Splish splash in the bath

Posted on February 27, 2023 by dinajohnston

The little hermit thrush has been stopping by the bird bath most days. He always shows up late in the day, sometimes right before dark. A quick drink and dunk and he’s gone.

Even though the weather was cold in mid-January, all of the usuals stopped by for a bath.

My first robin in the backyard. He was all alone and at first he hung out at the bottom of the oak tree.

A little while later I caught on the bath. He has stopped by several times now for a bath.

This red/yellow finch has been a regular for a while.

I’ve been seeing this young little blue heron often. Sneaking around looking for bugs.

My Christmas cactus finally started blooming around mid-January. A little late but still pretty.

Two new birds in the backyard

Posted on January 30, 2023 by dinajohnston

Two new birds in the backyard (although I’ve seen them both before somewhere else). Two brown headed cowbirds stopped by but didn’t stay long. A hermit thrush has become a regular visitor since early December.

An eastern phoebe has stopped by a few times this winter. I caught him taking a bath one morning.

Regular visitors include a black and white warbler, cardinals (who are usually shy and don’t come out in the open but I caught this one on the bath) and bluebirds.

Every few weeks a yellow throated warbler stops by. He usually hunts for bugs in the small palm tree next to our house. I went outside to get these since he was hiding under the palms.

I heard her before I saw her. I heard the pileated woodpecker’s loud scream as she flew into our oak tree. I snapped this quickly through the window before she took off.

I went outside to get this shot. Actually, I went out to try and shoo him away from the window and took my camera out with me. He is not easily scared. I’m glad he hangs out in our corner of the neighborhood but I don’t want him too close to the window where Buddy and Harley stay (in the sunroom).

A young little blue heron that hasn’t lost his white baby feathers yet.

I’m glad I put that nest box up so the squirrels can nap on it.

Things blooming in the backyard in late December.

More backyard birds in January

Posted on April 23, 2022 by dinajohnston

Goldfinches in my backyard! Several came to the bird bath for a couple of days. They were in their non-breeding winter colors so not a lot of yellow but they were still beautiful.

Other birds at the bird bath were not so unusual. All of these hanging out include a pine warbler, a yellow throated warbler, a black and white warbler and a catbird.

There are at least 2 Carolina wrens in our backyard most days. They spend a lot of time scratching around in the leaves.

Recent visitors to the feeder are pine warblers and titmouse.

These 2 doves have been sitting on the bird bath right before dark for several weeks now. It’s hard to get shots of them in the almost dark.

All pictures taken through the window.

Critters from my yard.

Posted on November 20, 2021 by dinajohnston

More shots of the little titmouse around my bird bath. I have taken around a gazillion pictures but it’s hard to stop when I’m out walking around. They love to pose for me.

A few other visitors in early November. There are a ton of downy and red bellied woodpeckers in the neighborhood. I’ve seen a few pileated woodpeckers go flying by but I have yet to get pictures of them.

I’ve seen several black and white warblers in my big oak tree.

A yellow throated warbler in the palm tree up against our townhome.

A chickadee looking around under the patio chairs.

This juvenile little blue heron was creeping around the grass. All of the above were taken through the window.

If I stand on the end of my patio, I can see my neighbor’s bird feeder a few houses down from ours. He’s always got birds on his feeder (although mostly blue birds and pine warblers). After taking these and zooming in, I realize he had dried mealworms in his feeder. I only have mixed seed and I’m only getting titmouse at my feeder although I have gotten a few pine warblers as well. I may have to step up my feeder game.

A pine warbler on my feeder (through the window).

I was walking back from getting my mail and this hawk was in the short palm tree next to my driveway. He watched me walk right by him and didn’t move. I ran in and got my camera and he was flying off as I walked out. He flew down to the grass and looked like he was stalking something but eventually he flew to a lightpost empty handed.

After the hawk flew off I realized there was a bluebird on the power line right over my head. It was almost dark at this point but he sat there for a while.

A few more critters in the backyard. The squirrels like to sit on this low palm tree up against our house while snacking.

Birding in my pajamas.

Posted on November 9, 2021 by dinajohnston

Titmouse are coming to my backyard bird bath pretty regularly to take baths. I try and hide behind the curtains and take pictures through the window so I don’t spook them.

I’m also getting blue jays and catbirds but they just get a quick drink and leave.

Watching the birds fly around the trees, I saw a dash of yellow from across the yard but almost didn’t look twice because I thought it was a palm warlber. I was able to grab a shot of this hooded warbler with a bug in his beak through my dirty windows. (I have since spent some time cleaning them).

I took the shots of the pine wabler and yellow throated warbler outside early one morning, walking around the trees in the back of our home before work.

Twice I watched this red bellied woodpecker hide nuts in a palm tree. He was getting them from a feeder across the fairway and flying back over to our side and hiding them.

Usual morning birds in the back, a great egret and blue jay.

There’s a ton of squirrels in the yard. One climbed up on the outdoor chair and was watching me in the window. I changed out the bird feeder pole to a much higher one and now he can’t get to the food so he wasn’t happy (although at some point he’ll figure out a way to get up there).

Little hummers and other things

Posted on January 11, 2021 by dinajohnston

My second ever rufous hummingbird sighting. This one and the one before were both at Bok Tower Gardens. Rufous hummingbirds are fairly rare around this area. This is only the 2nd time of hearing about one and I was happy to have seen it even briefly. I caught him high up on a tree taking a break. When he went to feed, he would go deep in the bushes or the other side making it impossible to get feeding shots. At one point I could barely see him feeding deep in the firebush.

Ruby throated hummingbirds are pretty common. I caught this male feeding near the carillon tower.

He buzzed off and disappeared. I stood under a pine tree for a long time waiting for him to come back. At one point I looked up and he was sitting right over my head.

Birds with yellow. The top one is an easy one, a yellow throated warbler. The 2nd I think is a red eyed vireo with a bug. The last is a a female common yellowthroat.

An ovenbird and blue gray gnatcatcher.

A usual sight, a harmless black racer crosses the sidewalk in front of me.

A bee house in the garden. Used by mason or other solitary bees, they lay their eggs in the holes.

No baby deer yet

Posted on September 26, 2020 by dinajohnston

One late day after work in July I hopped in the car and headed to Chesnut Park to see if there were any baby deer in the park. It had been drizzling late that day which usually means the park is quiet and the deer come out of the woods with their babies. Of course the sun came out right when I got to there so it was hot and steamy. I noticed this soft shell turtle walking around by a parking lot.

When I got out of the car to take the picture of the turtle, these two downy woodpeckers flew right into the tree in front of my car.

I originally wasn’t going to walk around if I didn’t see any deer since it was so hot but I saw some birds flying around the bridge over the pond so I walked over for a few minutes and caught the above yellow throated warbler.

This young parula was also on the bridge.

As well as the above young great crested flycatcher. I know they nest somewhere around this area of the park but I’ve never been able to find a nest.

In the back of the park I found a lady feeding the deer some apples and carrots. She was telling me how skinny she thought they looked. She said the deer up north where she lives in the winter were much bigger and hefty. I’m assuming she’s looking at mule deer in the winter which probably are bigger than our white tailed deer here in Florida. She had seen a baby deer earlier in the week so there was at least one there but I couldn’t find him on this night. I’ll keep looking.

Flying things at Bok Tower Gardens

Posted on May 6, 2019 by dinajohnston

Little critters in the flowers.

Nothing new but not too common with the exception of the cardinal. The others are a prairie warbler, yellow bellied sapsucker (woodpecker) and the yellow throated warbler. I was hoping to find some other birds but I was a little too early for spring migration.

The best find of the morning was the bobwhite. I never see them where I live so this was a treat. He peaked out behind the bushes for a few minutes as I was walking down the trail and then ran back after a few seconds.

I drove over to Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida early in April for a long walk.

Gator day at the park.

Posted on February 5, 2019 by dinajohnston

I had my first real close encounter with a big one recently at Circle B Bar Reserve. I’ve been visiting this park for over 10 years and until recently, I always joked that the gators were fake. They never seemed to move, just sleeping on the other side of the pond. I was at the park early and the water levels along the trails were high. The first picture was taken with my 300mm lens so I wasn’t that close. The second one was taken with my phone. That’s my shadow at the bottom. There were people coming up behind me and once the big guy crossed the trail, we all headed down together. Our theory was safety in numbers. By the time we got to were he had crossed, we saw him swimming half way across the lake.