Ibis resting on a one leg. Copyright 2017, Pamela Breitberg

Imagine my excitement to see this Ibis resting on a chain-link fence at the edge of a Best Buy (electronic store) parking lot. My Midwestern self considers such birds as exotic tropical specimens represented in zoos. It is a foreign idea to consider them common wild birds of the neighborhood. Ft. Lauderdale has been called the Venice of the U.S.; though respectfully I doubt that Venice calls itself the Ft. Lauderdale of Italy. What I’m meaning to say is that waterways are prevalent in Ft. Lauderdale.

I “assume” that it is resting between fishing activities in contrast to Chicago parking lot fowls. Chicago parking lots are inhabited by pigeons and much to the surprise of coastal residents, seagulls. Some explain the seagull’s presence with our large water body, Lake Michigan. But many of the seagulls in Chicago prefer the food left in grocery and mall parking lots. No fishy diet for them.