Cardinal breeding colors
February 9, 2009 - Mrs. Cardinal is molting into her breeding plumage…she agrees with me that it’s spring!
Backyard photography
A nature photographer’s images and stories of birds, butterflies, and other creatures from her backyard near Orlando, FL
Frozen fountain
February 5, 2009 - It’s funny to hear people from up north asking “what’s a freeze warning?”!! Yep, that’s right, we Floridians have to be warned when it’s supposed to freeze, so that we can cover our plants and turn off our fountains. This is what happens when we forget to do the latter…
Happy Groundhog Day!
February 2, 2009 - Squirt saw his shadow on the porch today, so he predicts another six weeks of winter. We hope he’s wrong!!
Go Cardinals!
February 1, 2009 - Goldy is sorry to cheer against Rich and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Superbowl, but what’s a cat supposed to do? The other team goes by the name of her favorite bird-bird! We saw several cardinals this morning – there’s at least one young bachelor male, in addition to our usual pair. They are very […]
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
January 31, 2009 - A new visitor came to the feeders today: a female Yellow-Rumped Warbler! She fought with the House Finches, Red-Winged Blackbirds, and grackles to inhale the food that I put out this morning. Birdies don’t like freezing weather any more than I do!!
‘Gold Medal’ rose
January 30, 2009 - Apparently my ‘Gold Medal’ rose bush hasn’t noticed that it froze last week, or that it’s supposed to freeze again tonight…and the cheerful yellow petals were very pretty in the bright afternoon sunlight today!
Rose transplant weekend
January 25, 2009 - I transplanted the back rose bed this morning, moving the bushes away from the viburnum hedge and also spacing them out a bit more. Root-pruning the roses a few weeks ago made the transplanting go a lot easier, both for the digger and for the plants! (I still got pruned big-time, though! pesky thorns!!) The […]
Poor birdies!
January 23, 2009 - Time to consider moving to a more temperate climate…the water in the birdbaths was frozen solid this morning!!!
‘Perfect Moment’ frost
January 22, 2009 - We Floridians don’t like freezing weather! There was frost on the yard and roses this morning…the only rose really blooming right now is ‘Perfect Moment’, shown here. Florida roses don’t like freezing weather either!
Cedar Waxwings
January 17, 2009 - The Cedar Waxwings are back! We saw (and heard!) several flocks flying over Fowler Grove this afternoon, then later four of them visited the oak in Goldy’s yard. It’d be fun if the big flocks converge upon our tree again this year…
‘Peace’ rose
January 14, 2009 - It figures that some of the roses are putting on their best flushes of new growth in a long time, a couple weeks before I’ll have to prune it all off! This is ‘Peace’. She’s one of the roses that’s going to be transplanted soon (the original plan was to transplant this weekend, but it […]
Filter fun with dianthus
January 12, 2009 - More fun with close-ups. This is a dianthus annual flower that is blooming like crazy in our back beds right now.
New rose blooms
January 10, 2009 - The roses that I transplanted before Thanksgiving have leafed out nicely. ‘Tuscan Sun’, ‘Simply Marvelous!’, and ‘Black Cherry’ are even trying to bloom!
Extension tubes
January 9, 2009 - Christmas present experimentation: diffuser filter plus extension tubes plus spider posing on the tip of a hibiscus stamen. Result: scary closeups with nicely blurred backgrounds!! (Thank you Rich :))
The birds are enjoying their Christmas feeders
January 4, 2009 - Lucky birdies – I cleaned out all the feeders today, and re-filled the birdbaths, and weeded under the feeders. Hopefully the little seams of hot glue will close up the holes on the big goldfinch feeder enough to reduce some of the waste underneath…the niger seed is supposed to go in finch tummies, not on […]
Floribunda roses
January 3, 2009 - I’m pleased to see that the floribunda roses that we transplanted right after Thanksgiving have all leafed out and are blackspot free. Now I’m inspired to shift around the roses in the back bed…and Rich did promise to help me pull grass to widen that bed a bit… ;-)
Goldfinch close-up
January 2, 2009 - Mum-mum asked for a close-up picture of a goldfinch in non-breeding plumage. Here you go! This guy is actually a tiny bit brighter than most. It makes me wish for April when the birds will be bright yellow again…but then they leave us… :(
Happy New Year!
January 1, 2009 - We started off the new year with lots of birds! It’s the time of year when flocks of red-winged blackbirds and brown-headed cowbirds descend upon the big feeder in the backyard. We’ve also had a significant increase in goldfinches in the last week or so. We’re now seeing about 20 at a time, at the […]
Sand hill crane family
December 31, 2008 - Reena and Coli, the neighborhood sand hill cranes, visited with their family this afternoon. They really like our neighbor’s yard. Goldy thought the big birds were great! (If you’re wondering about the names, they are short for “Arena” and “Colina”, the Spanish words for Sand and Hill.)
Merry Christmas Eve!
December 24, 2008 - Goldy and Squirt left milk and cat food out for Santa Claws, in hopes of pansies and toy mice. Merry Christmas Eve!
‘Granada’ rose
December 20, 2008 - ‘Granada’ had a very pretty bloom this morning. Usually it doesn’t have such a perfect form.
Bobby the Mockingbird
December 19, 2008 - Bobby the Mockingbird has been coming by for suet every day. He’s fun to watch as he bobs for his dinner.
Cooper’s Hawk
December 13, 2008 - Along with the goldfinches, warbles, and other nice winter birds, we get the winter hawks. This Cooper’s Hawk cleared our backyard for several hours this afternoon. He glared at me when I told him that my birdies are not for him. :-p
Goldfinches!
December 12, 2008 - Goldfinches! We’re not quite ready to break out the 20-port feeder — I think the most I’ve seen together at once was 6 birds. But it is sure nice to have our little “potato chip!” buddies back.
Eastern Phoebe
December 9, 2008 - Not the greatest picture, but we did have an Eastern Phoebe visit this afternoon. He likes to perch on top of things, like the feeder shepard hooks and Christmas decorations.
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 27, 2008 - Happy Thanksgiving! Rich gives special thanks for his grapefruit tree and his first grapefruit, picked today and enjoyed for breakfast. Mmm!
Yellow-Throated Warbler
November 23, 2008 - A new visitor: a Yellow-Throated Warbler! I’ve seen him three times in the past week, and finally got a picture this morning. Welcome to the free seed at Goldy’s house, little birdie!
House Finch conundrum
November 21, 2008 - The House Finch conundrum: 5 finches, 4 ports…much chirping is involved!!
Bald eagle
November 16, 2008 - OK, normally I limit pictures in the Garden Log to animals actually seen in our backyard…but today’s an exception. I didn’t actually see the eagle today, but Rich and I both heard him several times throughout the weekend. An eagle! Cool! (But no goldfinches yet…I may have heard one yesterday, though…) Update Nov 22 – […]
Shuttle launch
November 15, 2008 - The skies were really cloudy for the shuttle launch last night, but the shuttle did peek out from behind the clouds for a split second and I got a single shot. It’s always amazing to see the fiery sky with the night launches. Today I went to visit mis papitos and we saw their Red-Bellied […]
‘Honey Perfume’ rose
November 14, 2008 - ‘Honey Perfume’ likes the cooler weather. What it doesn’t know is that it’s about to be transplanted…we dug the grass today, and prepared the soil in the bed…
‘Perfect Moment’ rose
November 13, 2008 - Finally! I won the battle against the insects and ‘Perfect Moment’ managed to produce a full bloom! It’s pretty…right next to Midas Touch (bright yellow), next to Carla’s yard, suddenly I like this rose again. :)
House Wren
November 9, 2008 - A House Wren visited our yard today! They are common birds, but this was the first time I’d seen one in our yard. Actually it made me laugh, it was eating the aphids off my Rainbow Knockout rose, so I said thank you and took its picture. It played peek-a-boo with me from under the […]
Warbler birdbath
November 8, 2008 - Mr. Warbles was cute this afternoon, frolicking in the birdbath.
Brown-headed cowbirds
November 2, 2008 - It’s that time of year again! The flock of brown-headed cowbirds descended upon our yard…
‘Peace’ rose
November 1, 2008 - ‘Peace’ is blooming again. Most of the roses are past their fall flush, but this bloom was so perfect that I had to stop and photograph it.
Stray cats invading Squirt’s yard
October 31, 2008 - Wanted: stray cats who scare away the birds. Reward is a can of Savory Salmon, donated by Goldy and Squirt.
SquirtBirds
October 19, 2008 - Squirt’s glad to hear Gray Catbirds (a.k.a. SquirtBirds!) returning to Florida. He must ask them to fuss at us when we’re at Bok Tower to remind us that we’re not at home, letting Squirt out on his porch! mieu!
New Backyard Visitor
October 15, 2008 - Is this a female Common Yellowthroat that visited our backyard today? I was photographing the Palm Warblers that are so cute, hopping around and doing their little “chip” calls, and then I noticed this guy. He has yellow patches like the Palm Warblers, but he’s missing the black stripe near his eye. The closest picture […]
Sandhill cranes in the driveway
October 12, 2008 - Four Sandhill Cranes visited our driveway this afternoon! Turns out I had dropped a little bit of seed when I was cleaning out bird feeders. :) They scarfed it down, then begged for more – they must be used to people, because one of them walked right up to me. Cars were stopping as people […]
Giant Swallowtail
October 11, 2008 - This Giant Swallowtail wandered into the yard while I was cleaning bird baths. Of course I had to run for the camera! ;-)
Milkweed traffic jam
October 5, 2008 - Traffic jam at the milkweed…the Monarch was back today, and not too appreciative of the White Peacock who also wanted to nectar at the same flower!
Monarch Butterfly
October 4, 2008 - Today was Trim the Hedge day. Except there was one little milkweed that had grown up through the hedge that I didn’t have the heart to remove…this monarch spent all day nectaring on it.
Yard of the Month
October 3, 2008 - Rich and I cracked up as we drove up this afternoon to see that we’d been awarded Yard of the Month for our community. I guess they didn’t notice that the mums I’d planted last week under the oak tree have all died! ;-)
The warblers are back, right on schedule
October 2, 2008 - I saw three Palm Warblers this morning in the oak tree. They arrived right on schedule! It’s amazing how birds are so punctual for each year’s migration.
‘Spellbound’ rose
October 1, 2008 - It’s October! Time for cooler weather, winter birds, and happy roses! This is ‘Spellbound’, my first rose, still blooming beautifully!
