Things in the yard in early May

On July 11, 2022June 30, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Flowers blooming in the yard in early May.

We had a bad storm one night that formed a small pond on the other side of the golf course. Early the next morning I saw a turkey hanging around the newly formed pond. I grabbed my camera and ran out before the golfers came through. These were taken with my 400mm lens and are cropped up a little but she didn’t seem to mind me standing there. She just went about her preening and strutting around.

A limpkin stopped by while I was shooting the turkey.

The usual birds were coming through the backyard in early May. I’ve been seeing the brown thrashers pretty regularly now.

The baby bluebirds were old enough to cruise around the area. They nest in my neighbor’s nest boxes (several doors down, the neighbors have been living there for years so I think the birds are use to using their boxes). This young one was sitting on the feeder pole in the rain.

Another visit from an armadillo and I always take a shot of the squirrels if they are doing something cute. This time he was just sitting back and relaxing.

The full moon from the driveway.

Things in the yard

On June 14, 2022June 14, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Blooming at the end of March in the front yard.

I was out watering my hanging baskets and saw the inchworm. I had to run in and get my camera and macro lens. Later that day I saw the green lizard and ran out to get shots of it. We have a ton of brown lizards and it’s rare to see a green one.

I’ve been seeing a lot of woodpeckers in the backyard. At one point there were 3 hanging out in different spots.

Occasionally I get a bluebird stopping by. They mostly hang out in my neighbor’s yard several townhomes down. These were all taken through the window. They are very skittish.

I was pretty excited to get a shot of a hooded warbler in the yard through the window. I saw one back in October as well but only got a blurry shot of him.I wonder if it’s the same one.

Pine warblers and northern parulas were stopping by the bird bath. I haven’t seen either in a while now so I hope they come back this fall.

Blue jays are always at the feeder.

A titmouse sits on top of the bluebird box. So far no birds have nested in it.

Turkeys were strutting by our windows in late March/early April. The first one was right in front of the window, the bottom 2 were taken across the golf course. I think these are 3 different ones since they have different face colors. I haven’t seen any in a while now. They may be nesting.

Down the street I found a juvenile night heron. Next year I’ll have to look for some nests early in the season.

More from the Veterans Memorial Park

On November 11, 2021October 31, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

More pictures from the Veteran’s Memorial Park in east Tampa. I took so many pictures and had to post most of them. You can see my first post here. The above were taken in the WW2 section.

You can see the cool helicopters from all over the park. Once I got into the Vietnam section, I could really see the details. You could see into the bottom of this one and it had a camera in the floor. I tried to imagine someone flying this and taking pictures over enemy territory.

The one with the teeth across the front was also impressive. I wonder if it was painted this way when it was in use?

There was also a memorial to the dogs used in the military.

The park is in a beautiful setting and was a perfect way to spend a morning walking around under the trees learning about the history.

The park sits on the Bypass Canal and of course I spent some time walking along the water looking for birds. The only ones I found were two limpkins. One was a juvenile, still yelling at Mom to feed it.

There were a lot of hibiscus bushes in the park, which are are my Dad’s favorite.

Speaking of my Dad, here he is going into boot camp. He was over in Germany in 44 and 45.

He had a camera permit while he was overseas. He had a photo album full of pictures taken overseas that I didn’t even know existed until we found it after he died. I still have his camera pass. He would have been 97 years old last week.

Color in the neighborhood

On September 20, 2021March 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants2 Comments

With the scorching heat in August I was taking quick walks around the neighborhood early in the morning before work instead of after work. Plus it’s usually raining after work so at least I’ve gotten my walk in. Walking with just my phone, I can’t help but stop and take pictures of all of the blooming things along the sidewalks. I realized there are a lot of magnolia trees here and they all had bright red seed pods on them. I’m assuming the critters will eat them so I’ll have to keep an eye for them

A hot late July walk

On September 6, 2021March 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Pretty things at the Florida Botanical Gardens in late July.

A quiet place to ponder.

Nature’s chandalier.

Little critters

Some almost grown wood ducks preening in the shade.

In the backyard

On July 20, 2021July 20, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants2 Comments

I didn’t plant these sunflowers on purpose. I didn’t think we had the right kind of soil since our dirt is so sandy. Of all of the years with a bird feeder, this is the first time I had a rogue sunflower seed take root. The double one came up first but wasn’t very big. The bigger one came up right next to our petunia pot a few days later. I think an animal, maybe a squirrel, ate it after a few days. It was all torn up on the ground near the feeder.

A macro fly on the leaf.

Taking some shots around the backyard with my macro lens.

I had to get even more shots of my hibiscus plant.

One night I went out to move the garbage can to the street and saw this black racer cutting across my driveway. I was glad I had my phone in my pocket so I could quickly snap this.

We’ve had a lot of duck families cruising past our dock. This was one of the first in early May.

Backyard macro

On July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

My husband had just come home from work and his car was covered in love bugs in late May. They were also all over the plants along the driveway. Of course I ran inside and grabbed my camera and macro lens.

While I had my camera out, I walked around the yard snapping flowers and plants.

I found this tiny damselfly in the yard. It looked like it was praying.

The bark on one of our palm trees started to peel off and at first I though there were worms in the base of the tree but then I realized it was the roots of the tree coming out. Something common in small palm trees.

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Lunchtime in the backyard

On June 2, 2020June 2, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants4 Comments

My internet was down and I had just finished lunch, The weather was cool and I knew there wouldn’t be many more days like this so I grabbed by camera and macro lens and went outside for a quick walk around the yard. All of the shots were taken in my yard including the purple flower which I realized as I got up close that it was covered in little green bugs. The red spider is a spiny orb weaver and is harmless.

Hanging out in the backyard.

On May 28, 2020May 13, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

Spending more time at home, I’ve been going out for a walk around the backyard after work. These were all taken in April. Now that it’s late May, I would get eaten alive by mosquitoes if I’m not covered in bug spray.

A few critters on my plants (or weeds).

I noticed this juvenile night heron on my neighbor’s screened in porch.

The sun going down on the ducks.

Sunset over my neighbor’s palm trees.

SkyWatch Friday

In the backyard in June.

On August 12, 2019July 29, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Starlings took over our backyard a long time ago but this is the first time I noticed them nesting. My neighbor has a dead palm tree that sits up against our fence and for weeks I kept seeing this starling popping her head out of a hole in the side facing our kitchen window. There was also one sitting on the top of the stump most of the time. I never saw any babies poking out but weeks later I saw an adult feeding several young ones in our neighbor’s yard.

It’s that time of the year when mama ducks are cruising the channels with babies.

One morning I saw the above woodpecker in a hole higher up in the dead tree. The woodpecker spent all morning cleaning out this hole so I thought we’d have babies at some point but I think she ended up not staying. A few days later I saw a starling going in the same hole and I haven’t seen the woodpecker since.

We have 2 Bismark palms in our backyard that are about 5 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen something blooming inside of them. It’s weird that they are suppose to be the same tree but the blooms look completely different.