New Orleans wildlife

I was looking for this sign while walking along the water in Audubon Park this afternoon.  I didn't see it.  Neither did I see any crocodiles or alligators.  There were plenty of benches to sit on.

I did see ducks, geese, egrets, kingfishers and blue jays.  I also saw some birds I didn't recognize as well as a woodpecker about the size of my pointer and middle finger pressed together.  Pigeons in New Orleans run more toward buff than pearl gray the way I'm used to seeing them in Boston.  I have yet to see anyone feeding the pigeons, but it must happen.

My neighborhood is full of cats.  I saw a skinny rat cross the street in front of my house today in broad daylight.  She wasn't in any hurry and no one paid her any mind.  She had the lean physique of a marathon runner.  The cats were absent from the streetscape at the moment as it was threatening a thunderstorm which eventually dropped a few spatters that did little more than darken the pavement but left the sidewalk under the trees untouched.  Cats don't like to get wet and neither do I.  I have a covered porch that protected my head from the halfhearted downpour.

The only alligators I've seen are on menus.  I keep peering into canals as I cross them, looking for suspiciously floating logs.  No luck so far, just waterlogged wood and some soggy Rally's wrappers from late night, drive-thru feasts.

A tip of the fedora to Dr. Hermes for today's illustration.  If I ever come across an alligator in New Orleans, I'll remember not to sit on it.