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March 19: Rufous' Injury
Since the birds frequent the cypress tree outside our dining room, I have set up the camera in the window in hopes of getting a good shot or two without disturbing them. As I examined the latest set of photos, I made an alarming discovery! Rufous is standing on only one foot! I carefully examined the entire sequence of photos. In every shot, Rufous was standing on his left foot, and the right foot was curled up beneath him, close to his body. Oh no! Is he injured?
I then searched back through the photos to examine shots taken several weeks earlier. These were blurry, but I did find what I was looking for. There was Rufous, standing on only one foot – not the left foot but the right one! So it appears that Rufous rests one leg and then the other while he is hunting! I have observed this behavior in blue herons and great egrets fishing alongside the canal.
Continue to Chapter 4: The Nest Site
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