Big Bird Territory

Another Stodghill Says So blog:

The blue herons returned here this morning. I have no idea where they've been since last fall but as of today they are back at the same old spot in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park that begins here in town.
These large, ungainly birds draw people from near and far to stare at the oversized nests they build in the trees along Bath Road. They also stare at the herons as they come in to land on or near the nests. In doing so they look for all the world like an out of control airplane about to crash land. So many viewers congregate that they had to build a strip where bird watchers could park as otherwise traffic would be at a standstill along the road.
Other, more people-oriented viewers, travel a little farther west on Bath Road to see where Jeffrey Dahmer grew up and conducted his early experiments in killing first wildlife and then humans. That, I believe, was a little before the blue herons decided this would be a great place to live. Perhaps they are smarter than we realize.
So now that the herons are back the next thing we have to look forward to is the return of the buzzards to Hinckley. Just what it is that attracts big birds to this section of the Western Reserve escapes me, but we also have eagles soaring over the valley.
The surprising thing about the buzzards is that they always return on the exact same day of the year. Without knowing that, one might easily believe that birds, buzzards in particular, never look at a calendar. Apparently they do because every year crowds gather on Buzzard Day and stare at the sky. Sure enough, without fail here they come, dozens of them. A day earlier the first scouts fly in to make sure everything is as it shoud be, but that has nothing to do with the fact that the main body of buzzards shows up on the same date every year.
Once the blue herons and buzzards are back there isn't a whole lot to anticipate except the woolyworm festival and that's well in the future.
Sophie the hamster and I share a common feeling about all this. Neither of us gives a damn. Dahmer really was a lot more interesting.

Well, Dick, buzzards and eagles are pretty much carrion feeders, so maybe it is the smell of the region that attracts them. Have you noticed any spots that look as if they could be where Dahmer may have disposed of some as yet undiscovered remains, some that he himself didn't eat? Leftovers, as it were.

As for the Blue Herons, I hear they're bird brained, so who knows why they would chose any particular area of the country. Maybe they get a rebate on the parking ticket funds.

I think I've just been insulted. I'm so accustomed to it, it's hard to tell anymore.

You're in good company, Dick. When my husband says, "I've never been so insulted!" I reply:

"You must have been."

Dahmer eventually ended up in Wisconsin. We are known for a few serial killers. Ed Geen was in a prison near where I went to college. One year the psychology students went to a Valentine Dance at the prison for the criminally insane. It was quite interesting. One very strange man said he knew Ed Geen(sp?) and said he was really weird. Ed wasn't allowed at the party.

One chemistry teacher went along. A man she danced with asked what she did and she said she taught chemistry, and asked if he know anything about chemistry. He said, "Yes, I know a lot about explosives."

I think this could be a short story, Dick. "Valentine's Party at the Prison for the Criminally Insane."

Carol

I would never insult you Dick, however, I took a page out of your book and used my powers of deduction to surmise that in the land of Dahmer, there may be some remains still undiscovered, which may have attracted the birds. If so, it's possible that there may be a tell-tale smell permeating the countryside.

Of course, it may not be the left overs from Dahmer that causes the odor, but the fact that where there are many large birds, there must be many large bird droppings. Those huge piles that appear to be dirt under the Heron's nests may be more than they seem. Perhaps the birds came searching for long lost relatives, or perhaps there is an overabundance of field mice.

As far as serial killers go, please remember that a couple of my books and some of my short stories are about the Harpes, men whose name I share, and who are written about in the history of America as the country's first serial killers.

Dick Stodghill wrote:

I think I've just been insulted. I'm so accustomed to it, it's hard to tell anymore.

I think cTurkel's left the board

And the Roseate Spoonbills are wintering, as usual, at the Estuary at Sea Rim State Park on Sabine Lake near Sabine Pass, where I was almost born. I don't think Dahmer ever made it so far south, but we had our own serial killer in the area some years ago (High Island, where many of the bodies were found, was just down the beach road from Sabine Pass):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Corll

Do you think E Don might actually be right???

Ann

A Ahad wrote:

Dick Stodghill wrote:

I think I've just been insulted. I'm so accustomed to it, it's hard to tell anymore.

I think cTurkel's left the board

In the past week, we've had both bald and golden eagles over head, and quite a few hawks. They are magnificent birds, all. We get blue herons, but not this early. It needs to rain quite a bit more first. But I have yet to see any big (yellow) birds in the area. I don't think sesame street is close enough for that.

Back in my band days in the 60s, we played a gig at the University of
Georgia. After a particularly long set I had to find the restrooms.
Once in the stall I saw neatly printed in a small area these words
(which I never forgot)...

Here's to the great bald eagle
So noble and so gay
He fills his bill in the northern hills
And s**ts in the southern clay.

Taking up the rest of the wall in bold magic marker was a reply...

Here's to your great bald eagle
So noble and so rich
You can cram him up your northern a$$
You yankee son of a b**ch!

Does that count for this thread?

I must say, that is funnier than many things I have seen on bathroom walls. But what a slam on the eagle.

Yes, Brew, it certainly qualifies.
I was only kidding about being insulted, Don. Because of the national park we have plenty of dead deer and coyotes lying around to keep all the big birds happy.