Early August in the backyard

On December 2, 2024December 2, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

At the end of July we were getting rain almost every day. We had several little puddles appear in the backyard and one morning I was able to catch the white ibis getting some bugs in the water. It was fun to watch them sloshing around in the ground. We must have some good bugs in the backyard because they were having a feast.

The rabbit made another appearance and I caught him eating the ivy again. He saw me through the window but kept eating for a while.

Cardinals will molt and lose a lot of their feathers and they look scraggly when it happens. This guy had lost all of the feathers around his neck and the back of his head. He was easy to spot for several days.

We had a lot of Carolina wrens this summer. There were several juveniles that stopped by for a bath. They liked resting on some storm debris we hadn’t picked up yet.

We still had ruby throated hummingbirds at the feeder in early August. It was mostly females but I did have a male show up a few times (with the bright red throat).

Another lacewing on the back door.

A young squirrel getting a snack in front of the back door.

A coyote down the street? What? I knew they were here and I have neighbors that have seen them at night but I had not seen one in the 3 years we have lived here (I did have one on the back patio last year in the middle of the night that I saw on the backdoor camera). I was on my way to the grocery store one morning and saw this guy laying along the sidewalk near the utility field. I luckily had my camera in the car and pulled over and took the above. He just sat there and looked at me. I did talk to a lady walking her small dog that way and told her to watch for it. When I came back from the store I saw him heading into the woods.

More summer skies, all in the backyard.

It’s gobble gobble day!

On November 27, 2024December 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

These guys were hanging around in the corner of our neighborhood most of the summer. I would see them cruising around in the front and backyard every few days. These two were by themselves when they stopped for a visit in the backyard in July. I think these are both males with those “beards” hanging off their beaks.

I saw this family of 6 often as well. They were cruising through the backyard and would stop and scratch for bugs around the feeder. This is the Mom with her 5 babies that were almost fully grown by July.

In late August the family was playing around in the front of our little subdivision.

A few days later I was at the pool and heard them scratching around right behind my chair.

Another sighting as they were heading onto the golf course. I haven’t seen them since late September so I hope they went into hiding for the holidays. Yes, it’s legal to hunt turkeys in Florida but there are regulations and you can’t hunt on private property so ours should be safe but people seem to bend the rules a lot lately.

A big storm moving in to the area in early September.

After the storm the sun turned the sky orange and purple as it went down.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crazy skies in August

On November 20, 2024December 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights9 Comments

The skies light up during the summer here. Most afternoons we get storms and if they clear and the sun peaks out right before setting the sky will turn orange. We had a few rainbows as well. All taken from the front or back yard.

“Oh deer, don’t come any closer”

On November 16, 2024December 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals2 Comments

This lady was already molting at the end of July. They shed their fur twice a year, in spring and fall. Maybe she was just shedding from spring? I took this through the back window.

A little blue heron came walking by the back window.

I wasn’t getting a lot of birds in the backyard in late July. Mostly the usuals including blue jays (above), cardinals, titmouse and chickadees. With all of the rain we had been getting they weren’t coming to bath as much but this blue jay couldn’t pass up a good clean bath.

Fungus growing on fallen branches and in the hanging baskets. They dry up pretty fast once the sun comes out for the afternoon.

I took the above with my phone through the back door. It had just stopped pouring and the squirrel had found the few sunflower seeds that had fallen out when I brought the bird feeder in before the storm.

I kept my camera in the car hoping I would see some baby deer as I was going in and out of the neighborhood. One morning I saw a young buck on the way out and quickly pulled over and snapped the above.

The next morning I was leaving much earlier and took the long way out of the neighborhood. I saw a fawn and Mom heading into the woods. I was able to catch them leaving and the baby stopped for a few seconds and looked back at me. I wonder if the people in the nearby homes feed them.

A few days later I stopped at the utility field on my way out and saw the above. I wasn’t in a hurry and parked the car and got out. I was across the street and trying to hide behind a big bottlebrush tree but they knew I was there. I don’t often see the males in the neighborhood and it was cool to see two big racks together 😉.

They spent a few minutes feeding along the sidewalk on their side of the street.

All of a sudden this guy crosses the street and starts walking right towards me. I walked back to my car in the grass and away from them. I was not going to test his friendly manner and let him get any closer.

He walked around the tree I had been standing behind and looked at me as if to say “This is my tree.”. I took these from behind my car. They both eventually headed towards the nearby woods.

Summer sky in the front yard.

Around the yard in mid-July

On November 4, 2024October 24, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I looked out the kitchen window and saw a squirrel in the small tree in our front courtyard. I realized he was eating one of the almost dead sunflowers. He sat there and ate it while I ran and got my camera. I guess he was eating the sunflower seeds. He looked so happy like he had just won a prize.

In mid-July we had a heavy storm and the temporary pond across the fairway filled back up. Late one afternoon I saw a spoonbill feeding in the pond and went out with my camera. Luckily there wasn’t anyone playing golf that late and I was able to stand in the fairway and get some shots of the spoony and his friends without getting too close. There was also a snowy egret, a little blue heron and a juvenile little blue heron (the white one above).

A quick video of them feeding that I took with my phone.

The hummingbird was a regular visitor to the feeder and the shrimp plant.

These two turkeys came cruising by and stopped long enough for me to sneak out back and shoot the above from our patio.

We had a rabbit come by and feed on our ivy in the patio. I took these through the glass door. He saw me but kept eating for a while. I didn’t mind him eating the ivy. We are always cutting it back.

A few days later I was doing some clean up in the front and saw this tiny bunny up against our front door. I snapped the above and texted a rehabber to make sure he was old enough to be on his own. She said he was fine. Later I saw him hopping around the courtyard but haven’t seen him since that day.

Those weird fungus looking things on my back glass door that was actually lacewing eggs turned into this. They are beneficial to the yard and will eat tons of little bugs including mealybugs, aphids, spider mites and whiteflies.

A pretty mushroom after the rain. The squirrels usually eat them.

I was at the pool in our subdivision and this dragonfly landed on my towel and stayed long enough for me to pull my phone out and snap the above.

Afternoon lightning I shot from the garage.

July skies from the front yard.

Around the yard this summer

On October 21, 2024December 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants3 Comments

In June my sunflowers started to explode. There’s a tiny spot in the front of the house that gets full sun and I planted a handful of seeds there. The deer ate a lot of the leaves when they were half grown but didn’t seem to eat the buds.

This one big stalk kept blooming for a month. The smaller one next to it also bloomed but stayed really short and the blooms were tiny. I’m thinking it was a different sunflower seed. After it stopped blooming I cleaned out the bed and replanted more sunflower seeds, hoping I would get another bloom before winter sets in (around January here). I only got one small bud and it hasn’t bloomed yet.

We had some juvenile birds coming through including a cardinal and a northern parula.

The squirrel has been spending the summer afternoons napping on the birdhouse.

This again on our back door. At first I thought it was a fungus growing but after googling it I found that it’s green lacewing eggs (a type of moth).

The hummingbirds have been regular visitors all summer. There’s at least two females (I’ve seen them chasing each other around) and a male shows up every once in a while.

I was looking at the sunflowers through the kitchen window and saw a hummingbird buzzing around them. I got my camera and sat for a while waiting. She came back and sat for a few minutes but I didn’t see her feed off of them. I never saw them near the sunflowers again.

Summer skies from the yard.

Whistlers and kites in the neighborhood

On October 19, 2024October 7, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I was pulling into our neighborhood and passed by the big pond at the main entrance. I looked over and saw 2 black bellied whistling ducks looking around. I went home and got my camera and came back and parked along the back of the pond and got out and hid behind some trees. I was hoping they had babies but wasn’t sure.

At first I wasn’t sure but then I saw movement in the water and realized that they did have babies. They stayed down in the reeds and these are extremely cropped up. I counted 7 that I could see. They are so cute at this age.

Weeks later I passed by the front big pond again (I usually come in the side entrance) and saw them swimming around in the pond. I’m not sure if this is the same family. I’m thinking it is but there were only 2 babies with Mom. They were about the right age but I hate to think there was only 2 left. There are alligators in these ponds as well as hawks, owls and eagles in the neighborhood so I shouldn’t be surprised.

I saw several swallow tail kites flying around from the backyard and ran outside with my camera. There were at least 6 of them flying high overhead and I could hear them calling. This was late July so they were probably gathering to get ready to head south for the winter.

The next day is was drizzling and I was out running errands and saw 3 of them sitting in a high tree off the main road outside our neighborhood. I pulled over and snapped these quickly.

Early summer around the yard

On October 14, 2024October 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

My neighbor’s plumeria was in full bloom in late May. It had grown really tall and leans over our wall.

A few visitors in the backyard included a house finch, a constant stream of young bluebirds and a young Carolina wren.

The blue jay didn’t mind the red bellied woodpecker getting a sip.

In early June we had an ibis stop by that was missing a foot. I had one visiting last summer as well and I’m thinking it might be the same one. His leg joint looks the same. He was digging around the back for bugs and came on the patio when he saw me through the glass door.

The full moon in late May (taken through the back window).

The pond across the street was steaming late one afternoon.

Summer sunset.

We had a faint rainbow after a storm came through right before dark.

My sunflowers were starting to bloom. The plant that was half eaten by the deer only grew a few feet high but had lots of tiny blooms. It looks like the packet of sunflower seeds I bought had 2 different kinds of sunflowers in it.

The deer only ate half of the leaves on the tall plant and the buds were just starting to bloom. I was afraid the deer were going to come back and eat all of the buds but they didn’t and this plant bloomed for weeks. More to come.

Babies around the yard

On September 12, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

It was mid-May and a tufted titmouse family came for a bath. There were 3 babies and 1 parent that came to the bird bath every day for a week. The babies still have a little cream color on the beak near their faces and didn’t have that little bit of rust in their bellies. They were so awkward trying to take a bath.

I’m not sure why this squirrel was licking the plant. He might have been licking the ants off of it?

A male cardinal got a snack underneath the bath and then took a bath.

We also had a lot of juvenile bluebirds coming for a bath for several days. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them. They were so cute.

A lone brown headed cowbird was in the grass just past the feeder. I don’t see them often but this was the 2nd time I had seen one in the backyard in 3 years.

Two juvenile northern parulas were hopping around the tree in the front courtyard waiting for Mom to bring them bugs. I saw them moving around and snuck outside and got the above shots.

Hibiscus blooming in front of our driveway.

I planted sunflower seeds in a small spot in the front that gets a lot of sun in late April. By mid-May I had big stalks coming up, almost as tall as myself. I was excited, hoping I would get a few blooms. One morning I walked out and realized deer had eaten half the plants. They pulled most of the leaves off one plant and half of the other. There were hoof prints in the bed. I was crushed. I left the stalks thinking they would come back and finish eating them but they never did. They continued to grow and eventually bloomed. More on those later.

Sunset across the street.

My neighbor’s church was having a fundraiser lunch and their theme was “Spring birds in Florida”. She asked me if they could use some of my pictures and I said sure and then I was asked to talk about them so I gave a presentation on birds in the neighborhood. It was hard to narrow down to 30 minutes worth of pictures from the tens of thousands I have taken over the years. It was a fun afternoon.

Visitors to the backyard bath.

On August 26, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

This is summer in central Florida. The philodendron plants turn yellow in the summer.

It was already so hot in early May that the squirrels were taking a nap in the shade on the empty nest box.

Bluebirds were coming by to take a bath.

Northern parulas were coming down from high up in the trees to take a bath. They usually don’t come down this low.

A cardinal and red bellied woodpecker share a drink.

A new visitor to the backyard, a female redstart stopped by the bath for a few minutes.

A young titmouse family stopped by. There were 3 juveniles that hung out on the bath for a while. The parents spent the time at the feeder.

A juvenile cardinal that was just starting to molt into his red feathers was still being fed by Mom.

Up-close with my neighbor’s hibiscus.

As I was taking some macro shots of the beautiful hibiscus I realized her plants were covered in mealy bugs. They had taken over the entire 2 bushes. We sprayed several times with neem oil and tried to get them all off. They were gone for a few weeks then came back even worse. We finally chopped the bushes way back to just sticks. They are already started to get leaves again so it will be interesting to see if the bugs come back again. I hope not. Any advice here?