Late June in the backyard

Posted on October 12, 2023 by dinajohnston

The female hummingbird was still coming to visit in late June.

It’s not often a smaller bird will come to the feeder when a woodpecker is on it. This chickadee was brave.

Blue jays are regular visitors.

This was the first time I have seen a cardinal molting. This female had lost all of the feathers on her head. She was looking scruffy.

I went outside to get shots of the above downy woodpeckers. At first I thought they were a couple but after watching them for a while I realized they were parent and young. The parent was teaching the juvenile how to dig for bugs in the trees.

I took this through the window. A juvenile red bellied woodpecker was just getting his red feathers in.

We also had a pileated woodpecker stop by.

I looked out the window and saw the above swallow tail kite circling behind our house. I grabbed my camera and ran out the back door thinking he would be gone but I managed to get a few far away shots before he got lost over the woods.

Some of the usual non-flying critters in the backyard.

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

Posted on October 24, 2022 by dinajohnston

I saw a hummingbird buzzing by the window in late August so I put the feeder back out. A few hours later there she was, getting a snack. She came to the feeder several times the next day and that was the last I’ve seen of her so far.

Walking by the window I saw the turkeys roaming around the backyard. A few minutes later they had disappeared. Where did they go that fast? Was that one in the tree? I snuck out the back door with my camera and found them all over the big oak tree. They were settling down for an afternoon nap so I quickly snapped these and went back inside.

About an hour later I peeked out the window and they were back on the ground feeding. I took all of these through the window. Some golfers had come by, causing them all to stand at attention for a few seconds but they went back to feeding as the golfers kept going on the cart.

Getting a drink on a hot afternoon.

That’s not a bird sticking his head out of the bird house. I hope this frog doesn’t plan on living in it. Although the birds aren’t using anyway.

Getting out in the gardens

Posted on February 8, 2021 by dinajohnston

Still so many pretty flowers at Bok Tower Gardens in November. The big lily pads were still blooming.

I hadn’t seen any frogs there in several years so I was excited to see this guy in a small pond.

Little flying critters.

I’ve taking a ton of pictures of the bell tower but this was the first time I noticed that there was a calendar carved in the back of the tower. I’m not sue what the lines mean. Has anyone seen this before?

There were still lots of caterpillars in mid-November.

The backyard in October

Posted on December 19, 2019 by dinajohnston

I caught this woodpecker eating my neighbor’s plant.

This little squirrel was eating something. Taken through the bedroom window.

A little blue heron on our fence.

A frog on the garage door.

Color in the backyard.

Sunsets in the back yard in October.

SkyWatch Friday

In the neighborhood

Posted on October 17, 2019 by dinajohnston

I’ve recently been seeing an eagle sitting on top of a utility pole just outside my neighborhood. I guess they are back for the winter.

Some critters in my front yard. I think that lizard lives underneath my mailbox on the wall.I only see him at night. The frog was on my garage door.

It had just stopped raining and a very wet hawk was sitting on my neighbor’s sailboat mast. You can see mold growing on the mast. In 15 years, we’ve never seen them take the sailboat out.

Dolphins were right in front of our dock. It’s rare to see them in the channels. They usually stay out in the bay or only come in the first main channel.

Sun going down in the backyard.

The sun peaked out right after a storm before setting and turned everything orange.

The September full harvest moon. Reminds me that Halloween is coming.

“Don’t play with your food.”

Posted on October 7, 2017 by dinajohnston

I was driving through the parking lot heading to the fishing pier and I saw this guy over by a new rain puddle. He’s the rare great egret/great blue heron hybrid that’s been hanging out at the park for a while now. I’ve only ever seen him at the fishing pier. I’m glad I stopped and got out of the car since I saw the below when I did.

A great blue heron had a snack. He kept flipping it over, dropped it a few times and finally swallowed it quickly. I know the bird’s gotta eat but I felt bad for the frog.

Other birds kept cruising by hoping they could try to steal it. Another great blue heron started getting too close so he gulped it down.

“Irma”geddon

Posted on September 20, 2017 by dinajohnston

We were very lucky to have survived hurricane Irma with little damage. Many of my friends did not have power for up to 7 days after the storm and many areas in south Florida including the Keys suffered a lot of damage. Since we live on the water in the upper Tampa Bay, we evacuated to stay at our friends house about 30 minutes north of us. This was only the 2nd time we’ve evacuated since living here for 15 years. The first was for Charley in 2004 which missed us completely. We spent almost 3 days at our friends and didn’t lose power until the last day. I had thrown my camera in the car before leaving and spent some time taking pictures in the rain. Above were all taken from our friend’s backyard. We passed the time by keeping the dogs busy, one was a 9 month old puppy who loved to fetch the ball from the pool. By the time I left my arm was tired of throwing the ball for 3 days. That puppy never did tire out.

Below are just a few “after” storm shots. Beth walking the puppy around the backyard. The neighborhood was filled with yard debris. One of her neighbor’s lost their shed. The shed had completely blown away but the lawn equipment was still in a pile on the grass. Many of the houses has tree limbs in the screens.

I just hope it’s at least another 13 years before we have to do this again. Our house was fine. We had the wood fences on both side of our house fall down but that is an easy fix.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World

“They paved paradise and put a parking lot”

Posted on December 19, 2016 by dinajohnston

Late in the afternoon, all of the deer were napping deep in the woods. I could see a few of them from the boardwalk but they were trying to hide.

A little blue heron walking around near the boardwalk.

A lone ring neck duck in one of the smaller ponds.

I was looking around the boardwalk for gators and saw the above instead.

Furry faces in the trees.

The cypress trees are starting to turn.

A hawk on the way home.

I stopped by the horse farm on the way home to see if the eagles were back. They abandoned the nest in the old tree last year and did not have babies. Some say the old dead tree was rotting and about to fall over and that’s why they left. Most think it was due to new houses that were going up around the horse farm. The farm was surrounded by trees and last winter a developer came in and wiped out all of the tree and started a new neighborhood. I didn’t expect to find them and was thinking they were gone forever. As I was driving out a different way, I saw the above on a utility tower. There’s an old osprey nest in the tower. Only time will tell if they take over the osprey nest and have babies here. It’s sad to think they are out of that great tree but at least they would still be having families.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing

Little critters at Bok Tower Gardens

Posted on November 14, 2016 by dinajohnston

There were Kermits in all of the fountains at the Gardens. You have to sneak up on them or they will jump in the water and hide if they see you. I took the above with my 300mm lens so I was pretty far away.

Even at the end of October, there were a lot of flowers still blooming and lots of tiny critters flying around.

It was very quiet at the Gardens early in the morning. I could hear the hummingbirds go whizzing by and several times was able to catch them resting.

I saw this little guy across the bushes and was hoping he was a rufous hummingbird. When I got home and cropped it and lightened it up I realized it was a male ruby throated hummingbird which are fairly common this time of year. The rufous would have more orange than green in his feathers. I’ve seen them there but I can’t get a shot of them.

A mockingbird was watching me while I was waiting for the hummingbirds to fly back into the bushes.

More pictures from my late October visit to Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida.

image-in-ing

Things in my yard and neighborhood

Posted on August 29, 2016 by dinajohnston

I went for an after dinner walk and found this duck family in the pond near my house. I’ve been seeing this pretty creme mallard for a while now. I saw the family recently and the babies were getting big. Sadly, there were only 4 left.

Frog on our downspout after a storm.

Saw this lizard next to our dock. This is the first one I’ve seen with a rust head. Can they really blend in that well?

Here’s the same creme mallard back in May. She was floating around behind our dock.

Curious blue jay.

Hibiscus poking through the fence.

I took this through the kitchen window.

Taken through the bedroom window, the juvenile night heron was creeping around our neighbor’s dock.

Our neighbor a few houses down has an almost dead palm tree in their backyard. I came home from work and saw the tree full of crows eating the berries (or are these nuts?). Taken directly into the sun.