maybe woodpeckers regularly peck in palm trees and I've just never noticed. But I prefer to think of it as a wonderful example of nature doing some unconventional casting just to keep things interesting. For me, this is kind of like seeing a chipmunk at the beach.

When I heard that rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat sound, I grabbed my zoom. (I've got to hand it to this fellow for his high standards... this tree is about as tall as one of these!)

Hawk Eyed

I occasionally see hawks around Los Angeles. Usually, they just cruise by high overhead. But for the most part the wild parrots rule the San Gabriel Valley -- and they are a territorial crew. That means any tough guy hawk poking his beak around here could be in for the bird equivalent of a street fight out of the movie Colors.

So not only is it unusual to see hawks close up in a residential neighborhood, but I'll wager it's extremely rare to see one fluttering around in various street puddles for days after a rain. Like this little guy, who managed to take three or four baths this week. (You'll just have to take my word for it. By the time I grabbed my camera, he was halfway down the street and up on this branch.)

Parrot Perched Upside Down???

Not content to live his bird life behaving in the expected parrot ways, perhaps this little fellow decided to actualize his inner bat. After all, this is Southern California. We can be true to ourselves here...

(Find out more about the wonderful wild parrots of the San Gabriel Valley.)