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.

Early summer around the yard

On October 14, 2024October 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

My neighbor’s plumeria was in full bloom in late May. It had grown really tall and leans over our wall.

A few visitors in the backyard included a house finch, a constant stream of young bluebirds and a young Carolina wren.

The blue jay didn’t mind the red bellied woodpecker getting a sip.

In early June we had an ibis stop by that was missing a foot. I had one visiting last summer as well and I’m thinking it might be the same one. His leg joint looks the same. He was digging around the back for bugs and came on the patio when he saw me through the glass door.

The full moon in late May (taken through the back window).

The pond across the street was steaming late one afternoon.

Summer sunset.

We had a faint rainbow after a storm came through right before dark.

My sunflowers were starting to bloom. The plant that was half eaten by the deer only grew a few feet high but had lots of tiny blooms. It looks like the packet of sunflower seeds I bought had 2 different kinds of sunflowers in it.

The deer only ate half of the leaves on the tall plant and the buds were just starting to bloom. I was afraid the deer were going to come back and eat all of the buds but they didn’t and this plant bloomed for weeks. More to come.

So much destruction and not even a direct hit.

On September 30, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights13 Comments

I can’t believe I am posting this picture again. So soon after Hurricane Ian, Idalia and Debby. This is just devasting. The Tampa bay area got so much damage from Hurricane Helene this past week mostly coming from storm surge. Pinellas County has water on 3 sides (the gulf leading into the bay) and no house near the water was spared. So much flooding. The hurricane wasn’t even a direct hit but the storm surge was the highest on record.

Brett and I moved 3 years ago from a house on the water (in the bay) to farther inland. We were so blessed to only have tons of yard debris. Above is a 3rd of our debris pile in the driveway and more across the street. We are still cleaning up. We did not get any flooding in our neighborhood.

Over the weekend I was out running errands and stopped by my favorite walking places. The Dunedin marina was my first stop and the pier there was destroyed. The marina was blocked off so we couldn’t get close. It’s interesting the dolphin statue on top of the concrete base was still standing. The hotel next door was flooded and they were trying to get the sand out of the rooms and were pulling out carpet and furniture.

Lots of debris and damaged docks in the marina. Many of the boats were missing. Some got pulled out onto trailers the day before but some were found stranded farther down near Clearwater Beach.

The tall condo building next to the marina lost both of their docks.

My next stop was the Safety Harbor marina and fishing pier. They had minimal damage with only a small portion of the dock damaged.

The beloved fishing pier where the manatees hang out was gone. It had recently been closed due to minimal damage from Hurricane Debby in August.

The next morning I stopped by the Oldsmar pier, 10 minutes from my house. The pier was still there but was closed. It had a lot of missing planks and the end had come off. All of the houses in the neighborhoods nearby were flooded out.

This fun boat was a decoration in front of a seafood restaurant. The restaurant was badly damaged and I saw the boat much farther down the street.

The front yard the night after the hurricane.

All of this damage above is insignificant to what happened to the coastal areas. The beach areas have been closed for days but the videos and news coverage is heartbreaking. All of the beach areas, Davis Islands, Harbor Islands and neighborhoods along the bay were damaged. As you drive through neighborhoods all of the houses have furniture, rugs, carpet, cabinets, dry wall, etc piled high on the curbs.

Pictures of the beach from Bay News 9 here.

The Seaside Seabird Sanctuary is a wild bird rescue that is on the beach. They rescue and rehabilitate thousands of birds every year. Their facility took a big hit. I swiped the below shot from their facebook page. They could really use donations to rebuild and can be made here.

Sadly this storm did not end with us and continued to reek havoc north into North Carolina. Brett’s nephew and his girlfriend live in Ashville and we did not have contact with them until yesterday morning. They are safe but downtown Ashville has been wiped out. And, there’s another storm brewing in the gulf again.

Babies around the yard

On September 12, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

It was mid-May and a tufted titmouse family came for a bath. There were 3 babies and 1 parent that came to the bird bath every day for a week. The babies still have a little cream color on the beak near their faces and didn’t have that little bit of rust in their bellies. They were so awkward trying to take a bath.

I’m not sure why this squirrel was licking the plant. He might have been licking the ants off of it?

A male cardinal got a snack underneath the bath and then took a bath.

We also had a lot of juvenile bluebirds coming for a bath for several days. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them. They were so cute.

A lone brown headed cowbird was in the grass just past the feeder. I don’t see them often but this was the 2nd time I had seen one in the backyard in 3 years.

Two juvenile northern parulas were hopping around the tree in the front courtyard waiting for Mom to bring them bugs. I saw them moving around and snuck outside and got the above shots.

Hibiscus blooming in front of our driveway.

I planted sunflower seeds in a small spot in the front that gets a lot of sun in late April. By mid-May I had big stalks coming up, almost as tall as myself. I was excited, hoping I would get a few blooms. One morning I walked out and realized deer had eaten half the plants. They pulled most of the leaves off one plant and half of the other. There were hoof prints in the bed. I was crushed. I left the stalks thinking they would come back and finish eating them but they never did. They continued to grow and eventually bloomed. More on those later.

Sunset across the street.

My neighbor’s church was having a fundraiser lunch and their theme was “Spring birds in Florida”. She asked me if they could use some of my pictures and I said sure and then I was asked to talk about them so I gave a presentation on birds in the neighborhood. It was hard to narrow down to 30 minutes worth of pictures from the tens of thousands I have taken over the years. It was a fun afternoon.

What we did on our summer vacation

On August 29, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Atlanta, Vacation9 Comments

Brett and I took a roadtrip to Atlanta in June for a week. We hadn’t been since late 2022 when we both got the flu and ended up spending 2 days in the hotel and then going home 2 days early. We lived there for years before moving to Florida so we were going back to visit old friends and visit some of our old favorite places. We usually stay out in the suburbs near friends but this time we rented a condo in midtown. The first night we were there a storm came in and I shot the above with my phone on our balcony.

The next night we had an early dinner with friends and was back at the condo right before sunset. I went up to the pool deck on the 24th floor and shot the above.

Another sunset the next night with clouds moving in.

Just a few blocks from our condo was this old white house on Spring Street and it was interesting how all of these tall buildings are going up around it but the house remains. After a little research I learned it was a funeral home built in 1928 and was granted historical landmark protection. Margaret Mitchell (writer of Gone With the Wind) had her funeral here as well as other Atlanta notables. It’s going to be renovated into a restaurant and event space.

One afternoon we stopped at the famed Dekalb Farmers Market. It’s a huge building with so many different types of food from all cultures. It’s always packed and since we were not home we didn’t buy any perishables but lots of snacks to take back to Tampa.

One afternoon we headed over to Little Five Points neighborhood. Back in the 80’s this was the cool punk area to hang out in. It was filled with vintage and thrift stores and it was fun to people watch. The area has gotten a little more mainstream now and is known as an artists mecca. The anchor store is the Junkman’s Daughter. This was a great thrift store back in the day but now it’s mostly tshirts and souvenirs.

The black building above used to be the Little Five Points Pub and I saw the Indigo Girls play there back in the late 80’s before they were famous.

We were back at the condo one afternoon to take a break and I noticed how bad the traffic was going through Atlanta at 2pm in the afternoon. Rush hour traffic is all day there.

I went up to the pool deck to snap the above. There are so many cranes here. Most are high rise resident buildings going up.

The frog topiary on the next block from our condo. I took a lot of pictures as we were on the go all week going to see old sites and a new one so I have a few more posts coming on our trip. It’s amazing how much the city has changed in the 22 years we’ve lived in Tampa although a few things were still the same.

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.

Around the yard in late April.

On August 5, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

My hanging petunias did really well over the winter and added a lot of color to the backyard. The problem with petunias is that they don’t produce a lot of nectar so they aren’t big on attracting critters. I didn’t see any bees or butterflies around them. They started to die back in May so I replanted the 2 pots with hummingbird friendly plants.

My neighbor’s hibiscus bushes were in full bloom in the front courtyard (our townhouse shares a small courtyard with our neighborhood)

It’s always fun watching the squirrels getting water in the bird bath. I’ve read that they only take dirt baths so I’m not expecting to see them splashing around.

This cute little juvenile tufted titmouse was up in the oak tree out back. I went outside to get this shot. You can tell he’s a young one with that bit of beige around his beak.

His parents were busy coming to the suet feeder that I still had out so I sat down and watched them for a while. I took the suet down in late May once it was so hot and most of the migrating birds had moved through.

I was able to get a good shot of a chickadee while I was sitting outside watching the titmouse.

A Carolina wren also stopped by.

The squirrels were getting frisky on the unused bird nest box.

I was a day late in early May when everyone was seeing the northern lights in the lower 48 states. They were seen as far down as central Florida and several people I know got some great shots of the lights near Tampa the night before. There was a chance to see them again the next night. I went out at peak time and kept my eye out but the lights didn’t get far enough south the 2nd night and were only seen from the top half of the country. I did manage to catch the Starlink satellite array that went up (the line of white dots in the middle right).

I went out to the backyard where it was darker but still didn’t see the lights. I’m not out in the middle of the dark golf course late at night often. Too many questionable critters lurking but I noticed how you could really see the stars on this clear night. The above was taken with my phone. One of these days I will get out here with my camera and tripod (maybe in the winter so I don’t get eaten alive by mosquitoes).

Some of the sunsets in late April from 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.

Babies and sunset

On April 18, 2024May 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

Almost 2 weeks after my first trip down to Fort Desoto to see the baby great horned owls I was back at the park. It wasn’t as cold and windy this trip. The babies should be much bigger and I thought I would be able to see them quickly but I didn’t at first.

Mom leaned over and out popped one of the babies from under her wing. The babies at this age are pretty funny looking, almost like an alien.

Baby was looking up at Mom as she was preening.

I walked around to the side to see the baby better but I was shooting straight into the sun. And, I was standing in the woods and getting eaten alive by no-seeums (they are worse than mosquitos. They don’t seem to be bothered by bug spray).

A little farther over and I could see the younger baby. It was late in the day and after waiting around forever to see if they would be fed I gave up and decided to go over to the beach for the sunset.

I drove over to the gulf pier area just as the sun was going down below the trees.

I had not been here in a long time for the entire sunset and it was beautiful out.

I did not get back down to the park before the babies grew up and fledged. I heard there were huge crowds at the nest so I skipped it this year. It was nice to here the babies did well though and left.

Tiny baby owl and sunset

On April 1, 2024May 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was the middle of January and it was blasting windy and cold but I still made it down to Fort Desoto to see the new baby great horned owls. They had nested right on the top of a dead palm tree. This was a late day shoot so you weren’t shooting right into the sun so I was there late in the afternoon. Not long after I arrived Mom was sitting on the nest with feathers sticking to her beak. What was she eating?

The little baby had been hiding under Mom’s wing but it made a brief appearance and Mom gave it a few bites. I hated that big branch that was in Mom’s face but if I moved over to the right then the baby was hidden by Mom’s wing. There was another baby hiding under the back of Mom but since it was so cold and windy it stayed there.

Mom continued to eat and we realized it was a laughing gull. Some photographers that had been there earlier said Dad flew in with a laughing gull and left it.

What a look!

There’s an osprey nest right by the owl’s nest. Dad flew right over my head with a fish and landed on the nest platform. He dropped the fish and took off. Mom must be sitting on eggs. There are currently 34 osprey nests in the park so it’s going to be a busy baby osprey season.

The nest was near the boat ramp parking lot so I walked over to the water. There wasn’t a single boat out this late afternoon. This is what I love about the cold weather here, the quiet stillness at the parks.

After the Mom owl finished eating I headed over for a quick walk on the north beach. The tide was super low and the sand went on for miles. I didn’t stay long since it was hard standing up straight in the wind.