We had a big freeze in early February for central Florida. We had 3 nights below 30 degrees. My bird bath was frozen solid. The first night it was just a thin layer of ice on top. By the 2nd night it was frozen. This was a first in our 24 years in Florida.
Our blushing philodendron looked like this a few days later. I covered all of my hanging plants and most of my smaller bushes but did not cover these. The one on the left is completely dead and rotten so we’ll pull that up eventually. The one on the right has come back and already had new leaves.
A few days later it started to warm up a little. A dove was taking a bath and then sitting on the leaves in the sun to warm up.
Yellow throated warblers only come through for a short time in the winter to feed on the suet.
Pine warblers, yellow throated warblers, catbirds and downy woodpeckers were fighting over space on the suet.
A hermit thrush stopped by for a quick drink several late afternoons in a row.
Bluebirds and robins were regular visitors to the bath.
The black bellied whistling ducks were still hanging out in the pond across the street in big numbers. I think that great blue heron was trying to take back his space.
Sometimes they were sleeping peacefully and sometimes they would have squabbles with ibis and amongst themselves. It’s been such a treat to have them across the street and hear them whistling as they come and go.
