Sun Austin pond visitors
Friday Mar 09, 2007
Sun's Austin campus has a small pond at one end, and it's a nice break to walk over there and observe the fish, birds and other wildlife (fellow Sun employee Chris tells me he's seen some monster frogs there as well). The fish have voracious appetites and are fun to watch when you throw food into the water.
A few minutes ago I walked over to the pond and back. In addition to the fish and the usual infestation of grackles that are common to the Austin area, I heard a bird song familiar to me but not familiar to the area. It was the song of red winged blackbirds, which I used to see and hear a lot when I lived in Minnesota and upstate New York. I'm sure they're unusual here because we don't have a lot of water features like they do in Minnesota (the land of 10,000 lakes) and upstate New York. It sure was nice to hear their songs again.
I wonder if the local mockingbirds, of which we have plenty, copy the songs of the red winged blackbirds. It wouldn't surprise me at all.
