Tag: Florida

Photo of the Month of April 2017

Since I put in the flat  bird feeder, there have been a wide variety of birds visiting every day. The jays have enjoyed the feeder, but not as much as they enjoy the bird bath. They hop into that water and bathe with enthusiasm! They throw water everywhere!

They eat like that too come to think of it. Along with the jays, we have had ravens, blackbirds, doves, cardinals and woodpeckers enjoying a rather simple seed mix.  None the less, they are fun to watch and keep the feeder and the bath filled for everyone. The squirrel even enjoy the bath and the doves seem to think that they should just sit in the water.                                       

Hopefully, they will stick around the rest of the summer.

Photo of the Month of March 2017 

This ibis seems to be posing on the top of my Norfolk pine as if he is practicing to be a Christmas angel. He spent quite a bit of time balanced on the top of the tree as it swayed in the light tropical breeze.  

Eventually, he decided that he needed to eat some of the bugs in the yard. He brought along four of his friends, and they spent the afternoon poking their nose into the ground.  

He looks pretty against the blue sky.

Photo of the Month of February 2017

This overrunning of the bird feeder may not seem like a photo opportunity, but in fact, it was not just the bird feeder that was being overrun. There were hundreds of starlings in the yard, dozens of robins and a garden variety of sparrows, cardinals, doves, woodpeckers and blue jays. ALL AT ONCE. It was like a scene out of The Birds where they just converged screaming and fighting among themselves while grabbing at berries, seeds and each other. 

Then it poured down rain and they all headed to the trees where they sat out the storm. They squawked and called and screeched and sang as it poured on them. It immediately stopped raining, and they flew away. My neighbor is convinced these birds were sent by her husband as he was dying to let her know it will all be okay. Who am I to say? This invasion only lasted a few minutes and they have never come back. 

Photo of the Month of January 2017

I cannot take credit for this photo, but I can say that this is the little  creature that I found hanging off the underside of a leaf on my jatropha. I didn’t have a camera when I discovered this jewel. I could not take photos and kill it fast enough after it stung me.

​I do admit that the photo for this post was the first thing that popped into my mind. However, once the poison started screaming through my finger, all good thoughts were off. All those cute fuzzy hairs are poison tipped darts that have to be removed by using a sticky piece of tape and then wrapping the wound in baking soda paste. The saddleback caterpillar had to die after that.  Hopefully, it was a painful death.

Photo of the Month of December 2016

Will you be filling the feeder with squirrels anytime soon?

Our red shouldered hawk found a great place to park himself when he waited to see if any of the squirrels would be nosing around the bottom of the feeder. He is an opportunist if nothing else. He spent the morning watching all of the oak trees for squirrel activity. Funny thing is, not a single squirrel was to be found!

Photo of the Month of November 2016

Winter is here! The big woodpeckers have returned to demolish some of our more insect ridden tree branches. This is a pileated woodpecker, and we have a pair of them that come visit every year. She is in this photo, but hidden around one of the stalks of bamboo. They are large and love our rotten jacaranda tree. 

They have a very distinct and very loud call that echoes through the  yard and we all know when they have returned to roost. 

Photo of the Month of October 2016

I took a day off and went to McKee Gardens, which is a tropical jungle and botanical garden  park with footpaths weaving throughout a lot of ponds and vegetation. They are particularly known for their amazing amount of lilypad species.

They also have an abundance of orchids and other tropical flowers that we typically find growing in Florida. At one time in their history (like 60 years or so), they were filled with parrots and wild monkeys that were still around in the 1980s. It is a fragile garden that is subject to storms and other things that are always threatening it.

Photo of the Month of September 2016

These are called beautyberries and are native to South America, but they grow wild all over our yard where  we have left some of the natural vegetation grow. They are quite edible and make a great jelly according to prominent gardening sites.

They are a favored treat of the mockingbird, but I have yet to see one come down and snatch the berries away. I usually just see them rot on the vine. We also have tons of Muscadine grapes that will overtake the yard if you let them. They also just stay on the vine.

I thought this gradient of ripening beautyberries were pretty cool, so I took the shot.

Photo of the Month of August 2016

I had a little bit of birthday money to spend this summer, and this plumeria is the one thing that I could think of that I have always wanted to plant in my yard. The nursery that I get a lot of my plants from had about a dozem of these plants in a large assortment of colors. I finally decided on the more traditional yellow and white. I did find out that when it produces seeds, the new plants are not necessarily the same as the old plants. I am looking forward growing some plumerias of a range of colors next spring.

Photo of the Month of July 2016

Normally, there is a blizzard of activity in the yard as squirrels scurry about pestering the cardinals at the bird feeder and digging in my plants. One afternoon, the movement all stopped and one little squirrel suddenly froze on the side of the oak tree.

So, I went to see what was going on. 
Here is what was going on. Apparently, this guy stopped in for a break and terrified the squirrels. He sat in the tree for about a half an hour, and that frozen squirrel never moved the whole time.