A nature photographer’s images and stories of birds, butterflies, and other creatures from her backyard near Orlando, FL
April 3, 2010 - Our two goldfinches continue to molt. It’s strange to only have the two visiting the yard. Usually by this time in the year, I’ve had to pull out the 24-port feeder, which I usually end up refilling several times a week! Where are all the goldfinches?
March 30, 2010 - My mini rose ‘Irresistible’ had the most perfect bloom today. Maybe in celebration of the first goldyfinches at Missy’s Diner!! :)
March 29, 2010 - Here’s a Squirt’s-eye view of his favorite place in the house: the window feeder! He spends hours sitting underneath it, staring up at it, waiting, waiting, waiting….and then we hear a thud and the house finches fly away. Poor Squirt.
March 28, 2010 - The runner-up in the Fluffy Tail Contest found our feeder in the oak tree. I’m sure I’ll find squirrels very annoying as more of them find our yard, but for now, this guy is still a novelty and he’s cute. First he ate like a civilized squirrel, then he was scared off, and rather than […]
March 27, 2010 - Goldy’s ducks were back this morning! Both Pete and I grabbed our cameras and went to take pictures. You know when you have good neighbors when they don’t think it’s strange to see you hanging out the upstairs windows, taking pictures of birds! :)
March 26, 2010 - I’m not seeing nearly as many goldfinches as usual this year. There’s a pair that comes faithfully to my feeder; usually by now I’ve had to pull out the 24-port feeder and even then I’m turning customers away! Oh well, at least these two have stuck around, and one is a male, so I get […]
March 25, 2010 - Sorry, Goldy, I accidentally erased the pictures of the ducks that visited the backyard on Monday…because I was in such a hurry to get out to take pictures of the baby sand hill cranes that were on the golf course tonight!!! :) There were two parents and two babies altogether. Aren’t they cute?
March 24, 2010 - Happy Birthday, Squirt! Squirt got ham for his birthday and I got a present, too: my ‘Veteran’s Honor’ rose picture was printed in the current edition of American Rose magazine! Cool!
March 21, 2010 - ‘Chris Evert’ is one of the only roses blooming right now – and its blooms are bright orange and huge. :)
March 20, 2010 - Dyeyo and I went to Circle B Bar Reserve this morning, and then we saw this eagle circling my papitos’ house this afternoon. I’ve seen an eagle flying over my own backyard this winter, too, but I haven’t gotten a picture of it yet. They’re so majestic when they fly!
March 19, 2010 - The oak tree was full of cedar waxwings this morning. They stayed for about 10 minutes, until the brown-headed cowbirds took over the tree. I saw about 8 robins when I left work this afternoon. It’s been several weeks since I’ve seen any – I thought they were all gone by now. This migration year […]
March 16, 2010 - Our resident yellow-throated warbler, nicknamed Bow Tie, has been visiting almost every day. He likes to hang out by Carla’s back window, and then he gets a snack from our front tray feeder. Note: We stopped seeing Bow Tie shortly after this post. So I think he leaves to go back North around mid-March. Come […]
March 14, 2010 - Finally! Daylight Savings Time begins! This sunflower bloomed to celebrate. Today is also Pi Day. Do something irrational! (Like CMU students, who write PI out to a crazy number of digits on all the campus sidewalks, or Rich, who got himself on TV by waving his Terrible Towel at a Penguins game!)
March 13, 2010 - The squirrel was back! He seems to be making his home around here…we keep seeing him around the feeders. So Squirt and the Squirrel had a bushy-tail contest. Who do you think won?
March 11, 2010 - Didn’t Mrs. Cardinal’s mother teacher her not to chew with her mouth open?
March 9, 2010 - The first rose bloom of the season…I didn’t prune ‘Chris Evert’ as hard as some of the other bushes, so it’s blooming while the rest are just starting to flush. You can see some cold damage in the bloom, but overall, it’s nice to look out and see some color!
March 7, 2010 - Time to trim the crape myrtles! The yard is starting to look like spring, with the roses flushing and the winter flowers blooming.
March 6, 2010 - What do you get when you cross cute yellow birds and the wicked witch of the west? “We’re mooooolting!”
March 5, 2010 - This spider has been hanging out for the last few months inside our garage door pad console. I decided that I needed a picture before the eggs hatch.
March 3, 2010 - Mrs. C. (or is it Mrs. Beaky?) was a happy birdie, hanging out in the backyard this evening. It’s fun that the days are getting longer and we get home early enough to see them. :)
March 3, 2010 - Squirt got his last pansies of the year (don’t tell him, but we can’t find them at Lowes anymore. Now he has to wait until next November for more.) We saw about 8 robins digging for worms under a tree at work this morning. They surprised us, since Rich’s parents said the robins are already […]
March 1, 2010 - We’ve been enjoying the cheerful sounds of the goldfinches each morning. They’re so cute! It seems like some of them have left the yard, since the niger seed isn’t disappearing as quickly as it was a few weeks ago, but we still have a couple of faithful guys that come every morning.
February 26, 2010 - Our Dove Detector (a.k.a. Squirt) went crazy with squeaking when it saw this dove on Carla and Peter’s roof. Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma…Mieu!!!
February 21, 2010 - Good news for Beaky! I went into the backyard this afternoon and found him chasing around TWO female cardinals in the crape myrtle. Maybe all his calls for a wife-wife-wife-wife-wife are starting to pay off…
February 20, 2010 - I’ve been playing with focus refinement with Live View on my camera and it really does help. Look at all the detail in this house finch!
February 19, 2010 - The goldfinches were hungry today, and they didn’t mind that I was outside planting flowers. Now I have a colorful yard again and some fun close-ups!
February 18, 2010 - Mr. Warbles came to visit Goldy and Squirt! Note: Mr. Warbles is a palm warbler that visits each year. How do we know which warbler is Mr. Warbles? Well, he’s the one that comes up to the bay window to visit the cats.
February 15, 2010 - While Dyeyo enjoyed a nice trip to Circle B while Rich and I had to work, this shrike sat waiting for its next victim…
February 14, 2010 - Happy Valentine’s Day! I guess the robins and the cedar waxwings decided to go on a puddle-fishing date. Later they visited Peter and Carla’s yard, too!
February 13, 2010 - There were hundreds of robins and cedar waxwings by the town center this morning! Then some of them came to visit Goldy and Squirt at our house. I got to use my new flash extender – the morning was very cloudy and gross, and the only way I could get decent pictures was to use […]
February 12, 2010 - Finally! Bow Tie posed and I had the camera ready. I’ve been trying to get a good picture of this little yellow-throated warbler since he came back in September. He’s so cute! This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count. If you have a Dove Detector named Squirt, all you have to do is count […]
February 11, 2010 - Usually by the time we get home from work, the only birds in the yard are the “piggies” (red-wing blackbirds, grackles, and brown-headed cowbirds). This piggy looked so nice by the sunset light that I couldn’t resist snapping her picture.
February 10, 2010 - Robins! In the fall it seems as if they migrate very high, and we only hear them from a distance. But in the spring they come down and hang out in the oak trees. It’s fun to have them around!
February 8, 2010 - My flash extender for the camera came a day early! I’m excited to get it because now I’ll be able to take better pictures at Circle B when it is cloudy. Since the birds in our backyard had already gone to bed when I got home today, though, I settled for testing the extender by […]
February 6, 2010 - This is our first azalea bloom of the spring. So sorry, Punxsutawney Phil, but I don’t think my azaleas got the memo about the six extra weeks of winter!
February 5, 2010 - Aftermath of the great rose pruning of 2010. As I worked in the front, people driving by kept slowing down to gape, probably wondering why in the world I’d cut back my roses like that! But wait about six weeks and the fresh growth and healthy blooms will be totally worth it. :)
January 31, 2010 - Goldy and I were surprised to look over and see this Eastern Phoebe sitting in our crape myrtle this afternoon. Goldy was even more surprised when I grabbed my camera, laid down on the floor (to get a blinds-free view of the bird), and then scooted backwards until I reached a minimum focus distance and […]
January 21, 2010 - This house finch intrigued me…I’ve seen the red-breasted males and the yellow-breasted males, but never a red/yellow mix.
January 17, 2010 - Wow it was windy today! Beaky spent the whole morning hanging on for dear life in the top of the oak tree, calling out repeatedly his need for a “wife! wife! wife! wife!”
January 16, 2010 - Hi Beaky! Carla says you drive her crazy, but Goldy and Squirt invite you to beak on our windows whenever you want.
January 15, 2010 - My poor roses! They definitely didn’t appreciate the cold snap. They fared better than most of our plants, though.
January 13, 2010 - This has been a Florida record – eight straight days of freezing weather! Rich was concerned that Squirt might get too cold in his room at night, so he made Squirt a tent over his cat bed. Squirt approves!
January 10, 2010 - This robin spent some time hanging out in the crape myrtle tree in our bay window this afternoon. It’s the first robin I’ve seen up close this season. This picture was actually taken through our blinds…not bad, huh?
January 9, 2010 - Today we had COLDfinches in our yard! So my cousin from South Dakota heard about our cold snap this week and called to ask if we had furnaces in Florida. “Furnace”, how cute–around here they are called air conditioners, and we put them in “heat” mode for a couple of days a year! Well, cuz, […]
January 8, 2010 - My poor pineapples! I had to move them so that the termite people could re-treat the perimeter of our house. With freezing weather for the last week, and the prospect of snow tomorrow, this was not the best week to have to dig up pineapples. :-p Then to add insult to injury, the guy didn’t […]
January 7, 2010 - We’ve been seeing the cardinals at the feeders a bit more these days. Mrs. C. has such pretty red accents at this time of year.
January 6, 2010 - Squirt was ecstatic when this mourning dove landed on the porch roof right outside the window of his room! Mieu!
January 5, 2010 - Bow Tie has been spending too much time watching Beaky! He’s started to come peck at the window over the front door, just like Beaky. Goldy and Squirt get really excited when they hear the noise and see him hopping around. Happy house cats!!
January 3, 2010 - The birds were cold today and so was I! They came out in the afternoon sun to eat and I took this picture from our upstairs window. Our goldyfinch count today was at least 7. :)