One of the reasons I started this blog was to document the birds that come and go in my backyard. The posts below detail both the rarities and the ordinary wonders with wings!
July 11, 2012 - Our resident backyard cardinal’s name is Beaky (since he goes and “beaks” at Carla’s window). He’s one of our most reliable feeder customers, but lately, he’s been branching out and acting like what my mom calls a “real bird.” I left some sunflowers to go to seed, and he discovered them. Now he sits on […]
April 18, 2012 - I glanced out the window into our backyard last weekend to see our pair of Common Ground Doves initiating a mating ritual. Rich laughed as they mated and I raced for the camera. By the time I got outside, all I got was a birdie portrait…
April 15, 2012 - I haven’t seen a male Painted Bunting in about a week. I checked my blog from last year, and the buntings left around April 15. So I took yesterday’s rainy, icky morning opportunity to photograph my little green birds while they are still here. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…
March 31, 2012 - A few weeks ago, I took this picture of Bow Tie (our favorite little Yellow-throated Warbler) feasting on suet in our front yard. Several times a day he would stop by, and he always attracted our attention with his happy calls (and our cats’ attention with his pecks at the window!) But his place seems […]
March 7, 2012 - The American Goldfinches that are cleaning out my niger feeder on a regular basis are starting to turn yellow! On a recent rainy weekend morning, I sat in my favorite upstairs window (“bird blind”) and photographed the little finches. The finches will line up waiting for their turn at the feeder. When they change places, […]
March 6, 2012 - One of our “greenie” backyard Painted Buntings got his name today: Pinocchio! Juvenile male and female Painted Buntings look alike until their first spring, when the males molt into the beautiful red, blue, and green tones that make bird photographers go “oooh!” Pinocchio’s transformation has started – you can see tiny bits of blue starting […]
February 9, 2012 - I was going through old pictures today and came across this Sandhill Crane. It made me chuckle. Here’s looking at you!
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 […]
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 […]
August 6, 2011 - Whiskey and I found a pair of Eastern Bluebirds on the back road CR 545 on our way home from my parents’ last night. The birds were perched on the phone lines. I didn’t have my camera with me, so for today’s blog post I have a Fracalius-ed image of a bluebird taken at Callaway […]
August 2, 2011 - The Mourning Doves love this time of year. Very few other birds compete with them to access the birdseed in my feeders! My backyard flower beds are full of tall Mexican sunflowers in bloom right now. You can see some of them in the background of this picture:
July 29, 2011 - Normally I seem to photograph juvenile Cooper’s Hawks. The other night we were walking in the neighborhood, and we came across this adult Cooper’s. Look at that bright red eye! The lighting was quite uneven, but I like how the light shows the eye so clearly. The hawk looked at me for a split second, […]
July 21, 2011 - It’s the time of year when Mallards molt their flight feathers, and become flightless for a few weeks. We’ve seen far fewer Mallards around for the past week or so. But some are still flying:
July 19, 2011 - We’ve had a bumper crop of baby mockingbirds in our neighborhood this year, but not as many young cardinals as usual. So we were happy to see this young cardinal feeding at Goldy’s window feeder. He didn’t mind when I got closer to the window to take his picture.
July 18, 2011 - Goldy and Squirt (and Whiskey!) have been in indoor kitty bird-watching paradise for the last week or so. This juvenile White Ibis has taken up residence in our backyard. He spends hours wandering back and forth across the yard, looking for bugs and things in the rosebeds, and searching for dropped seed under the feeders. […]
July 17, 2011 - I’ve been after a good Swallow-tailed Kite picture all summer. This weekend I was supposed to go to the Hernando County location where the kites are feeding on a field overrun with grasshoppers. But that opportunity didn’t work out, and I was a little disappointed. Then I was working in the backyard this afternoon, doing […]
July 14, 2011 - Rich and I don’t usually walk down by the lake during our walks, but we did a few days ago. This Loggerhead Shrike was posed in sweet afternoon light. I like the soft blue of the lake as his backdrop.
July 13, 2011 - It was well past sunset a few nights ago when Rich and I came across this little family of Mourning Doves down the street. The parents were feeding their baby, who looked like a recent fledgling. The baby was fun to watch as he flapped his wings and stuck his beak up Mom’s throat. After […]
July 12, 2011 - A few nights ago on our walk around the golf course, we came across two Sandhill Cranes lying down near the pond. I guess they went to bed early that night! They didn’t mind as I walked across the golf course to get their picture. One just looked up at me as if to say, […]