A nature photographer’s images and stories of birds, butterflies, and other creatures from her backyard near Orlando, FL
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 […]
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! ;-)
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!
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.
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! ;-)
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.
October 1, 2008 - It’s October! Time for cooler weather, winter birds, and happy roses! This is ‘Spellbound’, my first rose, still blooming beautifully!
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 […]
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!
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! ;-)
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!
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. :(
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!
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.
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?
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.
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!!
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.
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 […]
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 […]
August 15, 2008 - Our juvenile cardinals came to my living-room window feeders and I got some fun close-up shots.
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! :-)
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!
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!
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 […]
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! :-)
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?
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’.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
June 19, 2008 - Yay for rain! Roses like rain…’Midas Touch’ has burst into bloom in the past few days.
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!
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!
June 9, 2008 - Yay for my new extension tubes! Now I can get even closer close-ups of roses, like ‘Tuscan Sun’ here.
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!
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.
May 28, 2008 - ‘Gold Medal’ is blooming nicely again after its major pruning this spring. It’s bigger and prettier than ever.
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? ;-)
May 23, 2008 - The pineapples are getting bigger! Now if we can just keep the air conditioner working until after they totally ripen…