Monday, November 12, 2007

Evolution

In Stamford today, I saw a rather large … turtle, floating belly up in the marina. I think it was a turtle, anyway, although pig and flattened giant rat of Sumatra also came to mind. Claws, so evidently not a sea turtle. And the tail was very snapping-turtle-like, but the size! At least two feet long across the length of the shell, which I think would be huge for a snapper (plus, the marina is salt water; curiouser and curiouser). I was only out for half an hour on the peninsula at the end of Harbor Drive, and saw two bird kill sites, one fresh with all the plucked down still clinging to the grass. And across the channel to Dyke Park, three or four crows yowling. When crows are so loud, look closely. They may be mobbing a raptor. No bins on me, so I couldn’t tell much, but the black of the crows was clear and something larger and lighter seemed to be beneath them in the tree. Eventually it flew. Some kind of hawk. A low flyer, and not so much bigger than the crows. Perhaps a northern harrier.

Speaking of birds, I roasted a chicken on Friday. But it was dessert that lasted until around 1pm the next day. Who knew the fowl was such an aphrodisiac?

1 comment:

Traci said...

Yum! That's in response to the chicken, not the enormous dead turtle.