Pretty colors and a sad story

Posted on July 10, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was the end of April and there sat another indigo bunting in our backyard. This was the third indigo bunting sighting in the yard so I’m thinking it might be the same one hanging around. His only company was some cardinals and bluebirds. This was the last migrating bird I saw at home.

An adult Carolina wren sits on the bird feeder hook. I hadn’t seen any for a while and now they are passing through with their babies. She started calling and I realized her two babies were bouncing around in our bushes.

The babies were almost fully grown and were taking short flight hops from place to place. I went outside and shot the above. They didn’t seem to mind me being out there and I stayed far back.

I put the hummingbird feeder out about mid-April and the first time I saw one was on 4/28. Both a male and female were coming to the feeder. The last time I had seen one was at the end of August. I only saw the male a few times but there are 2 females that take turns coming to the feeder everyday since.

The last time I saw my backyard turkey was this day at the end of April. She has been visiting the backyard almost every day for weeks. She would quietly feed and take a quick nap under my neighbor’s oak tree. I saw her around 3pm and she was napping. The next day I found out from a neighbor that she had been hit by a car at 5pm at the end of our street at the stop sign. I was crushed. I knew it was my backyard turkey. I haven’t seen her since. I’m thinking someone hit her on purpose. The turkeys here don’t dart out in front of cars. The speed limit is 20 and she was hit at a stop sign? The neighbor didn’t see the car that hit her but she was dead when the neighbor found her. The people who live near that stop sign don’t have cameras so we couldn’t check that. I just don’t understand people anymore.

On a brighter note, the hibiscus in our courtyard have been blooming and they are huge. The top one starts out pale pink and turns yellow before it dies. This type of hibiscus doesn’t close at the end of each day. They stayed open for at least 3 days.

The peace lily plant has also been blooming.

I took the above shot of the gulf fritillary with my phone as I was taking the garbage out.

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

Back at the hummer tree.

Posted on June 17, 2015 by dinajohnston

I should have brought my tripod. I might have gotten a few more keepers. These ruby throated hummingbirds were moving so fast. They would flutter over to the agave plant for a minute or two and then head back into the bushes to rest. I stood there and watched in awe for over an hour as they went back and forth. The ones without the flash of red on the throat are either females or juveniles. Only the male has the red. I can’t wait until they pass back through here in the fall.

Flying Hummers

Posted on May 19, 2014 by dinajohnston

All of the above were taken in early April at Fort Desoto. I went thinking it would be a needle in a haystack to find the hummingbirds. There’s a large section of lantana bushes near the busiest migration spot in the park. There were several other photographers there already photographing the hummers. I looked at the bushes and realized the bushes were full of them. Someone had put a hummingbird feeder in the tree right over the bushes. So I stood there for about an hour watching them. Buzzing around and then resting for a few minutes. They must be in great shape. Constantly moving while eating. Maybe that’s how we humans could lose a few pounds, flap our arms as hard as possible while eating healthy food. Just thinking about it made me hungry so I headed off for some fast food.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Our World Tuesday Graphic

Check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention

Tired little hummingbirds

Posted on May 3, 2014 by dinajohnston

Back in early April, I headed out to Fort Desoto not expecting much. We had a storm come through earlier in the week that brought a few spring migrating birds to the area. By the time the weekend rolled around, I figured most of the birds would have moved on. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to Fort Desoto. There were a few different birds than what we see on a normal basis but the best surprise was the hummingbirds. They were buzzing all around the lantana bushes. At one point we counted 12 buzzing around in front of us. I just stood in one spot for over an hour watching them fly back and forth and chase each other. I would not have thought they make a sound but they have a very light quiet chirp that comes out. These are all ruby throated hummingbirds. When their throats hit the sunlight, you can see the red (although it almost looks like orange to me). I took what felt like a million pictures. I’ll post the flying ones later.

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