A nature photographer’s images and stories of birds, butterflies, and other creatures from her backyard near Orlando, FL
February 7, 2012 - A flu bug has kept me home for the past few days, and the cats and I have enjoyed watching out the windows at our backyard birds. This afternoon as it started to drizzle, all the little birdies came out to bathe in the raindrops. The House Finches headed for the birdbath just like they […]
February 4, 2012 - A flock of Cedar Waxwings was in the backyard last night. Why is it that you never have a camera outside with you when the good birds come to town? Of course they left before I got back. So I turned the camera on the orange blooms that are covering our little tree right now…
February 1, 2012 - Our little Yellow-Throated Warbler, known by family and friends as “Bow Tie,” appreciated my recent efforts to clean and refill bird feeders. He likes the suet that hangs near our living room window, too. Our cats love it when he comes and taps on the window.
January 31, 2012 - I had to do some minor repairs to the fountain in our front yard. I drained it right before we had freezing temperatures for several nights around Christmas. The poor cardinals are used to coming to the fountain for their nightly drinks and baths, and they found it empty! Mr. C kept coming back to […]
January 30, 2012 - I feel so lucky to play host to Painted Buntings during the winter. Each time I look out and see them at my feeders I still feel a surge of surprise and delight. We’ve had at least these three birds for the past couple of months. I see two greenies and a male together fairly […]
January 27, 2012 - Rich has been very interested in astronomy lately, and while I was on Christmas break, I went out and tried The Beast on a few planets. I was amazed to find that I could see the bands on Jupiter, along with several moons! This is a highly cropped image taken with The Beast and a […]
January 26, 2012 - When I took yesterday’s picture of the Lesser Scaup, a Snowy Egret was fishing down at the pond. He was fun to watch as he hopped around and fished for his dinner. With each hop, he made his way closer to me, until he was almost full frame. Then he got his prize – a […]
January 25, 2012 - We had a small flock of Lesser Scaups on one of the neighborhood retention ponds for a few weeks in December. I went down one afternoon with The Beast and took some pictures. I got lots of strange looks from the neighbors as I walked back with The Beast!
January 21, 2012 - Yep, that’s right, today is Squirrel Appreciation Day! It’s the day to honor the pesky little acrobatic clowns who steal the food from our bird feeders. So put out a husk of corn and say thanks to the little guys…
January 6, 2012 - I love being on vacation! It’s been cold and windy in the mornings, which tends to put a damper on early morning photo shoots (well, the wind does, because it keeps the birds from posing. The cold doesn’t bother me as much. Stay tuned for more on that!) But the cold mornings turn into nice […]
January 5, 2012 - After Dyeyo and I went to Merritt Island last week, we stopped by my neighborhood pond where the Hooded Mergansers have been hanging out. We got there around 3 in the afternoon, when the afternoon light was hitting the pond at a great angle. I love how the green trees in the background color the […]
January 1, 2012 - Dyeyo and I wrapped up a trip to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge yesterday with a walk down to our neighborhood pond, where a small flock of Hooded Mergansers have taken up residence in the past few weeks. Dyeyo enjoyed the opportunity to get so close to the birds. Rich did us the favor of […]
December 26, 2011 - With regret, I will be cancelling the remainder of the Circle B Photo Walks for the season. My work has been consuming every waking moment, and I find that I can no longer dedicate the time to our photo walks. I hope to resume them next year. If you were considering attending one, you might […]
December 23, 2011 - Today I noticed a small flock of Hooded Mergansers in the pond by the back entrance to our subdivision. It was my first opportunity to see Hoodies up close this winter. I went home, got The Beast, and carried it up to the pond. The Hoodies promptly swam away to the other side, so I […]
December 6, 2011 - We had our first-of-season American Goldfinches in the backyard on Sunday! What a nice surprise. These are my favorite little winter visitors. In our house, we call them “Goldy’s finches” or “goldyfinches” after our cat…
December 2, 2011 - The sunset on Sunday night was really pretty. I took three bracketed exposures at +/-1 EV, then combined them using HDR.
December 1, 2011 - With the new standard time hours plus my crazy work schedule, our evening walks happen in the dark, if at all. So it was great this weekend to get out in the “golden hour” of sunset and walk around the neighborhood. Besides the Lesser Scaups from yesterday, we saw our Belted Kingfisher is back. This […]
November 30, 2011 - As I drool over the reports of Hooded Mergansers arriving throughout Florida, the Least Scaups have arrived back in our neighborhood. So at least we have some ducks on our ponds, even if they aren’t cute diving hoodies!
November 29, 2011 - We had a Goldfinch false alarm last week. I thought I saw one on the niger feeder, but it turned out to be a House Finch. I did hear goldfinches at the Circle B Bar Reserve last weekend. I can’t wait until they make it to our backyard! They are my favorite little winter birds. […]
November 28, 2011 - Now that it’s dark so early, Rich and I see our neighborhood fountain lit up on our walks. It’s really pretty, and for weeks I’ve been thinking that I should go down to the pond at night and do some long exposures. I finally did that over our Thanksgiving break. What was unexpected and really […]
November 16, 2011 - I got home from work last week to find four Sandhill Cranes hanging out in my front yard. It was drizzling slightly, and then didn’t mind when I grabbed the Beast for some head shots. I like the effect of the rain droplets in the background.
November 11, 2011 - Today’s picture is from my husband, who used his iPhone to capture and send me this shot of a House Finch clinging to our stucco-ed column while waiting for his turn at the window feeder. Silly bird! I guess the cats were asleep or those birds would have been scared off rather quickly… :) As […]
November 9, 2011 - I had the Beast outside one afternoon when I noticed both our male and female Painted Buntings hopping into their feeder cage for their dinner. I was hand-holding the Beast, so the video hops around a little. It’s such fun to see these pretty birds in my backyard!
November 8, 2011 - The House Finches have been active lately, visiting Goldy’s feeder often, much to her delight. Their bright red is pretty at this time of year.
November 6, 2011 - It looks like midnight in the backyard and it is only 6:30!! :-/ Posted from my iPhone
November 3, 2011 - Your house can be the best bird blind, if you can attract the birds close enough to the windows. I recently did my fall window cleaning, getting the glass nice and clear for winter shooting. So I was excited when one of our Common Ground Doves came into the nearby flower bed, and didn’t freak […]
November 2, 2011 - I was pouting on Friday morning because the rain kept me from going to the Circle B Bar Reserve for a sunrise shoot. But if I hadn’t stayed home, I wouldn’t have seen the TWO male Painted Buntings that visited our yard together! I checked back in my records, and this was the first time […]
November 1, 2011 - This weekend we had a very special evening in the backyard. All three cats were on the porch with us as we ate dinner. First we saw Baby C, the latest offspring of Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal. We were surprised to see him this late in the year, and the cats were quite entertained by […]
October 29, 2011 - It rained for a good part of the morning, then the sun came out briefly in the afternoon, then the clouds built up again. So I ended up staying home, doing yardwork and birding a little in the yard. The cats loved the breeze on the porch. We all enjoyed watching the Palm Warblers flit […]
October 25, 2011 - I’ve been working crazy hours, but I did finally have some time this weekend to sit in my backyard and enjoy the sounds of the returning winter birds. I spotted two Painted Buntings, a male and a female! They’ve been frequenting our feeders all weekend. Woo hoo! I think they might be here to stay. […]
October 22, 2011 - We had a great photo hike this morning at the Circle B Bar Reserve. I’m still going through my pictures, so check back tomorrow for those. This afternoon I looked out the window and saw a hummingbird in the backyard! I yelped “Rich!! Hummer!!” and grabbed the camera. This is our third hummer in the […]
October 19, 2011 - Our Circle B photo walk will be this Saturday, October 22. Join us at the nature center at 8am if you want to see some good birds and maybe a bobcat! :)
October 17, 2011 - Last year I was thrilled to play host to a small flock of Painted Buntings during the winter months. I’ve had my millet out for several weeks now, hoping to entice the birds back to my backyard this winter. On Saturday night we saw our first visitor, a bright red male who came to sample […]
October 9, 2011 - It rained all night and all morning. On the one day that I had off from work this week. Not fair! :( This weekend was supposed to be the Water, Wings, and Wild Things event at Circle B. I wonder how much got cancelled for rain. We need the rain, but why does it always […]
October 3, 2011 - We were excited to see Bow Tie, our neighborhood Yellow-Throated Warbler, high in a palm tree on Saturday. Each winter he comes and hangs out at our feeders. His bright yellow stomach is so cheerful. I call him Bow Tie because his yellow colors contrast with his black-and-white wing feathers, which remind me of a […]
September 29, 2011 - It seemed as if there were very few butterflies early on in the summer months. Now they are all over. This one was enjoying my milkweed plant, a host plant for the monarchs. The caterpillars will devour all the leaves on this plant as they grow.
September 27, 2011 - There are all sorts of reports of migrant warblers across the state on Birdbrains this week. I’ve been watching the neighborhood for Bow Tie, our Yellow-Throated Warbler that comes to our yard each winter. I’m a little disappointed that I haven’t seen him yet. At Wild Birds Unlimited two weeks ago they told me that […]
September 26, 2011 - I felt badly for the poor Mourning Doves this afternoon. It rained and rained, and the poor birds just stood there. They didn’t even try to find a dry spot.
September 15, 2011 - The cats and I were both surprised the other day when we went outside and found this moth clinging to our porch screen. I’m not sure what kind of moth it is, but it’s kinda pretty (in a mothy way!)
September 13, 2011 - I had a good time watching this mockingbird in the backyard a few nights ago. He was standing on the roof of the house, doing his little flap-the-wing-to-shadow-the-insects routine. Except there aren’t many insects on the roof! Every once in a while, he hopped into the crape myrtle and grabbed one of the seed pods […]
September 10, 2011 - The weather forecast called for rain, so I stayed home this morning. Then of course it didn’t rain. Oh well! :-p So I spent the afternoon working in the backyard, planting more hummingbird-attracting plants. As I worked, our neighborhood pair of Common Ground Doves flew into the yard. Usually these guys are very skittish, and […]
September 9, 2011 - This year our pineapple patch only yielded one pineapple. I guess it’s to be expected after the cold winter that we had. This year I made sure that I picked the pineapple before the birds got to it first. We ate it this week. It was very sweet and juicy. If you’ve never tried growing […]
September 8, 2011 - One morning this past weekend, I looked out my window at the sunrise, and I saw a hawk on our neighbor’s roof. The hawk’s silhouette was beautiful against the orange colors of the sky. I quickly grabbed the camera. As if he knew I was watching, the hawk turned his head towards the sunrise. I […]
September 6, 2011 - This is a special guest post by our cat Goldilocks. We call Goldy our resident ornithologist. She spends most of her days at our windows, watching outside to see the birds there. When she was younger, a call of “bird bird bird!” from anywhere in the house would bring her running. Now she is training […]
September 5, 2011 - As we celebrate Labor Day, I thought I’d blog about a bird that truly labors every moment of every day. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird beats its wings up to 100 times a second. He drinks the nectar from flowering plants and eats insects. He has to eat so regularly that at any point, he’s only hours […]
September 3, 2011 - We’ve had a couple of new visitors to the backyard lately, including the following: A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird! He was hovering around my firecracker plant. Rich saw him and I didn’t. Not fair! Barn Swallows. They swoop in and out of the yard in the evenings. I wish I could get a picture. Their feathers are […]
August 23, 2011 - I’ve been noticing many more bugs in the backyard since I stopped spraying my roses with pesticides on a regular basis. I have no idea what this bug is, but he was quite happy to hang out on my Indigo Spires salvia.
August 20, 2011 - Rich and I were eating dinner on our porch when we noticed a hummingbird fly into our yard and nectar on the Mexican sunflowers!!! I did not get the camera fast enough to get a picture. All I saw was the glistening green of his back feathers, so I can’t say whether he was male […]
August 20, 2011 - I was out on the porch with the cats when we heard the unmistakable sound of a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. These tiny birds are technically year-round residents of Central Florida, but in the summertime, they tend to be scarce. I’ve been told that they go to the very tops of pine trees to make their nests […]