Around the yard in December

On April 15, 2026March 29, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

The squirrels were getting frisky in the backyard in mid-December. Don’t they know it’s not mating season? Actually early December is the start of their winter mating season so I may be seeing some tiny ones soon. Just what we need, more squirrels digging up the backyard.

It was good to see that the neighborhood turkeys survived Thanksgiving as they cruised through our backyard. There is almost no turkey hunting in Pinellas county due to the density and urban nature of the area and there are no public hunting areas so these turkeys are generally safe in our neighborhood with the exception of being hit by a car.

A juvenile little blue heron looking for a snack (lizard) along the sidewalk to our front door.

I hate it when the grackles come to the feeder (which isn’t often) but they are pretty.

Black bellied whistling ducks in the rain. I was standing outside with a big golf umbrella watching them as they found a little puddle to drink from.

I was adding some red lights to the back along the roof when this guy fell down. I’m glad he didn’t land on me because neighbors from many streets over would have heard me scream. I know they are out there but he caught me by surprise.

Blooming in the front yard in December.

Brett and I took the long way around the neighborhood after dinner out to see some lights. We saw a lot of deer out feeding.

This is not a great video since it took Brett a while to stop and I was filming from the moving car but the coyote couple passed by us on the sidewalk. The green eyes glowing belongs to the black coyote that almost blends in. It was really cool to see them in the dark but they kept moving fast.

Critters and storms in the yard in late August

On January 3, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Skies in the back and front yard in late August. We were getting rain almost every afternoon.

The juvenile bluebirds were still hanging around. We had at least 8 from 2 different families coming to the feeder and bath.

A lizard was molting.

Fred, my regular visitor to the back window, was also molting and I ran outside with my phone and was able to get a video of him trying to get his molt off his face. He let me get really close and I was tempted to try and pull it off his face but thought I would spook him so I let him do it himself.

More tiny frogs and a beautiful yellow moth.

When I see pileated woodpeckers fly into our oak trees I run outside with my camera. They are usually too high up for me to get shots through the window. This guy was sticking his tongue into a hole looking for bugs.

This is either a young juvenile blue jay or an adult that is molting.

Doves soaking in the bath.

A tiny rainbow at the end of our street.

More red after a storm.

We had some dead fish floating in the neighborhood ponds from all of the chemicals used on the golf course that run into the ponds after repeated heavy storms. The great blue heron wouldn’t even eat the dead fish.

Visitors to the yard in early August

On December 13, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The summer storms in early August brought out the tiny baby frogs. After a shower they showed up on the windows and cactus plant.

Bigger ones show up also but they come all the time. One afternoon I found one on the side of the house and one was in the bird house hanging on the wall outside.

The squirrels were getting frisky. I took the above through the window. I didn’t want to go out and interrupt their fun on our patio.

Bluebirds in the backyard.

The ibis missing a foot came back to visit. He walked up on the patio when he saw me through the window. I threw out some bird seed for him. He seems to be doing okay though.

My first 5-lined skink in the backyard. He was resting on Brett’s flip flop that was right outside the back door. He eventually ran under some leaves and was gone.

I think this blue jay was letting me know they needed more seed in the feeder.

Dark skies in the backyard.

Critters in the yard in late July

On November 22, 2025November 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I don’t like it when the crows come to the yard. They scare off the little birds and sometimes bring food they have found to soak in the bath (making it yucky). I had never noticed the blue feathers they have on their wings.

In late July we had a male ruby throated hummingbird show up for a few weeks. The females stay all summer but the males usually pass through. It’s hard to get a good shot of his red throat through the window.

Later we had a few juvenile males come through. They had just a few red spots on their throats.

The lady was sitting high up in the tree when the males came to the feeders. I took the above through the 2nd story window.

Bunny was eating our ivy one afternoon. We’re always trimming it back so we don’t mind if she has a few bites.

The black bellied whistlers made another appearance in the backyard and this time there were 3 of them.

All of the usuals paid a visit. A bluebird, a molting cardinal and a drenched blue jay.

More tiny frogs after a storm. This one was smaller than my thumb.

Beautiful colors after the storms

On November 19, 2025November 19, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Uncategorized5 Comments

Lightning from the bathroom window in late July.

Beautiful summer skies from the front and back yard in late July. When it storms late in the day and the sun comes out right before dark bright colors appear for a short time.

The little frogs come out after a storm. They show up on the windows and the walls outside.

This is Fred. He has a specific hump on his neck and back and sleeps on the old white trellis during the day. If he sees me walking up to the window he jumps over to the window and acts like he wants to come in.

Cute little ones in the woods

On September 13, 2025October 15, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

It was late May in the woods in the park near my house. Early in the morning I found a barred owl sleeping on a tree close to the boardwalk. You couldn’t miss her. I snapped a quick shot and kept going.

As I got a little farther a young one was sitting on a tree, also close to the boardwalk. The baby was busy preening but stopped for a second and stared at me.

I made my way to the end of the boardwalk and turned around. When I was coming back the parent owl was just waking up. Again, I snapped a quick shot and kept going since people were starting to crowd up on the boardwalk and get pictures with their phones.

Deep in the reeds along the lake a juvenile grackle was begging for Mom to feed her.

I found one of the frogs again.

As I was watching the frog a few birds went by including the tricolored heron in the first shots and the limpkin in the last shot. I was hoping they didn’t get the frog.

A juvenile limpkin was getting a snail snack from Mom.

Mom fed this young one several times. The baby looks like Mom but is much smaller. They eat a lot of apple snails that grow in abundance here.

An osprey flies by with a fish.

The summer rains hadn’t started and the swamp area was dried up. There is usually a pond here.

Around the yard in late September

On January 27, 2025February 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was late September and I was taking the trash bin to the end of the driveway and I heard whistling over at the pond. I ran in and grabbed by camera and went over to the pond across the street and there they were, black bellied whistling ducks. Both adults and juveniles were there (juveniles born this summer would not have pink bills yet). I snapped a bunch of pictures and then left them. They were gone later that afternoon.

A few days later I looked out the back window and saw a lone bird in the bath. At first glance I thought it was a northern parula but I decided to look closer. It was a female chestnut-sided warbler. She was really pretty with that lime green on her head but I kind of wished it was a male. They have the orange/chestnut sides. I’ve only seen him once last year at Fort Desoto and only got a blurry shot of it.

The turkeys were coming through the backyard and I caught them scratching around in the yard debris that was still piled up.

The day after Hurricane Milton came through a prairie warbler was in my tree. This is the first time I’ve had one in the yard.

A lone buck was grazing around the debris in the backyard.

Early that morning I was out front cleaning the yard and had my phone in my pocket. These 2 red shoulder hawks landed in the tree across the street and started mating.

It was a little late for nesting season so maybe they were just glad to see each other after the storm.

Right after the hawks came by a bald eagle flew high overhead.

The little froggies were still coming around and were hanging out on my Christmas cactus.

In the spring I planted a handful of sunflower seeds in a sunny spot and had tons of big sunflowers bloom. Late in the summer I planted some more hoping they would bloom for fall. This is the only one that bloomed. It survived the storm with only one petal missing.

The yard was covered with not yet ripe acorns.

Driving along the neighborhood we could see a lot of trees down. Some had pulled up sidewalks with it. Luckily none around us hit any houses or cars.

One morning I was coming back into the neighborhood from the grocery store and saw the turkeys up ahead. I pulled out my camera to get a shot but they had already started running so I started videoing them as I drove by. They were moving pretty fast. I’m not sure why they started running but they all of a sudden stopped.

The view across the street after the storm.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Destruction and a sunset

On December 16, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation4 Comments

Brett and I spent 3 nights in Fort Lauderdale while on our “no power” road trip. Since we still didn’t have power back home we left our rented condo in Fort Lauderdale and headed to Vero Beach for 2 nights. We had never been there and found a rental in a renovated barn on a working farm. We thought it would fun and something different.

We started on the highway but decided to take back roads near the beach as we got closer to Vero Beach. Just outside of Vero we came across a lot of destruction. Houses with roofs off and trees all torn up. We were wondering if Hurricane Milton made it this far east but after doing some research online we found out that 2 tornadoes had hit the area as Milton was approaching the western part of the state including one of the three F3 tornadoes that hit Florida. Before Milton flooded the eastern half of the state over four dozen tornadoes hit the state with most in the western part.

Parts of Vero Beach were completely devasted and other parts were fine. The beach was beautiful as we stopped for a quick walk before heading to our rental.

We had some time before we could check in so we stopped at a park along the causeway.

We saw a lot of big lizards (or small iguanas?) at the park. When we stopped for gas Brett pulled off the nozzle and this guy was taking a nap underneath it.

We had an early dinner at a cute seafood restaurant on the intercoastal right next to the bridge back to the mainland. As we walked on the fishing pier under the bridge the moon was coming up over the restaurant.

After dinner we took a long walk along the pier that ran under the bridge. It was a perfect spot to see the sunset.

The next day was a busy one with a walk through a botanical gardens and a sunset dolphin tour. More on those later.

Late June in the backyard

On October 12, 2023October 5, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

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?

On October 24, 2022October 18, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

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.