PINKY AND BINKY AND ANIMAL MYSTERIES

2012:

Two mourning doves, the abovementioned Pinky and Binky, were the only two who came to my bird feeder after August of 2011 when we had a huge hurricane here in the Northeast (Irene). An earlier bunch of mourning doves I had been observing, and often photographed them as they sat at twilight on the big oak tree outside my living room. They were exactly eleven in number over several years...never more and never less. Post-hurricane, only two: Pinky and Binky. (Now I again see more of them, maybe they came back from elsewhere.)

2013:

Surprisingly a group of doves collected themselves into a nice arrangement again on the oak tree branches, and when I counted them (and photographed those that I could), there were and are again, eleven.

Finally, a small item from the New York Post

awhile back:

“A seven-mile-long mega pod of dolphins has been spotted swimming off the coast of San Diego. The huge swarm of sea mammals is estimated to be over 100,000-strong. Dolphin pods are usually only about 15 to 200 animals large, and no one has any idea why this one has gotten so large.”