Around the yard in late May

On October 28, 2026November 4, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Things blooming around the yard in late May include a shrimp plant, a sunflower trying to bloom in the front yard and my neighbor’s Siam tulip plant.

The leopard plant under the window blooms yellow and then turns into a seed pod that reminds me of those dandelion plants we used to blow.

Titmouse at the worm feeder.

A juvenile red bellied woodpecker was watching Mom get a worm from the feeder. This young one still hadn’t gotten his (or her) red on the back of the neck.

Blue jays can be annoying but they are pretty when they take a bath.

Black bellied whistling ducks were hanging around the newly formed rain puddle. I snuck out the back door to get these since they were across the fairway.

My neighbor got a new hummingbird feeder for Mother’s Day and a male ruby throated hummingbird was a constant visitor. I took this from my driveway.

A bunny stopping by the backyard for a bite to eat.

A moth taken through the window.

A male and female juvenile cardinal looking around the patio for bugs. They still have that scruffy look as their adult feathers grow in.

It was funny to watch them hop around under the patio chairs.

Squirrels being cute in the backyard. Although one keeps trying to climb up the bird feeder pole. Luckily that baffle stops him.

The sun shining on a storm moving out of the neighborhood.

Around the yard in early May

On October 14, 2026November 4, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The shell ginger plants in the front yard were blooming in early May. I saw the hummingbirds feeding on them several times but was not able to get a picture from the window and if I went outside they would fly away.

House finches have become regular daily visitors to the backyard.

A young cardinal looking for bugs.

We still had a lot of northern parulas visiting the yard but they disappeared for the summer. I took the one in the window with my phone but when I went out to get a shot with my camera he took off.

Stubby, the tufted titmouse that is missing a foot, has become a regular visitor to the backyard. He looks for bugs on the ground, eats from both the seed feeder and the mealworm feeder and gets a drink from the bath. It’s hard to get a shot of him because he doesn’t sit still long. He grabs a worm and he’s gone. I can now spot him by the way he flutters his wings when he’s hanging on with one foot.

A pileated woodpecker high up in our oak tree. I was outside with my camera when I spotted him. He also doesn’t hang around very long.

The female ruby throated hummingbird sitting high up in the oak tree. She flies up to a few different spots after getting a sip at the feeder.

This guy was in the front yard with a snack.

Little critters included an underwing moth (I took with my phone through the window), an orchard orbweaver spider (We have a lot of these in the yard. They are harmless and eat bugs including mosquitos.) and a striped horse fly that I took outside and through the window (only the females bite and they are painful).

One morning a turtle was digging a nest in our backyard, right under our window. I took this through the window because I didn’t want to spook her. She dug a hole but then left without laying any eggs. She eventually made her way back to the pond on the other side of the fairway.

Summer skies from the backyard.

Beauties and a beast

On October 12, 2026November 4, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Swallowtail butterflies were the most common on the morning I was at Sweetfields Farm in Brooksville. The farm has a huge zinnia field and before picking some of them to take home I spent some time taking pictures of the butterflies.

A painted lady butterfly.

A fiery skipper.

Cloudless sulphur butterflies were also common but they rarely stay still for a few seconds.

A zebra swallowtail butterfly.

Gulf fritillary butterflies are common here but they look so pretty on pink.

A bella moth or also known as a rattlebox moth. I rarely see these.

A quick video of the butterflies flitting around in a smaller zinnia field near the sunflower maze. They were hard to catch since they were all constantly moving.

Lots of tiny critters as well.

Swallow tail kites are common around farm fields and cow pastures. There were several that were flying over the sunflower festival. Don’t look any further down if you don’t want to see nature doing it’s thing.

I was standing on the edge of the farm watching the kites fly high over the trees that bordered the farm. I noticed one kite had something in his talons that he was eating. Swallow tails eat while they are flying. I was bummed that I was having to take these into the sun since I couldn’t get any farther over due to the fence line.

When I got home and super cropped this up I could see his snack was a baby bird. Possibly a blue jay or mockingbird. He might have snatched it out of a nest. I usually see them eating dragonflies or lizards so it was a little disheartening to see what he had but it’s a circle of life. I did see this once before when Brett was with me and he calls them the “mean” birds now.

Yard visitors in April

On September 7, 2026October 8, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

In April I found this lady on my gardenia bush. At first I got excited thinking it was a native ladybug but after doing some searching I found out it was an invasive asian lady beetle. They are known to infest homes but we haven’t seen any inside yet.

A moth on the blooming leopard plant in the backyard.

Squirrels being cute in the backyard. I don’t know if that first one is eating bark or eating the ants off the bark.

A new visitor to the backyard was a yellow throated vireo. He showed up for a few days. He was constantly singing but I never saw a mate.

The first Carolina wren babies of the year. Mom in the top shot and the babies in the bottom with that bit of baby fuzz still on their heads.

The usual visitors included northern parulas and chickadees.

Sunsets across the street. In spring the sun goes down in the far left side of the lake.

A quick video of some black bellied whistling ducks flying over to the other side of the lake at sunset.

This guy hangs out in the lake so I have to keep an eye out when I’m getting sunset shots.

An anhinga drying off.

One night I was able to get a video of her flapping her wings dry on a branch.

Things in the yard and neighborhood

On August 11, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

We have a little spot of dirt in our front yard that gets full sun so I planted sunflower seeds and a few weeks later they started coming up.

Near the end of April this one was the first to start blooming.

A tiny Eastern amberwing dragonfly was flying around the sunflower plants.

A titmouse was showing off his snacks. I’m assuming he had a nest somewhere high up in the tree. I kept seeing him fly up there but couldn’t tell where he was going.

A moth through the window. Taken with my phone.

This blue jay was driving me crazy. He kept eating the suet and digging around in the plants for bugs. He lets me get really close. I took the above with my phone.

Critters on the flowering plants in the front yard.

I was sitting at the kitchen table working on my computer when I looked up and saw a hummingbird flying around in front of the window. I pulled out the old window feeder that I hadn’t used in a long time and made some extra food and put it on the window. By the next day she was coming to the feeder. If I was standing still in front of the window when she flew in she would continue to feed as long as I stood still.

A video of Fred flirting with me through the window.

It was almost time to take the suet feeder down. It’s just too hot once May comes and even through the package says they don’t melt, they do. The woodpeckers will just have to eat the regular sunflower seeds instead for a few months.

I kept hearing a peeping noise when I went out to water the plants and saw a downy woodpecker hanging around a spot high up in the oak tree in the backyard. I saw the woodpecker fly away and walked over and saw the above juvenile looking out from a hole underneath a branch. So I did what any normal bird nerd would do, I went inside and got my camera and dragged my patio chair under the tree and waited for the parent to come back.

The parent came back several times. There were two juveniles in the hole but only one popped out at a time. It must be tight in there. I could see the red on the young one’s head so I knew it was a boy. There was also a female.

Both parents stayed busy bringing in food but they would stick their head far into the hole to feed the kids so I couldn’t get a shot of them feeding it.

I knew that the babies were about to be too big for that hole and a few days later I saw them chasing the parents on the trees.

A regular visitor to the backyard.

I was out running errands and on the way home I saw these 3 on the sidewalk in front of the utility field down the street. I pulled over on the nearby parking pad and got out with my camera and crossed the street. Then they started crossing the street and heading right for me. These guys were strutting around like they owned the neighborhood.

I realized there were 2 females behind the trees on my side of the street. The males got close to the females but the females ignored them and went into the woods.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

An afternoon bike ride

On January 27, 2024January 17, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

In late October I went out for a quick bike ride around the neighborhood. We had a few cooler days but it was mostly still in the 80’s in the afternoons. I found a small promise of cooler weather ahead in these few red leaves.

I saw this yellow blooming plant all over the utility field. I looked it up and it’s rattlebox (also known as rattleweed, cat’s bell and showy crotalaria). It’s not a native plant and is invasive. It blooms in the fall here.

The little critters love the flowers.

The seed pods are toxic once they dry out.

This looks like bladderpod (or bagpod) but I didn’t see any orange flowering so I’m not sure. The pods are most likely toxic as well.

An Eastern phoebe was sitting on a bottlebrush tree.

Little critters along my ride.

I only saw this tiny gator on my ride. There are bigger ones here but they must have been hiding.

I saw a red shoulder hawk sitting on a light post near some woods and stopped to get a shot but he took off right as I started to snap. He flew into a tree and I walked over to see if I could find him and realized he was with a friend. It was that time of the year where all of the raptors were mating up. I wondered if this couple nested in this small stretch of woods but it would be hard to find them in there.

May in the backyard

On August 14, 2023April 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was mid-May and the backyard was blooming. The hanging shrimp plant really made the backyard pop. Bees were always visiting it but one day I was out with my camera and caught the tiny moth on the underside of the petals.

The titmouse was watching the big ants inside the hummingbird feeder. He was trying to understand why he couldn’t get to them (I have since changed to a bigger hummingbird feeder and the ants don’t seem to get on the new one as much).

The juvenile titmouse were usually on the feeder but this morning I saw them bouncing around the small palm tree up against our house.

We still had northern parulas in late May.

Mom Carolina wren was calling her young ones to follow her. She was sitting on our garage roof and I could see her through the kitchen window.

Her two almost grown babies were playing around in the small tree in front of our kitchen window. One came close to the window and stared at me. I can still see a little baby yellow around the beak.

I’m always looking out the back window to see if any critters are cruising by and one day I saw a turtle walking down the fairway. He eventually made it over to the pond. I could see the silhouette of a bluebird behind him.

An almost cloudless sunset. We’ve gotten a little rain since May but not much.

I was sitting at the pool reading and looked up and saw the sun halo.

Color explosion!

On July 12, 2021March 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants4 Comments

Since I missed the Sunflower festival at Sweetfield Farms last year, I had to go this year. In late May the zinnias at the farm were in full bloom. While the farm is mostly sunflowers (all boring yellow), I think my favorite part is the zinnia field. So many colors growing in one place. After taking tons of pictures, I went to the “You pick” booth and got some clippers. They were $1 per flower and I got as many as I could carry. One in each color.

The butterflies love the zinnias as well. My favorite part was all of the little flying critters that were landing on the flowers. I could have spent all day here but it was getting hot and I was getting hungry so it was time to pack up.

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

Summer storms in the morning.

On September 19, 2019August 29, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I realized why there wasn’t any little birds around the firebushes early one Saturday morning at Crescent Lake park. A hawk was keeping watch.

You can usually see monk parakeets hanging around the ball park there.

No birds but plenty of moths.

This dog looked bored when I was taking his picture. He was standing guard while his human was fishing.

Starlings are everywhere.

I got all the way across the lake from my car and it started raining. Luckily I had thrown my tiny umbrella in my backpack so I stood under a tree for a few minutes hoping it stop quickly. It was raining on one side of the park and the sun was on the other side. After 15 minutes I just walked back to my car and was soaked from the waist down.Typical Florida weather. By the time I got to my car the rain had stopped so I decided to head over to the North Shore beach park in nearby downtown St. Pete before heading home.