Anything Goes!

Eastern Bluebird in Athens, June 1

Those of you who have read my blog for a while (and thank you for that!) will know that every June I participate from afar in the Alachua County Audubon June Bird Challenge. I joined in this fun activity when we lived in Florida and have tried to continue it on my own since moving away some 11 years ago. The object of the June Challenge is to see as many species of birds as you can within the county from June 1-30. You can work in teams and in fact, teamwork is encouraged. But you must actually see the bird for it to count. It was always fun for me, and although I never came close to winning, I enjoyed seeking target birds and exploring all the best nature spots in the county with my birding friends. When I moved away I was sad to leave that behind, but I took the opportunity to create my own version, in a new county, with a new target list. At first I tried to cajole some friends into joining me, but June is hot and steamy in Georgia and no one took me up on my invitation. So for 11 years I have done the June Challenge on my own. A couple of years ago I decided that, since I didn't have extra eyes to help me find the stubborn hiders, it would be ok to count birds I knew I heard, even if I didn't see them. It felt a little cheaty, but I'm not going for the win anyway, and it's my list, so there. This year presented a new, bigger challenge. We had a lot of travel scheduled and I would not be in the county, or the state, or even the country for long stretches. In addition, the days that I was in town were packed with preparation for being away. But I really wanted to do the June Challenge. So, in addition to allowing birds heard but not seen, I decided to count any bird I saw, regardless of location. I was in Athens-Clarke County for about 1 week in June so I missed my chance to find a lot of the good reliable birds, like Mississippi Kite, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Breasted Chat, and Yellow Billed Cuckoo, but I managed to get a good start at home. With my new "Calvinball" rules (from Calvin and Hobbes--the rules change as you go!) I got an Osprey in South Carolina, a Starling in Roanoke, a Bald Eagle in West Virginia, a Great Egret in Susquehanna, a Black-capped Chickadee in New Jersey, a Louisiana Water Thrush in the Hudson Valley of New York, and a Gull in Baltimore. I did much of that birding from the car so there were no photos. But I felt happy to still be playing along.

A week after returning from our road trip up the East Coast and back, we hopped a plane to Buenos Aires, and I was able to add a whole slew of good birds, never before seen on the June Challenge list! It was actually winter down there, but with the help of Merlin and the internet, I identified some good city birds that were just out and about in the parks, such as Monk Parakeets, Rufous Thrushes and Rufous Horneros. A juvenile Harris's Hawk sat in a tree outside of our hotel room and let me get some good long looks. We took a side trip to Colonia, Uruguay, and I added Red-crested Cardinals, Great Kiskadees and Picazuru Pigeons. While we were in Buenos Aires we also got caught up in World Cup fever. They sure love Messi down there! Vamos Argentina! 

Monk Parakeets in a park

Harris's Hawk outside our room

Great Kiskadee

Red-crested Cardinal

Picazuru Pigeon

World Cup in Argentina

Cattle Tyrant waiting for a bus

At the end of the week we spent a couple of hours in a fantastic urban nature preserve, the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve. It's a preserved wetland area on the edge of Buenos Aires. We took an Uber there. It is very popular with walkers, runners, birders, photographers, and families with picnics and the place was loaded with great birds for my list. I could have spent the whole week there. I added Crested Caracaras, Southern Screamers, Wattled Jacanas, a Roadside Hawk, White-faced Whistling Ducks, Black Necked Swans, a Golden-crowned Warbler, and more. I even saw turtles and some nutria swimming. It was very satisfying. In all I counted 33 species in Buenos Aires. Added to the five I saw on the road to New York and the 58 I counted in Athens, my total came to 96. I can live with that! 

Costanera Sur preserve

The preserve is right next to the Porto Madero part of Buenos Aires

White-faced Whistling Ducks and Rosy-billed Pochards

Crested Caracara walking along the beach near picnickers

Southern Screamer

Wattled Jacana

Nutria

Golden-crowned Warbler

One other thing I'd like to note. The world seems so unhinged and crazy these days, and it would be easy to give in to the fear and hype and just stay home where it feels safe and predictable. But if you have the chance, I urge you to take a step away from home and experience life in a different culture. It broadens your perspective and adds to your collected experience. Taste the food, walk the streets, listen to the conversations, see families play and interact and go about their days just like we do at home. It is a character building experience to feel how humbling it is to try to get by day to day, performing the most basic transactions in another language. I think the world would be a much kinder place if everyone had to try to figure out how to ask how to find the bathroom or to get change for the washing machine in a different language. For that matter, to figure out what soap to use! But just get out there and give it a try. You will find that most people are kind and happy to help if you make the effort to step into their world.

I guess the big message here is that it's not whether you win or lose, but whether you have fun and get out there see some birds and wildlife and enjoy the world. Which I did this June. And I can't wait for next June!

Here's my June 2026 list. Out of county birds have an asterisk:

Acadian Flycatcher	X
Barn swallow	X
Black and white warbler	X
Black vulture	X
Blue gray gnatcatcher	X
Blue jay	X
Bluebird	X
Brown headed nuthatch	X
Brown thrasher	X
Canada goose	X
Cardinal	X
Carolina wren	X
Catbird	X
Chickadee	X
Chimney swift	X
Chipping sparrow	X
Common grackle	X
Cooper's hawk	X
Cowbird	X
Crow (American)	X
Downy woodpecker	X
Eastern kingbird	X
Eastern phoebe	X
Eastern wood pewee	X
Fish crow	X
Goldfinch	X
Great blue heron	X
Great crested flycatcher	X
Great white egret	X
Green heron	X
House finch	X
*House sparrow	X
House wren	X
*Louisiana waterthrush	X
Mockingbird	X
Mourning dove	X
Northern rough winged swallow	X
*Osprey	X
*Pileated woodpecker	X
Pine warbler	X
Red bellied woodpecker	X
Red eyed vireo	X
Red shouldered hawk	X
Red tailed hawk	X
*Red winged blackbird	X
Robin	X
*Rock pigeon	X
Ruby throated hummingbird	X
Scarlet tanager	X
*Song sparrow	X
*Starling	X
Summer tanager	X
*Titmouse	X
Towhee	X
Turkey vulture	X
*White breasted nuthatch	X
White eyed vireo	X
Wood thrush	X
*Cattle Egret	X
*Gull	X
*Black-capped Chickadee	X
*Bald Eagle	X
*Yellow Warbler	X
*Harris's Hawk	X
*Rufous Hornero	X
*Chalk-browed Mockingbird	X
*Yellow-chevroned Parakeet	X
*Maroon-bellied Parakeet	X
*Monk Parakeet	X
*Great Kiskadee	X
*Picazuro Pigeon	X
*Grayish Baywing	X
*Rufous-bellied Thrush	X
*Red-crested Cardinal	X
*Narrow-billed Woodcreeper	X
*Southern Screamer	X
*White-faced Whistling Duck	X
*Black-necked Swan	X
*White-winged Coot	X
*Wattled Jacana	X
*Rufescent Tiger Heron	X
*Cocoi Heron	X
*Roadside Hawk	X
*Green Kingfisher	X
*Crested Caracara	X
*Cattle Tyrant	X
*Rufous-collared Sparrow	X
*Shiny Cowbird	X
*Golden-crowned Warbler	X
*Masked Gnatcatcher	X
*Southern Lapwing	X
*Brazilian Teal	X
*Rosy-billed Pochard	X
*Blue-and-white Swallow	X
*Bare aced Ibis	X
*Nanday Parakeet	X

At the Zoo

My husband travels a lot through his work. Sometimes I tag along, especially when the work takes him to interesting places, like Buenos Aires. But since he is working, I usually have a lot of time to explore on my own. I like to walk around the city, and visit museums and parks. This recent trip was no exception and I took the opportunity to visit the Buenos Aires Jardin Zoologico, or the Zoo. I have sort of mixed feelings about zoos. On the one hand, I love seeing the beautiful and exotic animals. I am especially fond of penguins and meerkats. The best zoos have animals in comfortable, natural habitats. They educate people about the importance of biodiversity and the problem of habitat loss. They provide safe homes for endangered animals. But I'm always a bit uncomfortable with the idea of capturing and caging animals, especially when the enclosures are the old-fashioned type with few natural amenities. The Buenos Aires zoo probably falls into the old-fashioned category, and some aspects of this made me uncomfortable. But I still found it to be a charming place, especially because of the old fashioned buildings, but more importantly, because of the animals that were not captive!

When I walked through the gates, the first thing I saw was one of the ubiquitous stray cats that inhabit every crevice of Buenos Aires. No big surprise there.

Zoo Cat

But it got much more interesting after that. Right at the entrance there was a large water feature with a fountain. On the shores of the water and in the bushes I could see rather large brown mammals roaming about. I walked closer and saw that they were Nutria. I'd never seen a Nutria in person so I was pretty excited, but once I realized what they were, it didn't seem surprising. They are pests in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast states and since they're native to South America, it would figure that they'd be abundant down here, too. I just didn't expect to be able to walk so close to them.

Nutria

But wait, it gets better! Right across from the Nutrias, a large, weird creature emerged from the bushes. It looked like a joke--a combination between a rabbit and a small deer. Maybe the I'd found a real Jackalope! It took a while for me to finally find a zoo employee who could tell me that the animals were "Maras", or Patagonian Hares. It turns out that they are rodents and not hares and are almost a threatened species, but not at this zoo. They were everywhere, grazing on the grass, walking on the sidewalk, eating food from visitors, lazing in the sun. I saw literally hundreds of them, free and unencumbered. It occurred to me that there was very little standing between them and wandering into downtown Buenos Aires, and later I asked a friend about this. He said that yes, sometimes they do get out. Keep in mind that this zoo is on a busy street, similar to Broadway in New York.

Mara

Maras and Vicuna

Maras, Muskovies and Giraffes

Feeding the Maras

Maras and Southern Screamer

Ho hum--just another Mara

After seeing free range Maras and Nutrias, the regular, caged animals were not nearly as fun to look at. This was an old zoo and many of the cages and enclosures were depressing and unenriching for the animals, so I hurried by them. A lot of them were just empty. The condor enclosure reminded me of a giant, filigreed bird cage. It seemed to be empty, though, so I never saw a condor. What I did see, though, was Nutrias in just about every enclosure, including the one designated for them. I guess that theirs had a permeable barrier.

Empty Condor Cage (Apartment building in background)

Monkeys

Elephants with high rise apartment in background

Seals and school children

Nutria Cage

Nutria visiting the Gnu

Nutria visiting the Anteater

Walking around, I saw a turtle on the path, Muskovy Ducks, Southern Screamers, Guinea fowl moving in and out of the bushes, and Peacocks everywhere, strutting their stuff. One male Peacock cornered a family, fluffed out his feathers and rattled them in a defensive display, causing a little boy to shriek in terror. I followed one around for a while, trying to get a good closeup of the eyes on the tail, and it finally scurried into the bushes to hide from me. But not very well.

Turtle on the path

Southern Screamers (Chauna torquata)

Peacock Scaring Children

There is no Peacock here

One highlight of the zoo trip was finding that the trees by the lagoon were full of Egret nests and Black Crowned Night Herons. The palm trees were loaded with Egrets and chicks. I really wished that I  had my large telephoto to catch some of those little chicks. The palm trees looked like high rise apartment buildings, with a nest at every level. In another location I saw a pair of lovers embracing under a tree, totally unaware of the numerous Night Herons perched overhead.

Egret Condo

Egret Nests

Hidden Herons

Herons

So in the end, I had a marvelous time. The old fashioned zoo that could have been a real downer was instead a great close encounter experience. The animals that I did find in cages seemed pretty happy, and the ones that weren't definitely were. All this right in the heart of Buenos Aires. What a wonder! Maras!

Zoos Help us Connect With Nature

Post Script, July 2016: Out of concern for the welfare and dignity of zoo animals, officials in Buenos Aires will close the zoo this year and relocate most of the animals to nature preserves around Argentina. The zoo space will be converted to an educational eco park and a number of animals will remain there because there were problems finding suitable spaces for them. You can read more about the story here and here.

Our Best Friends

Cat sleeping in front of a restaurant. Or waiting for a taxi?

Here in Buenos Aires people seem to have an interesting relationship with cats and dogs. This is a big city with about 3 million people in the city proper, and closer to 13 million in the greater city. People are packed in tight, with most living in apartment buildings. It is much like New York or Chicago. The traffic is busy, loud and fast. Most people walk and take mass transit because the streets are so congested. You'd think in these circumstances that people would shy away from keeping pets. But this is not the case in Buenos Aires. They love their pets! People bring their pets everywhere and let them roam freely, as if they lived in small towns with dirt roads. 

People bring their dogs everywhere

You can see people walking dogs of all sizes. Often the dogs are on leashes, but not always. Many dogs walk somewhere near their owners, although not always. 

Joyful puppy chases pigeons in the park

You'd think that in a city this size, loose dogs and cats would be quite a problem. But it all seems to work. In nearly 4 weeks, I have not seen negative interactions, nor have I seen animals (with the exception of a few pigeons) hit by cars.

This dog was hanging out at a hospital. I couldn't tell if it was stray or just roaming around its owners.

In the swanky downtown neighborhoods it is very common to see professional dog walkers with big groups of dogs. They attach the leashes to a harness on their waist and walk. I'm always impressed at how well behaved the groups of dogs are.

Dog Walker

There are pet stores and veterinary offices just about every 2 blocks, all over the city.

Dog Food and Vet!

People dress their dogs in coats and little tutus. In tourist areas, dogs dressed in costumes pose for photos.

Pampered Pet

Working Dog--I don't think this is the photo pose they were hoping for

Shop owners let their pets, both cats and dogs, wander in and out of stores or sleep at the entrance.

Smart cat--this store sells meat 

Shop Dogs

Dogs here seem generally pretty laid back. They don't react much when we walk by them. My own two dogs jump on guests and bark at other dogs and I really haven't seen much of that here. Maybe it's different in the home.

Many people are conscientious about their pets, but many are not. Despite the occasional sign reminding people to clean up, there is poop all over the sidewalks.

Poopy Sidewalk

There are also a LOT of strays. I've noticed that it is common to see unneutered male dogs and cats here, and this probably contributes to the problem. Stray cats are everywhere. They are common in parks and protected areas such as the bushes and grass along the railroad tracks.

Park Cat

 They were also very common on the campus of the college where my husband was teaching. People there told me that the dumping or releasing of animals was a big problem on the campus and that there had been several instances of dog bites.

It's Prohibited to Abandon Animals, but...

But, as I said at the beginning, people in Buenos Aires love animals. I've seen kind souls in all parts of the city who set out food for the stray cats. They set out water and cat food, as well as milk and leftovers from dinner. I saw noodles at one cat feeding station. I watched 2 people about 2 hours apart feed cats in the same location at the campus. They were both surrounded by meowing, excited cats.

Cat Feeder  

Another Cat Feeder, 2 hours later 

Pasta, Milk and Cat Food 

Cat Lady at the Park

As for the stray dogs, so far I have had no problem with them, and in fact, I admire their independence, as well as the way they have adapted to get what they need from people. On one of our first trips downtown, my husband and I were heading towards some busy streets (3 lanes each direction) on our way from the train station. Suddenly, a large black dog trotted towards us. I was a little uneasy because I've always learned to stay away from strange dogs. But this one seemed friendly and even wagged its tail when it came near us. It walked along with us for a half block or so. When we came to the crosswalk to cross the busy road, the dog sat on the ground next to me and waited with us. The light changed and we crossed halfway. The dog went with us, and then sat next to us again in the middle. Then the light changed again and we all walked together to the other side, where the dog trotted off to do whatever it was it had planned. The dog had figured out that people know how to cross streets, so if it wanted to cross safely, it just needed to find some people and cross with them. That is one smart dog.

Smart Dog at Half-Way Point of Intersection

I've read that it is thought that the relationship between man and dog first arose because dogs recognized that people were a source of food (from scraps and garbage) and shelter. In exchange, the dogs protected their territory and provided protection for the humans. Eventually they began to enjoy each other's company. Match made in heaven. Cats were probably attracted to humans because of the rodents we would attract by storing food, and humans allowed the cats to stay because of the service they performed. Eventually the cats brainwashed the humans and convinced us to serve them by rewarding us with the occasional rub on our legs and by purring, all the while remaining aloof. Match made for cats. Little joke.

Dogs just like to be around people

Some dogs hang around sidewalk cafes in Buenos Aires, and they seem to get enough food from handouts, because I haven't seen any especially sickly looking dogs yet. The dogs move around from table to table, looking hopeful. No one seems to shoo them away. Last weekend I was at an outdoor cafe and a dog plopped down on the ground next to me and fell asleep. She wasn't begging for food--just napping. But if another dog tried to cross the street and come near the cafe, she would get up and bark a few times to chase if off. Then she came back and napped.

My Lunch Friend

Lunch Friend chases off interloper

Another day I was in a park on a very hot day and a big black dog walked past me and right into the lake in the middle of the park. It lay down in the water, got nice and wet and cool, had a drink, and then got out, shook off, and trotted away. No owner in sight.

Cooling off

I'm not passing judgement or saying if this is better or worse than the relationship between pets and people in the U.S. I know that cats roaming free pose a huge danger to bird populations, and all the stray dogs could carry disease for other dogs and for humans. Stray and outdoor cats are very common all over the world. Rabies is a problem in South America, and also in the U.S. But it's just interesting to me to observe the different attitudes with regard to pets as I travel in Argentina. I guess I'd describe the relationship as "tranquilo"--Spanish for "calm" or "easy". No one gets too excited, and everyone gets what they need.

Cemetery Cat