Eagles and butterflies on my walk.

On August 9, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Near the end of April I was finishing my walk along the Safety Harbor waterfront and was walking past the damaged pier on the way back to my car when I heard an eagle yelling. I was glad I had my camera in the car as I look over and see an eagle sitting on the pier piling. After quickly taking the above shot the eagle flew off and headed towards an old sign piling.

I didn’t realize there was another eagle eating a fish nearby. The eagle tried to land on the piling and they both took off flying around in a small circle. There are two eagle nests nearby so I’m not sure which these are. Or, maybe they are from different nests and the one was trying to steal the fish?

The eagle with the fish landed back on the piling and the other eagle took off far down the water towards the causeway. The one sat on the piling for a while finishing his fish and the other one did not come back.

Looking right into the sun I could see two yellow crowned night herons walking along the piping on the damaged pier.

I moved farther down the waterfront and was able to watch them hanging out. One hopped down in the water and was shaking his feathers. They eventually flew off together and I’m assuming they are a couple.

Since I had my camera I stopped by Folly Farm to take a quick walk through the butterfly garden. I found lots of little critters on the flowers.

I had forgotten there was a balloon cotton bush plant here. It only blooms in the warmer weather so I wasn’t seeing it on my winter walks here. It’s a type of milkweed and is favored by the monarch butterflies to eat and lay eggs in.

There wasn’t a lot of birds here but I did see a juvenile northern parula and a juvenile titmouse. Lots of young ones around in the spring.

Around the yard in late March

On June 23, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Things blooming in the front yard in late March. The bottom one is a fire star orchid that was gifted to my neighbor from a friend who was moving. It’s a huge potted plant that is full of blooms. When she brought it home in the winter it was a pile of dead sticks. She said her friend said to trust her and wait until spring.

We had another dove couple (or it might have been the same couple from the other tree) nesting on a palm tree on the other side of our driveway. They nested much higher up and I could only get a shot of one baby when it was getting big although there were two. They grew up so fast and were gone before I could get another shot of them.

Fred spends the afternoon sleeping on the old small trellis in front of our window. He’s got distinctive ridges on his back and he never runs away when I get close to the window.

We finally got a new bird bath. The old plastic one covered in metal lasted 20 years but was falling apart in the Florida weather. The squirrels love the new one.

Birds coming to the backyard in late March included a great crested flycatcher (the first 2 shots). I think he was going to get a drink but wasn’t sure with the fountain going. Northern parulas were plentiful in the yard and I don’t know what that crow had in his beak. He might have gotten a mouthful of leaves with a caterpillar or maybe he was building a nest?

Right before dark I was going out to get the mail and I kept hearing black bellied whistling ducks calling from the pond. One day I took my camera and walked across the street and saw them sitting on the bank on the other side. For at least 2 weeks they would come in late in the day. I wondered if they were nesting nearby but I couldn’t start walking through people’s backyards looking, could I?

This is when I would hear them whistling. Right before the sun went down behind the trees across the pond.

The sun was coming up through the fog one morning as I was heading to the grocery store.

I knew the eagles in my neighborhood were sitting on eggs in the nest for a while and eventually I saw them sitting up on the edge of the tower and had been bringing in food. I was thinking maybe the babies had hatched but it would be a while before they were big enough for me to see them.

Finally, weeks later I could get a decent shot of the baby. I had seen glimpses of gray fuzz for a few weeks but now I could see the face. It looked like there was only one baby.

A week later the baby was much bigger and I could see one of the parents feeding it on the nest. I’m glad they have a baby. The Dad is a first time dad since he was only a 4th year juvenile last year when he started “dating” the Mom who had lost her mate earlier that year. You can read my post about the loss of the eagle family last March here.

Dad flies off to get more food.

One day another juvenile eagle went flying over the nest. The parent chased him away. It might have been a baby from the nest on the other side of the neighborhood. Those babies were born much earlier but it’s too far away to get pictures of that nest.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Around the yard in February

On May 10, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

In early February my neighbor told me he kept seeing a dove fly into the palm tree in between our driveways, near our garage. I got my camera out and saw that she had a baby. We get a lot of doves in the backyard. They like to sit on the bird bath when it gets dark. I wasn’t expecting to see them nesting high up in the palm tree.

A few days later I realized there were 2 babies. They were growing fast.

Days later a bad storm came through and I went out after the storm right before dark to make sure the babies hadn’t gotten blown out of the nest. They were pretty big at this point. This was the last time I saw them in the nest. At some point over the next few days they flew the coup.

Then I noticed 2 juvenile doves in my backyard under the bird bath. They stuck close together and they didn’t have their full black spots on them and their beaks were still small so I’m thinking these were the 2 babies.

A week later I was out doing some yardwork and noticed a dove picking up sticks and bringing them up to another palm tree in front of our house.

This couple was building a nest. I don’t know if it’s the same couple that had the babies near the garage.

Northern parulas were regular visitors to the backyard in February.

Some bigger birds lurking around the yard included a great egret and little blue heron.

The tiny mini-squirrel (who I think is a juvenile) was taking a nap on the unused bird box.

This Mom was watching me from the tree. She looks like she had recently been nursing so I’m thinking this is mini-squirrel’s Mom.

The bunny has become a regular visitor.

My neighbor’s hibiscus bush was blooming.

A botanical gardens on the other side of the state

On January 6, 2025February 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

While Brett and I were on our “No power” trip (no electricity from Hurricane Milton) to the east coast in October we spent an afternoon at McKee Botanical Gardens in Vero Beach. It was our first time in the Vero Beach area and I had heard about the Gardens from friends who live nearby. It was a beautiful place to wander around and the gardens were full of things blooming and flying.

The gardens were started in the early 1920’s and there were a lot of tall old trees.

I managed to find a few migrating birds including a northern parula, a black throated blue warbler and a Swainson’s thrush.

A pileated woodpecker flew in while I was looking for migrating birds and started eating the seeds on a nearby palm tree.

There were so many different types of lizards. Tons of them in all sizes but we didn’t see any bigger iguanas. The bottom one is an invasive Peter (or rainbow) rock agama that was introduced into south Florida’s wildlife in the 70’s. They have recently made their way farther north and are now plentiful in Vero Beach.

We were taking a break on a bench and this squirrel brought his snack over and ate in front of us.

The Hall of Giants is an original building of the gardens and was built to house the largest table at the time (found in New York City), built from a single piece of mahogany.

The gardens also had a lot of tiny waterfalls.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life

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.

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?

Some of the other blooms in the front courtyard.

I found a ladybug on a plant. I rarely see them anywhere.

The sun going down behind the lake across the street.

Visitors to the yard in April

On July 1, 2024September 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was out in the front yard in early April taking a picture of the crazy blooming gardenia bush. The smell was amazing. It was early in the morning and I saw some movement across our driveway and turned around to see the below.

The turkeys were just cruising across the yards. I caught them with my phone as they walked across my neighbor’s driveway.

Hummingbirds started showing up at the end of March. For the last 2 years it was mid-April before they came. I saw one buzzing around the shrimp plant and put the feeder up. The first few days I saw a male with his ruby throat blazing with red. Since then I have only seen females.

A doe was feeding just outside the back door right before dark. I quietly opened the door and took the above standing in the doorway. I was afraid if I walked out I would spook her. I haven’t seen any deer coming through the back in a while since this time.

I was replanting some pots in the back when I saw something on the bird bath out of the corner of my eye. I thought I must have been dreaming. A prothonotary warbler in my back yard? I was sitting on the pavers and looked over at my camera on the chair near the door. I knew if I got up it would leave. So I got up and it did leave but I sat in my chair really still with my camera and about 15 minutes later it showed up again. He spent a few minutes taking a bath and then left. What a beauty!

While I was sitting in the chair a northern parula also stopped by.

As well as a house finch.

The tufted titmouse got a bath right after the prothonotary warbler left.

There wasn’t any rain for weeks and it was so hot. Even the bluebirds were stopping by almost every day for a bath.

One morning I looked out the back window and saw a turtle walking across the golf course. He was heading for a busy street instead of turning right towards the other pond so I ran out with a towel and grabbed him and put him closer to the pond. There wasn’t anywhere for him to go even if he crossed that street without getting hit.

We had some new butterflies in the backyard on the big oak tree. A painted lady and a polygonia.

A lizard showing off for the ladies.

Those creepy spiky caterpillars that were all over the backyard a few weeks earlier turn into the above. A tussock moth.

No clouds for weeks. Sunset from the front yard.

Two more lifers in one morning.

On June 29, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Above is the only picture I got of the yellow breasted chat. I had heard there was one here at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs last spring but I never made it up here to look for it. This year I had to go since I had never seen one before. It had been reported for 3 days before I got there. Early the first morning I looked for 2 hours with 2 other people and had to leave for a dentist appointment with no sighting. People reported it later in the morning so the next morning I went up a little later (around 8:30am). There were at least 20 other people looking in the area it had been seen the day before. After over an hour it made a brief (above) appearance. After waiting another hour I gave up and went for a walk around the rest of the park. It looks a little like the yellow throated warbler but without the black stripes.

There was a Cape May warbler bouncing around in the area where the chat was. This was a banner spring for Cape Mays. They were everywhere.

I found other usual spring migration birds around the park including a prairie warbler, a hooded warbler, a white eyed vireo and a northern parula.

My 2nd lifer of the morning was a Lincoln’s sparrow. He was on the other side of the park from the chat and was scratching around in the dirt along the mangroves near the water.

Above the Lincoln sparrow was a prairie warbler posing nicely in the bushes.

I saw the painted lady butterfly while we were waiting for the chat to show up.

The yard in March

On June 17, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

My neighbor’s hibiscus bushes were in full bloom in late May. The first bush is my favorite. The flower starts out pink and turns yellow by the end of the day.

Regular visitors to the bird bath during March were Northern parulas, a hermit thrush and many black and white wablers. The hermit thrush usually came at the end of the day and took a quick bath and left.

This tufted titmouse had a white moth and I thought he was going into the bird house but he flew off with it.

A Carolina wren couple spent an afternoon building a nest in the palm tree outside our window but ended up leaving it. I have read they may build several nests before using one. They must have used one nearby because they have since come by with their little juveniles.

One sits on our patio chair. I’d like to think he was looking at us in the window but I think he’s eyeing the patio for bugs.

The red shoulder hawk was sitting on the bird feeder stand one morning.

So many fun caterpillars were on our patio wall. The first is a moth, either a gypsy or tiger? The second, a tussock moth, is not so fun. We had a lot of these in our backyard. They can sting or give you a little rash if you aren’t careful. The last is a wooly gray moth which is a drab brown moth from such a cool caterpillar.

The almost full moon from the living room window.

Glowing in the backyard.

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.