Goya Blog

One of the really great things about living here is the incredible sights right outside our backdoor. Uh kinda like the discovery channel without the cable cost. It’s truly a circle of life that’s both fascinating and heartbreaking. Difficult as it is, we try not to interfere with the flow of Mother Nature. I’m here just to capture the images. Allow me to introduce you to some of the cast of characters:

Depressed Danny – When we first moved here we noticed a Night Heron always standing out in lagoon motionless every evening. Sandy thought he looked quite depressed… hence gave him his name.

It wasn’t till spring the following year that we found out what Danny likes to eat. It goes without saying that there are several Night Herons in the area, but they all get the Danny name.

Split Toe & Full Toe – Two Drake Mallards that are partners in crime. One had a split webfoot so we called him… well you know. These two were probably the most fearless of the ducks that came up to feed. They would eat scratch right out of my hand. But they ate so ding dang slow that I grew tired of the handfeeding thing, so I finally trained them to eat out of the bottle. Clear plastic is a hard concept for the most ducks. While ST & FT could eat out of the top of the bottle, the other ducks would simply try to peck at the scratch from the sides of the bottle. It was hilarious! Haven’t seen them in awhile. I’ve heard they moved to South Beach, FL.

Blue Heron – Sightings are quite rare. So rare that we haven’t even given him a name.

Turkey Jerky– She just showed up one day and started terrorizing all the ducks. We first thought she was a cross of a turkey and a duck. Quite the belligerent one (a jerk if you will) We called her Turkey Jerky. We found out later that she’s actually an Egyptian Goose. TJ was blind on her right side and only had ½ a right wing. Probably the result of a cruel unthinking human. Regardless we had lots of fun feeding her everyday. She was very loud, obnoxious and demanded to be fed at 7:30AM. Her call sounded like someone walking on hot sand at the beach. Ow ow ow ow ow ow! TJ just disappeared one day. I can’t imagine how she could get far. It’s not as if she could fly. With only ½ a wing on her right side she could only fly in one big left circle.

Vinny the Vulture – If we see Vinny the Turkey Vulture that usually means some small animal has died.

Seagulls – I hate seagulls, so they don’t deserve a name! It stems from a early childhood thing when my Father would take us fishing at Redondo Beach. The seagulls would always try to steal our bait and crap on us.

Terns – A thing of beauty to watch these birds dive bomb from 20 feet in the air to catch fish from the lagoon.

Canadian Geese eh – They mate for life. I’ve heard there’s a whole generation of Canadian Geese that have never seen Canada. Apparently the weather is just too nice over here so they never leave. While they are beautiful animals their crap is too acidic for the grass so we don’t encourage them to come on over.

Coots – Damn they got ugly shoes! The coots would always try and hang out with the ducks to score some food. For whatever reason earlier this year there would be about a dozen Coots on our lawn everyday and they just disappeared one day. It was probably just a Coot convention. Nothing worse than waking up in the morning after a bunch drunk coots crapped all over your lawn.

Egret Egret – Always announces his arrival with an awk sound.

Cormorant – Happy playful birds that love to dive for fish. They have a really hard time taking flight from the water. It usually takes about 20 feet of running on the water to get enough speed for a takeoff.