Birds. And ticks.

Spring has definitely arrived - especially with regard to the birds. The FG is in his glory because he is the ultimate bird watching dog.   I mentioned the geese the other day.  He takes his role in scaring geese off the golf course very seriously.   My human has to keep him on leash - she’s not sure how far he might chase them. 

We also heard the loons on the weekend - the real sign of spring for us.

We hear lots of birds around home - woodpeckers (who have been known to make quite the racket when they peck on the metal chimney cap), ducks, chickadees, owls, mourning doves, crows - and all kinds of song birds.  And within the past year,  we started hearing a bird call that was kind of new in our area.   Pheasants.   

The other morning when we were coming back from our walk, my human let Einstein and I off leash as we came down the driveway.   We ran into a bed of plants at the side of the driveway, and immediately flushed two pheasants.   Honestly, I don’t think we meant to do it.  We’re not bird dogs.  We scared my human, but we just kept running around.  My human was glad it wasn’t the FG.  His brain would have exploded.

My human was telling a friend on the weekend about the pheasants who have taken up residency in the neighborhood.  And my friend mentioned an advantage to the birds (besides being a dinner item).  They apparently like to eat ticks.   My human tried to confirm this through her good friend Google.   She could find lots of info about guinea fowl and turkeys and some anecdotal info about pheasants.   Some sources say that the birds carry the ticks. Other sources say they eat them. So their benefit is probably good - kind of 50-50.

We’ve talked about guinea fowl before.  They are tick aficionados.   But - I understand that they are not without challenges - they are LOUD, they tend to roam, and they are not particularly bright.  Given our disinterest in herding (well my disinterest and Einstein’s) we would have to leave the work to the FG to round them up. And then my human would have to round HIM up.

We know that just as the birds have arrived - so have the ticks. A friend of my human has already picked numerous ticks off her dogs - and the snow JUST melted.   Time to start doing regular tick checks... I have this fear that my human might make us start wearing our Lycra suits.  All the time.....

Before I close, if you have a bird loving dog, here’s the perfect video for you.  Check it out - hours of entertainment!

http://youtu.be/4I31OU3n83I

Well, I hear the mourning doves calling - time to get my human moving!  

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 13