Birds on Friday

It’s been a hectic week here, with multiple appointments and errands. But I did get some bird photos over the past few days.

This one is a Chipping Sparrow, one of a small flock of birds that passed through.

And here’s one of our bluebirds.

A turkey vulture soaring overhead.

At the top of a power pole I spotted this Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

One more of the woodpecker.

A Mourning Dove. We’ve had lots of Mourning Doves around lately, and lots of little Ground Doves too. They are often in the yard together in mixed groups.

A pine cone growing in a tall pine tree.

 

 

 

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Sunday Photos

It was sunny this morning when Max and I spotted this squirrel running down a tree. Many of  the leaves on this tree seem to have died.

I happened to look up as I walked under a tree and saw a huge spider web a few feet above me, spread from one tree to another. In the middle was a medium size spider, silhouetted against the sky along with some small insects caught in the web.

I thought I knew what kind of spider it was. I brightened up one photo enough to see some details, and found that I was correct–it was a Spiny-backed Orb Weaver, a harmless spider I’ve seen often around the yard.

In the afternoon a storm came through. The sky in the west behind these pine trees grew darker very quickly.

A downpour followed. This is a view across the street, rain falling on branches that had come down during Hurricane Irma. Clean up from that storm is still going on.

 

Sunset on Thursday

Three sunset photos for today. I looked out the window to the north this evening and saw pink/orange airplane vapor trails in the sky behind some pine trees. So I went out with the camera and took some shots.

In the meantime the sky was taking on more of an orange color in the west as the sun disappeared. That’s a bird taking off out of those palm trees.

As the sky grew darker in the west, a vapor trail behind the palm fronds lit up in a brighter orange.

Anoles and More on Wednesday

It was bright and sunny today, two days after the hurricane went through. Everything’s pretty much back to normal here. There were lots of anoles around today enjoying the sunshine.

These two were on the back screen door. The big male on the right was pursuing the female on the left, following her around on the screen. She wasn’t impressed and after awhile she ran away.

A baby anole sitting on a concrete block.

I often lean sticks or branches against the fence for the anoles to climb and sit on. This young anole was perched at the top of this branch, watching what was going on below.

Anole climbing through the cedar vine on the fence. She seems to be a female, and something seems to be bothering her–it’s hard to tell for sure through the vines, but she may have her dewlap extended.

One more anole for today. This one was posing on a palm tree late this afternoon.

Lantana flowers.

Rosemary branch.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done sun stars!

A fiery sunset this evening.

Friday Sunset

A fiery sky at sunset this evening.

Palm trees on the right, in front of the streaks of red/orange.

Tall pine trees silhouetted against the sunset sky.

 

Saturday in the Backyard

Plenty of little tomatoes ripening on our tomato plant.

And more little green tomatoes coming along.

One of our two new parsley plants.

A tree branch from a neighbor’s yard overhanging our back fence. The leaves really are as big as they look.

The leaves from that kind of tree come in three different shapes, all growing on the same tree. Here’s an example of the three shapes on a single branch. There’s an ordinary plain leaf on the left, one with two lobes that’s sort of mitten-shaped in the middle, and a three-lobed leaf on the right.

Max, faster than a speeding bullet! He loves to run really fast in big loops around the yard.

Last for today is the moon next to a dying pine tree.

Chickadee on Friday

I heard agitated bird calls in the trees in the back, and I saw a mockingbird swooping in and out of one area in the trees. I went closer and spotted this tiny bird, less than 5 inches long. It seems to be perched on a leaf, which has no trouble supporting its weight.

It’s a Carolina Chickadee–very similar to the Black-capped Chickadee, but the Black-capped is a northern bird and the Carolina Chickadee lives in the southeast. As I watched I saw that the chickadee seemed upset with the mockingbird. It kept calling loudly when the mockingbird flew close, and the tiny chickadee flew at the much larger mockingbird several times.

The chickadee ended up chasing off the mockingbird. It sat on the fence looking around for a few minutes after the mockingbird left.

A little Ground-dove.

And new green pine cones growing on a tall pine tree.