While doodling around the birding blogs this morning, I came across a very cool link to MSN's Live Search Maps, which has a "bird's eye view" option so that you can view your own property from the air! As an example, here's my parents' house:
That's it, boxed in red. (ed. note: their house is for sale, and it's in Harlingen, home of the RGV birding festival! Hint hint!) Note the fact that while others in the neighborhood chose to build pools in their backyards, my parents chose to beautify by planting all kinds of trees and plants--pecan, citrus, grape, peach, bottlebrush, hibiscus, roses, etc.--that serve to attract many different bird species to the backyard. You'll remember way back from when I started this blog that my mom is a bit of a bird lover herself. She gets tons of hummers, doves, chachalacas (which scared the pee out of me the first time I saw one pecking at the glass patio door -- her babies are nothing if not demanding of regular feeding).
Anyway, so I punched in my address, thinking I was finally going to get a beautiful aerial shot of my house and the marsh.... Yeah--no. No bird's eye option for me! I guess I haven't done enough to merit a spy satellite taking pictures of my house (yet). This was the best I could get:
Black and white, and not too legible. Hmph. Still--I've highlighted some areas of import. The small rectangle up top is my property--you can kind-of see my house and the crazy-uncle house/Kat's office below it. The circled area is Small Pond, where I haven't seen any ducks or anything yet this year. The longish area is Long Pond, where I saw the wood ducks, etc. last week. The dark area to the right of Long Pond is where the marsh owners built the short boardwalk and observation deck last year.
Boy, am I disappointed that I can't get a beautiful view of my area with the bird's eye option. I guess I'll just have to keep working on that rocket-pack.
10 comments:
Huh. I was hoping to see your place, too.
I liked our birds-eye view, because it was taken more recently than Google Earth's version.
It looks like it was taken last year during the drought...all the grass around the trees is dead.
Ooooh, I could get addicted to this.
Jet packs? JET PACKS????!!!!
Please let me know when you start taking orders for them.
Very cool .. next we will have YouTube of spy-movies .. better be some bunnies running around!
Susan--I checked Google Earth too--no photos of my area there either. Guess no one's interested in central PA...
DCup--it's cool, isn't it? You can see the Statue or Liberty, or any other big landmark around the world! Plus your own house (unless you live in central PA).
Rabbits' Guy--tee hee!
I'm impressed with your mother's plantings to attract birds!
Cool. Our house has such a small footprint compared to most of our neighbors. Bucko's always told me that, but now I've seen it!
My girlfriend sold her house in Harlingen in ONE day after posting her birdlist on TexBirds listserve. The listowner said no more...but it was a done deal! She then moved to Panama to get a bigger yard list!
I'm trying to figure out what street your mom's house is on?
Larry--both my parents LOVE plants and stuff. They're always out there, tending to the yard. It's where I learned my gardening too, although now I have to re-learn everything for a cold climate! Down there, they just throw seeds out and they sprout like magic beans!
Earl--Nothing wrong with a small house.
Oh Lizard--if only they could get that lucky! They live in Treasure Hills, in the older part of that neighborhood.
Where are they gonna move?
Maybe they could advertise that you have chachas in that neighborhood. someone. Oh what will we do? The yard needs a bird/plant lover. Did your mom plant natives by chance?
I do miss gardening in the valley.
I now understand peoples aversion to deer in the garden.
Liz--They're moving to San Antonio. I'll ask them if they've included birds in their home description!
I don't have deer in my garden--just bunnies.
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