A nature photographer’s images and stories of birds, butterflies, and other creatures from her backyard near Orlando, FL
July 17, 2009 - Zinnias are some of my favorite summer flowers. I think the butterflies agree. We’ve seen monarchs, swallowtails, zebra longwings, and skippers around the yard in the past few weeks. There’s a new batch of monarch caterpillars feasting away on my milkweed, too. Hopefully I’ll be able to find the chrysalides again.
July 15, 2009 - Finally! Endeavor was finally able to lift off and we could see it from the front yard. It’s hard to believe that there are so few flights left before the shuttle is retired. We’ll have to find another excuse for impromptu get-togethers with the neighbors while we all gawk at the sky! I thought it […]
July 14, 2009 - ‘Butterscotch Ruffles’ is the only daylily that is reblooming this summer. Such pretty little blooms! Happy birthday, Lisa :)
July 7, 2009 - The pineapple patch is flourishing. We have one pineapple in progress now, and hopefully next year we’ll have four or five. Even the three plants that I had to transplant when they installed the new air conditioner are thriving.
July 3, 2009 - It’s always fun to see a new visitor in the garden. Today’s was a Gray Hairstreak butterfly. Too bad it didn’t choose a prettier rose on which to pose!
June 22, 2009 - Peter’s cacti are covered in blooms. It’s too bad they only bloom at night, so we can only enjoy them first thing in the morning. Click on the picture to see a close-up of a bloom. Who would have thought when Peter pulled some little pieces of cactus out of the dumpster that they would […]
June 18, 2009 - Our pineapple patch is doing pretty well. Our one pineapple is maturing, and the three plants that I had to transplant for the new air conditioner seem to have gotten their feet in the ground. Next year we’d better have more than just one pineapple!
June 17, 2009 - My crape myrtles “Susie” and “Q” are blooming and their color is so cheerful in this heat. I really like the purple of Q next to the purple ‘Melody Parfumee’ rose and the light orange ‘Tahitian Sunset’ rose.
June 15, 2009 - Roses! My floribundas are blooming despite the heat and they look really good. :)
June 13, 2009 - Mr. C brought by his latest offspring to meet me this morning. The baby was so cute to watch, begging his dad for food, and then getting annoyed and lunging at his dad to grab what was in his beak. Don’t worry, Peter and Carla, I don’t think this is Beaky…both daddy and baby were […]
June 8, 2009 - With baby birds starting to venture out of the nest, there’s a lot of extra fussing in the backyard these days. This baby mockingbird was especially vocal!
June 7, 2009 - Poor doves! Sometimes they don’t even try to find shelter during our afternoon thunderstorms. At least we can say that at our house, we have all our “doves” in a row!
June 5, 2009 - Something tells me that this was one of “our” caterpillars-turned-monarch that came to visit and wish us a happy fifth anniversary. :) Happy 5th Anniversary to Saidel and Jamie, too!
June 4, 2009 - Surprise! As I was mowing this morning, I noticed movement underneath a pipe, and discovered one more chysalis, with its butterfly still clinging to it! (There were at least two caterpillars whose chrysalides I never found.) I thought it was a very clever place to make a chrysalis – the pipe sheltered it nicely. I […]
June 3, 2009 - Rich and I returned from our vacation to Callaway Gardens to find that three of our four chysalides had already been abandoned by their butterflies (see picture). The fourth is brown, and I suspect it’s dead (not shown). :(
May 31, 2009 - Mmm…time for Rich to practice his cat’s meow again, the bananas over at Peter and Carla’s are starting to ripen!
May 30, 2009 - My ‘Crystalline’ rose has gotten huge. These blooms were striking because they didn’t have much insect damage (maybe the rains keep the insects under control?)
May 29, 2009 - ‘Dream Come True’ is growing huge on the mailbox. This week’s set of blooms are a striking combination of red and yellow; normally they are more of a pink/cream blend. Pretty!
May 27, 2009 - This morning we noticed the outlines on monarch wings from inside our chrysalides. How cool is that? Another 3 inches of rain…but who’s counting? ;-)
May 26, 2009 - This dragonfly was buzzing around with its mate in our front yard, then did a nose-dive into my rosebush and posed for me.
May 25, 2009 - Another caterpillar completed its transformation into a chrysalis this afternoon. I saw the caterpillar hanging early in the morning, so I went out once an hour to photograph it, trying to catch its metamorphosis in pictures. What I now know is that the main caterpillar-to-chrysalis transformation takes place in about 5 minutes! I was lucky […]
May 24, 2009 - ‘Pope John Paul II’ is blooming again! This rose seems to do best in spring, before our Florida summers get so hot. I’ve moved it to a pot to be able to move it around, and it seems like a bit of afternoon shade works well for it.
May 24, 2009 - Happy B-Day, Dyeyo D!! Rich and I were surprised to find a Monarch caterpillar starting its chrysalis this morning. After a bit more looking, we found two more. (Usually we can’t find the chrysalis!) This morning they were upside down and wiggling a lot. When we got home this evening, they had already completed their […]
May 22, 2009 - We have seven Monarch caterpillars feasting on milkweek in our backyard these days. They’re getting big and fat, and don’t seem at all bothered by all the rain!
May 21, 2009 - ‘St. Patrick’ continues to bloom as it rains and rains and rains. Poor ‘Crystalline’ got blown over. :(
May 20, 2009 - It’s raining, it’s pouring…Squirt must have been snoring! Our rain gauge shows that we’ve had 12.5 inches of rain in the last two days!! Our backyard is becoming a swimming pool. At work, the puddles are deep enough that the ducks are swimming in them.
May 19, 2009 - My hydrangeas are blooming – they’re a wonderful combination of blues, purples, and hints of pink. I wish they bloomed all year round!
May 18, 2009 - Hey, Mum-mum, thank you for the rain lilies that tagged along with Q to my yard!
May 17, 2009 - All the roses in the back rose bed are blooming right now and it’s fun to see all the colors together. ‘St. Patrick’ especially is blooming quite nicely…lots of blooms with no insect damage!
May 16, 2009 - I finally got a picture of Mum-mum’s Great Crested Flycatcher! Although I usually only post pictures from my own backyard on this page, I think it’s worthy to make an exception when I finally capture a decent image of a bird Mum-mum’s been chasing for about a month. ;-) More pictures from this weekend at […]
May 14, 2009 - Wendy would be pleased to see my daylilies blooming so nicely! This one is ‘Alabama Jubilee.’
May 12, 2009 - ‘April in Paris’ is not doing so well but did manage to put out a pretty bloom for me today.
May 9, 2009 - ‘Nancy Reagan’ is quickly becoming one of my favorite roses. Summer is arriving quickly, and our afternoon highs are in the mid-90s already. My roses miss the nice cool days of spring!
May 4, 2009 - Wendy would be happy to see my ‘Swirling Spider’ daylily finally blooming again. I had a ‘Rambo’ bloom the other day as well, and there are scapes on ‘Alabama Jubilee.’ We saw Zorro again tonight! I really hope he and his wife stick around. :)
May 3, 2009 - Today we didn’t see Zorro (our new little black-masked Common Yellowthroat!) but we did see the cardinals in full force.
May 2, 2009 - Maybe the aphids on my roses aren’t such an annoyance…they attracted this Common Yellowthroat, another first-time visitor to the backyard! After several attempts I managed to get some pictures of him. He’s much prettier in person than he ever seemed in the bird books.
April 30, 2009 - Mieu! This guy hangs out a lot on our fountain, so Squirt doesn’t get to bat at him through the window. Lucky frog!
April 29, 2009 - Fixing sprinklers is really annoying, but at least after we get them working, my roses are primed for water droplet pictures!
April 28, 2009 - Squirt’s buddy visits him every night on the bay windows. Squirt sits on the windowsill inside, batting at the frog and squeaking with excitement!
April 27, 2009 - The ‘Knock-Out’ tree rose has a nice new cane that just burst into bloom. Pretty!
April 26, 2009 - The gardenia has been blooming for a few weeks now and the front yard smells heavenly!
April 25, 2009 - Goldy’s duckies have been hanging out in our yard every afternoon. They go back and forth between our yard and Carla and Peter’s…a drink at their fountain, a snack at our feeders, and then a nap in the shade of the oleander!
April 21, 2009 - Goldy and Squirt say thank you to Mom and Dad Yarnell for this nifty peanut feeder, which allows felines in screened porches to watch the commotion as big birds vie for the coveted center spot!
April 20, 2009 - A new bird came to visit Goldy tonight – a Cape May Warbler! These birds mostly live in Canada and are only in Florida during winter migration, but we know that a group of them nested at Oakland Nature Preserve a few years ago. So we were very surprised – and excited – to see […]