One National Wildlife Yard

This is a preview of new beginnings in one of many wildlife gardens and yards. Stay tuned for coming out parties and first flights (hopefully).

Beginning transformation on wall

 

Short time later....

Chrysalis with Monarch wings showing through

Titmouse nest with newly hatched chicks

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Welcome Creepy Crawlies

A Monarch butterfly visited two days last week. You see the result here. Last count, there were nine, very tiny caterpillars. The cycle begins again.

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Who’s Who

There is really no story behind this shot. The neighborhood kids alerted me that two owls were in the palm tree, so I ran out with my camera and got this shot of one of the barred owls. She really is a beauty and her cooing who-who’s are soothing music wafting through the orange blossom scent on a Florida day in March. We have wonderful neighbors on this block, and not all of them live in houses.

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Shooting Fish in a Barrel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was like shooting (or spearing) fish in a barrel for these big guys down at the pond today.  When water levels are high, birds dive for food in the glassy water. When it gets low, as it is now, the long legged water birds like egrets and herons just wade out and pick fish off until they are stuffed. There is another stage when it is reduced to puddles and mud and dead or dying fish lie all around. You would think that part would not be desirable. Ah, but you would not be a vulture. That’s when the clean-up crew comes in and takes away the stench, leaving the pond bottom clean and ready for summer rains that will keep it full most of the season. That’s when the soft shell turtles, bass, gar and other fish swim back over from adjacent lakes and ponds. No cycle is wasted as long as we let nature take its course.

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Let It Snow

Firebush lit by the sun

Yellow leaves on a blue sky

Thanks, WordPress, for the snow. It is such a treat falling through our sunny, Florida skies.

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Sky Tonight – Dec. 1, 2008

Crescent Moon, Jupiter and Venus

This crescent moon above Jupiter and Venus was in a dark, clear sky tonight in Orlando, Florida. It was stunning. Hope you can feel a little of it.

Check out Wired Science Blog for good information on this cool event: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/tonight-planets.html?referer=sphere_related_content

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Haiku to Fall

Bright green canopy

Your fate crunches neath my feet

And yet you return

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Happy Thanksgiving

A bit of red-leafed vine climbing toward the sun, reminiscent of turkey waddle. Okay, if you squint just right on a tummy full of Thanksgiving dinner, it is–kinda. Hope everyone has a great day and much to be thankful for.

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Anhinga — For Real

Hooded Merganser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anhinga

 

 

 Click on pictures to enlarge.

Watersnake or Snakebird?

Hanging out to dry—

Anhinga

Hooded Merganser

Tell me this doesn’t look like a snake.

After climbing a low-hanging branch.

 

   

The pattern is clear now. Every time I grab the camera to capture a shot, something else moves into the scene, invariably an even better visual catch. Yesterday was a close match as to what was best. I have watched for the Hooded Merganser duck to return for the second year. As I got out of the car yesterday, I spotted a hen and drake down at the pond. So I run for the camera and snap away at the shy fowls. As you can see, they do not make it easy to get a good shot. So I waited and waited, hoping they might venture closer. Suddenly a snake surfaced too close them and startled me. It took only another second to realize that it was not a snake, but a Snakebird—an anhinga! This is prize I have been waiting for. Only once before has an anhinga visited the pond and my camera shots were not good. I camped out this time. The results you see here. I still wait for that wonderful close-up of the bird drying his fully outstretched wings. (Anhingas do not have the oil glands necessary to shed water like other water birds, so they must “hang them out to dry in the sun.”)  Their territory is the Atlantic and Gulf costs from North Carolina to Texas and in the Mississippi Valley north to Arkansas and Tennessee and south to South America. You may have guessed this species is my favorite. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Moth to Frame

Moth on Bamboo

As usual, I go for a particular shot and get something altogether different. This started out as an attempt to photograph the bamboo that creates a jungle in the side yard. But like a moth to “frame,” this brown and turquoise moth planted itself smack in the view. What resulted was a kind of Asian/Southwestern mix of shapes and colors. I’m thinking nature does a better job of setting these up than I ever could.

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