The backyard in late May into early June

On October 6, 2025November 9, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

We’ve had 2 bunnies in the backyard since May. They both still come every few late afternoons, although not always at the same time. The first shot is the smaller bunny which I think may be offspring of the bigger one.

We had several juvenile tufted titmouse visit. They still have a little bit of cream in the corner of their beaks and don’t look so scruffy as the adults. I’m assuming they nest somewhere nearby.

We had a lot of juvenile cardinals as well.

Bluebirds have become regulars to the dried mealworm feeder and I can’t stop taking pictures of them.

We had a pair of brown thrashers in the backyard for a few weeks.

I saw the Carolina wrens hopping around and watched them go into my neighbor’s patio as the juvenile was still following the parent with the bug. The parent was teaching the young one to look for bugs but the young one just wanted to be fed.

My hanging shrimp plants were doing well. The hummingbirds get the nectar from inside the white part of the bloom.

I found some lacewing eggs on my jade plant that is up against the sunroom window. Those tiny white dots turn into something that looks like a moth but are a pretty green. I had the dots along the window as well but still haven’t seen any of the actual lacewings in the yard.

This is the first time I’ve seen one of these. A green coneheaded planthopper.

Taken through the window, a squirrel looking at me with an acorn in his mouth. I think he was afraid I was going to watch where he hid it.

I saw the turkeys through the window but since they were across the fairway I snuck out the back door and was able to get the above from the patio.

Later I looked out the back window and this one was right in front of our patio. I took the above through the window as she stared at me for a few seconds and then left with her friends.

Sunset going down behind the pond across the street.

Around the yard in late April

On September 1, 2025October 15, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Everything was blooming in the front courtyard in late April.

My neighbor’s plumeria was peeking over the wall.

The lady ruby throated hummingbirds were coming several times a day.

The titmouse were checking out the unused bird house but they didn’t build a nest.

We had several young squirrels hanging around the backyard and they think our philodendron plants in between the two big oak trees are their playground. One morning I was sitting on the patio with my camera hoping to catch the hummingbird and this squirrel had the best time playing in the plants.

Taking a break from playing to eat a snack.

This blue jay is not shy and flew right over and sat on my chair and watched me reading for a while.

By late April the suet feeder was down and I added a small open feeder on that hook. I filled it with mixed seed and dried mealworms, hoping to attract the bluebirds back. In the beginning all I saw were the usual birds including woodpeckers and titmouse.

Sunset across the street.

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.

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.

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.

Buzzing in the butterfly garden

On October 16, 2023April 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

We were heading into the hot summer so I went for a quick walk at Folly Farms in Safety Harbor. I can sometimes find good shade and a bench to sit on in front of the flowers in the butterfly garden.

I saw a bluebird who had some kind of bee in his beak. He was so cute, posing for me.

I noticed later that there was a bluebird nest box under some small trees in the middle of the butterfly garden. Dad was bringing bugs into the babies. I could hear them peeping inside but couldn’t see them. Dad was going all the way into the box to feed them.

Then I saw a tufted titmouse with something in his beak. It looked like a leaf at first but I think it was a caterpillar that was crunched up.

I saw an adult brown thrasher on a pole near the parking area and when I walked over I also saw a young juvenile on the ground below the adult.

A minute later the adult hopped down on the ground, grabbed a bug and fed his young one while I was standing there. They were not skittish at all.

There’s a lot of eclectic artwork around the gardens and someone had drawn a face on a Mr. Potato Head and stuck it in the ground(I didn’t say it was fine art). A lizard was lounging on his head.

The new 17 foot tall gnome that was being built at the farm. He’s almost finished. It’s hard to get a good shot of him since he sits in the shade.

A park and a bike ride

On August 26, 2023August 17, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

In late April I made a quick stop at Chesnut Park to see if there were any migrating birds hanging around. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of warblers come through here during migration but the only thing I found was the usual titmouse. They come really close because people feed them here. They come down close to the boardwalk to see if you have snacks. Once they realize you aren’t carrying they head back up to the tops of the trees.

The squirrels are also being fed here so they check you out as well.

I came home and it was still to early for lunch so I hopped on my bike and went for a quick pedal around the neighborhood. The first thing I saw was a bunny. A brown thrasher flew in front of me as I was taking a picture of the bunny. Was he posing for me?

I found a limpkin in the pond down the street from our house in the same spot the limpkin babies were last year. The water was much lower this year and at first I only saw the adult. He was calling to another limpkin that was farther down the creek.

I left my bike in the bushes and followed the creek along the golf course (no one was playing at the time) and saw another adult limpkin far in the woods. I could just barely make out a baby in the sticks. They stayed pretty hidden and eventually worked their way down behind the houses so I couldn’t follow them any farther. I’m assuming they were farther back since the water was a little higher there.

And, a random alligator that I saw in the neighborhood. This was taken with my 300mm lens and cropped so he was pretty far away.

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.

Just the usual birds

On June 5, 2023April 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I headed up north to Chinsegut Wildlife Area, north of Tampa, in late March. They have a great deck on the back of the nature center with lots of bird feeders off the deck. I was able to catch a few red headed woodpeckers on the way to the deck. The woods here are full of them and I usually see them when I visit.

The first birds I saw high up in the trees were these pale yellow ones. As I zoomed in on them I realized they were goldfinches.

I sat really still for a while and they came down to the feeders. I get one or two at my feeder at home in the winter but this was the most I had seen at one time.

I was hoping to see some different birds than the ones I already get in my backyard. Spring migration was just starting but the ones here were all of the usual wintering birds. There were lots of pine warblers, chipping sparrows, bluebirds, chickadees, titmouse and house sparrows.

A fuzzy caterpillar on the wall next to my seat.

And, they have tons of squirrels being cute, just like back home.

It was a beautiful morning and nice to sit out on that back deck and watch all of the usual birds flying in and out. Another trip in late April is in the plan.

Little critters in early spring

On April 29, 2023April 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was early March and I was sitting on a bench in the butterfly garden at Folly Farms in Safety Harbor hoping to see hummingbirds (it was probably a little early for them though). No hummingbirds yet but I did see some usual birds. Titmouse are common here and parulas were everywhere in early spring. Both have distinct calls.