The Birds

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

There’s a lovely park behind our hotel where we walk Cyrus – lots of birds, fish, and places to sit and observe. It’s always fun to find birds that you don’t normally see at home. I noticed the usual swallows, gulls, and ducks, but also terns and an egret.

 

Then there was this fellow outside our restaurant last night.

 

It looked to me like a cross between a turkey and a duck, and I wondered if this was perhaps a living turducken, that Thanksgiving delicacy many people are fond of cooking. He was still there when we were leaving, this time accompanied by his mate who was actually a little aggressive. There was a dog dish of water nearby. Were these birds someone’s pets?

Later I identified the bird as a Muscovy Duck, fairly common in Florida. Some are feral and some are raised as pets. So yes, this pair might have been pets, but I still wondered why they were hanging out in a parking lot.

You never know what you might discover when you’re away from home.