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lindsay
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Posts: 189
Registered: 9-9-2003
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Just for Fun...
I have a few minutes before school starts here in La Jolla at the English school so I can only goof around for a short break....Here's today's "just
for fun" question....if you could be any Baja animal creature, which one would you choose and why?? If this sounds like an English class assignment,
you'll have to excuse me but hey, my students in Mulege did have fun with it, so maybe some of you will too!!
As for me, by land, I will chose an osprey because they are very graceful, have beautiful voices (unlike me) and make great looking nests to hang out
in...by sea, I will chose a dolphin for its speed, good social skills and "joie de vivre".
OK, nomads that's my just for fun moment for today...hope to hear from you later!! 
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65254
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Good choices Lindsay, I would pick the same... they both eat fish, too!
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| Quote: | Originally posted by lindsay
if you could be any Baja animal creature, which one would you choose |
The Mayor of Tijuana.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Lindsay
If I hadn't already picked the Osprey, it would have to be the Cooper's Hawk. Here's why.
Horror and the Hawk
Rough and rural describes my neighborhood in the lowlands along the beach. A little village hunkered down between the shore and the talus of the
ragged ridge of mountains to the west, it can boast several types of bird habitat known by avid ?Birders? as brush, sparse woods, semidesert, marshes,
arid scrub, farmlands.
This transitional desert on the Tropic of Cancer is temporary or permanent home to many species of hawks. Big hawks are seen atop phone and power
poles along farm roads. Smaller hawks like the Kestrel and the Sharp-shinned hawk zoom across highways and dirt trails, feeding closer to the ground.
There are at least three nesting pairs of Osprey diving for mullet and needlefish in the shallows of our local beach. Mexicans call the Osprey
Falcon Playera, the T Shirt falcon because of it?s white breast, dark wings.
I?ve been an awestruck spectator many times when the hawks and falcons have been feeding. When the Peregrines make their death-defying dives at
incredible speeds to intercept their usual prey, another bird, in mid-flight; the timing must be exact, the controlled collision quick and deadly.
That?s the split-second thrill that repays the falconer for his or her patience and dedication to the great bird and to the sport.
I never had the confidence to take on the profound discipline a falconer must have to raise and train these killers of the sky. The Cooper?s Hawk,
my favorite bird of prey, has been trained by falconers but its wild nature and unusual hunting methods have enamored it only to the fuzzy fringe of
people who call themselves Falconers. A true Accipiter, bird eater, it?s name says it all: accipiter cooperi. Small rodents, snakes, lizards and
insects make up a small portion of its diet.
In this neighborhood the Cooper?s is thriving. It has few natural predators; my Mexican neighbors don?t hunt them, shoot at them. They feed close
to the ground. The broad, stubby wings allow the small hawks to maneuver through trees, brush, fence wires to corner their small prey ? surprise,
capture and kill all in one blink of an eye. In the next second or two the human eye can capture part of the escape. They usually take the same
twisting, dodging route to carry off their prize. The little hawks are focused and fearless; the whole episode can happen in your garden, under your
palapa, right at your feet.
A quirky smile was on my face when I once saw a Cooper?s dodge and dart through a formidable obstacle course of barbed wire, brush, trees and scrub
to steal a chick from under the watchful eye of a hen with eight other little fuzz-balls almost under her wings. The hawk was up and away before the
hen?s running, screaming outrage shattered the silence in the yard, startled the fat lady sweeping leaves from the stoop.
Although I have seen the agile Osprey dive into the shallows all morning without a single catch, I have never witnessed a single miss by a Cooper?s.
This tiny town was laid out for them, each lot seems to have its green and brown pylons of brush and bush and trees to allow the attacker to remain
unseen, slicing through the course, invisible until the last deadly second when it is too late for the prey to gain speed, height and a clear path to
safety. The little hawk needs only to have a stable vantage point above the yards of the houses; a place from which it can wait, watch for the
perfect setup.
A tiny ground dove pecking away in the dust at the base of a bougainvillea near the back wall of a small storage building is easy picking for the
Cooper?s. The delicate little bird may perhaps hear a broad wing flutter, glimpse, for only a part of a second, the fierce and fearsome eye of the
attacker, feel the thrust of the talons as they pierce feathers and flesh and bone; rendered limp and lifeless by the trauma, the crushing power of
the attack. No more than a morning snack to the little hawk, the tiny, dusky bird will be plucked and devoured in minutes from a safe perch not far
from this rustic bird cafe.
I?ve seen enough. Now, when small birds land in my yard to feed, I shoo them away. The wrens, woodcreepers, doves and sparrows I drive away, much
as I like to watch them. No more Hitchc-ck moments for me. I spend more time now at the beach, rejoicing at the near-misses of the majestic but
hapless Osprey.
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The Sculpin
Nomad
Posts: 401
Registered: 9-3-2002
Location: Back in the Saddle
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Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
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Pelican by Air
Killer Whale by Sea
and one of those horses that you always find in the middle of nowhere with a rope around it's neck, by land....
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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The Iguana on the trash can
in Cabo San Lucas!
$2.00 a set to examine cleavage all day
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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There are all kinds of animals I would want to be but dogs and cats I would not want to be.
I like the Caracara as a bird of prey, some sort of lizard on the land and a ray in the sea as they seem to have so much fun leaping through the air
and making slapping noises when they land.
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backninedan
Senior Nomad
Posts: 865
Registered: 3-8-2003
Location: Loreto
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Most anything but a dog or a buzzard. Most of the dogs here lead a horrid life and I just cant imagine myself eating road kill.
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bajaruby
Banned
Posts: 204
Registered: 6-8-2004
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nothing wrong with road kill, if you get to it first.
dolphin
sea gull
mouse.....Speedy Gonzales
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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A coyote. They're smart. They adapt and they survive.
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lindsay
Nomad
Posts: 189
Registered: 9-9-2003
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Good Animal Instincts
I've enjoyed reading the choices made by all of you responding and your ideas behind them. Osprey, thanks for the interesting tidbits on the various
flying creatures. I also like the one about not being a buzzard and eating roadkill...although who knows if the tire treads are some secret seasoning
we just don't know about...yikes!! 
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Diver
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4729
Registered: 11-15-2004
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Lindsay,
What grade do you teach ?
I'm starting to feel about 8 - 10 years old ?!,
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Diver
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4729
Registered: 11-15-2004
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Keep talking !
When you get me down to 3 or 4, I plan to start all over again !!
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lindsay
Nomad
Posts: 189
Registered: 9-9-2003
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Currently, I work with mostly young adult students at an English school in La Jolla, CA. The range is about 18-25 but I also have younger teens and
older professionals as well. It's an interesting bunch from about 12+ countries around the world. When I lived in Mulege, I worked with the town's
high school students and we also museum programs with the middle school and elementary schools.
So, I'll know that I've really brought out the kid in you when you post a finger painted impression of your Baja animal...but if that doesn't happen,
I'll settle for your choice in writing...don't worry there's no deadline on this homework!!
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Sallysouth
Super Nomad
Posts: 1835
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Capo Beach
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Mood: missing Baja...
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Well, after my experience with Orcas in the Sea of Cortez (somewhere in the archives) And watching the Frigate Birds circle with such beauty and ease,
never seeming to have the need to even flutter a wing, well maybe once or twice,then to , all at once, dive straight and absolutly, catch its prey,
from so far in the sky!I have never seen a miss. Then there are the Geckos! Wouldn't there have been many time times I would have loved to be"the fly
on the wall?" So I have three favorivites, Lindsay. Is that OK? 
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Mexray
Super Nomad
Posts: 1016
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: California Delta
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Mood: Baja Time
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Probably a Coyote...
...might be fun chasing after 'chicks' for a while. And if I tired of that sport, I'd migrate up toward the border and become rich leading (preying
upon) unsuspecting people into the promised land! 
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
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Diver
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4729
Registered: 11-15-2004
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Lindsay,
It has been really heartening when, on a few occasions, we have been visited by a busload of students out for a gringo cultural trip.
We were lounging at El Requeson when we experienced the first busload of clean-cut, uniformed teens. They were kids like any other kids but with great
manners and a ton of natural curiosity. My wife told stories, then bedtime tales, then sang songs with them, all while nursing our son.
It's a great program !
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roundtuit
Senior Nomad
Posts: 607
Registered: 12-21-2004
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Mood: Wife's Job
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Just a fat lizard sitting on a hot rock with a pacifico
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bajapablo
Nomad
Posts: 226
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Nothing to do with baja animals, but I saw bald eagles in their natural habitat on 3 different occasions/places on the south fork of the snake river.
last week. It was truly a magnificent sight/experience.
\"changes it lattitudes, changes in attitudes\"
J.Buffet
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bajapablo
Nomad
Posts: 226
Registered: 1-27-2004
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catching a native cutthroat on a fly (and letting it go) during the salmon fly hatch was almost as awesome as was waking up with a view of the tetons
every morning for 7 days. It was a nice change of pace for this desert rat
\"changes it lattitudes, changes in attitudes\"
J.Buffet
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