Backyard photography
A nature photographer’s images and stories of birds, butterflies, and other creatures from her backyard near Orlando, FL
Front roses all abloom
September 21, 2008 - I don’t have any freaky close-ups from this week to post, so instead I’ll put up a picture of my front rose bed, which has been blooming nicely this week. I think I heard the first warbler of the season this morning as I was out with the roses…but it won’t be Mr. Warbles until […]
Freaky moth close-up
September 13, 2008 - I guess this is a moth. I can’t find him on What’s That Bug. He was camped out on our screen all day. Now this is a scary close-up!
Dragonflies
September 12, 2008 - There are lots of dragonflies around these days…no scary close-up of his face this time, though. Scroll down for that! ;-)
Our juvenile cardinals are growing up
September 7, 2008 - Our juvenile cardinals are growing up…into little boys! They are turning redder and getting the black face of the adult cardinal. I think this particular one is going to be the fattest little cardinal ever — he spent the whole day chowing down at the bird feeder!
House finch eye disease
September 2, 2008 - Meet Cheep. She’s one of at least two of our house finches who are infected with the house finch eye disease. Thought to be caused by a respiratory illness, her eyes will crust shut eventually, leaving her blind. Poor little birdie. :(
House finch birdbath
September 1, 2008 - The House Finches celebrated Labor Day by splashing around in the fountain in our front yard. They were such fun to watch!
Squirt’s new friend
August 31, 2008 - Squirt had a new visitor today…an opossum! He was helping me keep the areas under the bird feeders clean. My picture isn’t very clear, but Squirt had a great time watching him.
Our first House Sparrow
August 29, 2008 - A female House Sparrow came to visit our feeders today. Even though they are such common birds, we’ve never seen sparrows in our yard before. Did Goldy sneak one in her suitcase when she came back from Missy’s house?
Teeny the Frog
August 28, 2008 - Hey, Peter and Aaron! Teeny came for a visit to our yard tonight. I think he’s teenier than usual…only about as big as my thumbnail.
Silly birds
August 22, 2008 - 7″ of rain. Heavy wind gusts. No sun for three days. So what’s the first thing these silly birds do when the weather starts to improve? Jump in the birdbath!!
House finch hurricane party
August 21, 2008 - A couple of juvenile brown-headed cowbirds joined in on the house finch hurricane party today. They were very happy that I had put the bird feeders back out! Little birdies like tropical storms as little as we people do.
Birds preparing for hurricane?
August 17, 2008 - We had a very cheerful crew of customers at the feeders today. My mom says they had few birds about an hour south of here – we’re wondering if the birds know something we don’t about approaching Tropical Storm Faye! This Downy has been around, but not a regular visitor. We also saw a Loggerhead […]
Meanie Mock
August 16, 2008 - There’s a juvenile mockingbird turned very territorial in the backyard. Rich says we should call him Meanie Mock. He keeps chasing birds away from the feeders…lucky for them, they can always move to a different feeder in another part of the yard. Except for the house finches, who move away for a few seconds, then […]
Juvenile cardinal
August 15, 2008 - Our juvenile cardinals came to my living-room window feeders and I got some fun close-up shots.
Our cardinal family
August 14, 2008 - Our cardinal family has doubled in size! Mr. and Mrs. C brought their babies to meet us today. It’s fun that our yard is a safe place for them…and at one point, it appeared that they had employed a dove as baby-sitter! :-)
Cassius Blue butterfly
August 7, 2008 - This little butterfly, a Cassius Blue, seemed to be having fun fluttering on my “Queen Elizabeth” rose. Too bad he didn’t land on bloom!
‘Gemini’ rose
August 3, 2008 - ‘Gemini’. During a time in the summer when the thrips are threatening my bushes, I was very happy to see that they left this bush alone!
‘First Prize’ rose
August 1, 2008 - Finally a bloom from ‘First Prize’…I bought this one own-root and it came as a tiny seedling.. Ironically, the mini-rose ‘Bee’s Knees’ that I got at the same time is now twice as big as this hybrid tea. But the blooms are worth the wait. I can’t wait till it’s a full-grown bush and covered […]
Our first pineapples
July 29, 2008 - After two years of patient waiting, our first pineapples are ready to eat! They are very sweet and juicy. Not bad, given that the only care required was to plant them two years ago! :-)
Fewer house finches around these days
July 27, 2008 - House finches! It’s the time of the year when we see fewer birds; I guess most of them prefer insects to seed. But the house finches are still around to continue to ponder a conundrum: if there are four feeder ports and five finches, how to share?
‘Veteran’s Honor’ rose
July 20, 2008 - We got three inches of rain yesterday and it made for some great rose shots the next morning…this is ‘Veteran’s Honor’.
My new camera is here!!!!!!
July 19, 2008 - My new camera is so cool!!!! Now I have an excuse to take even more rose pictures… :) These are ‘Melody Parfumee’ blooms.
‘April in Paris’ rose
July 11, 2008 - Another rose with blooms that only last for a day or two…but ‘April in Paris’ is very pretty. I hope its stems grow a bit stronger over time.
Happy Fourth of July
July 4, 2008 - It’s not red-white-and-blue, but the first good blooms off ‘Sheer Magic’ are gorgeous. Never again am I buying blooming mail-order roses; I planted this rose back in October and am just now getting good blooms, and the plant is half the size of the bare root plants from March!
Queen caterpillars
July 1, 2008 - When I went outside last night there were about seven of these Queen caterpillars climbing all over my milkweed plant. But today they are all gone!
‘Dream Come True’ rose
June 30, 2008 - ‘Dream Come True’…I planted this by the mailbox and it’s fun to watch it grow up and wrap around the pole. Unfortunately the blooms seem to droop after a day or two, but it’s so pretty, it’s now one of my favorite roses.
‘Midas Touch’ rose
June 19, 2008 - Yay for rain! Roses like rain…’Midas Touch’ has burst into bloom in the past few days.
Wet house finches, taking another bath
June 13, 2008 - We got rain! Squirt’s and my rain dance finally did some good – we got 3 inches today. The House Finches looked so silly, soaking wet…and then they jumped into the birdbath and got even wetter!
Mockingbird on Nest
June 12, 2008 - One of the neighborhood mockingbirds has made a nest in the crape myrtle between our house and Carla and Peter’s house! We think she is Bobetta, the wife of Bobby, the mockingbird who bobs for suet in the oleander. So we hope to soon see Bobito!
‘Tuscan Sun’ rose
June 9, 2008 - Yay for my new extension tubes! Now I can get even closer close-ups of roses, like ‘Tuscan Sun’ here.
Blue hydrangeas this year!
June 3, 2008 - My hydrangeas are doing so well this year. They are simply covered in blooms. A nice change after last year’s single bloom…and they even came back in great shades of pink, blue, and purple!
Funky bugs and eggs
June 1, 2008 - I found these bugs and eggs on the underside of a rose leaf. They look like they should be baby ladybugs, but they’re not. I’m not sure what they are.
‘Gold Medal’ rose
May 28, 2008 - ‘Gold Medal’ is blooming nicely again after its major pruning this spring. It’s bigger and prettier than ever.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
May 26, 2008 - Hmm, so what’s more fun on my day off, chopping down overgrown viburnum or chasing a butterfly around the yard with the camera? ;-)
Four pineapples
May 23, 2008 - The pineapples are getting bigger! Now if we can just keep the air conditioner working until after they totally ripen…
‘Age of Elegance’ daylily
May 21, 2008 - ‘Age of Elegance’ has started to bloom! I had fun with my flash tonight ;-)
Happy Mother’s Day!
May 11, 2008 - As the WBU guy said, some of the goldfinches stuck around until Mother’s Day. We were also very surprised to see a flock of Cedar Waxwings land in the oak tree one evening last week. But the majority of the winter birds have gone…that means summer, heat, and hydrangea blooms!
‘Granada’ and spider
May 4, 2008 - These little green spiders have taken to hanging out on my rose bushes in the front. I thought the contrast with ‘Granada’ here was cool.
White Ibis
May 3, 2008 - We’ve never seen a White Ibis in our yard before. He was having a great time eating bugs in our front yard. The neighbors thought I was crazy, out with my cool tripod and long lens, taking pictures of random birds in the yard!
Bee close-up
May 2, 2008 - Today I spent all day in the garden. I couldn’t resist running for the camera when I saw this bee nectaring on one of my sunflowers. Now I really want extension tubes. ;-)
‘Swirling Spider’ daylily
May 1, 2008 - My ‘Swirling Spider’ daylily gave its first bloom of the year today. It’s so big compared to ‘Yangtze’ – both were blooming today and they were gorgeous together. :)