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.

 

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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.

Woodpecker

Today I saw a fairly large bird, about crow size, fly into the trees across the street. I wouldn’t have paid any more attention except for the spot of bright red on this bird.

It was a Pileated Woodpecker, a large woodpecker with a bright red crest.

This was clearly a male Pileated Woodpecker, with his red forehead and red moustache line on each side of his face.

Here’s a rear view of his crest.

He landed on another branch where I had a pretty clear full view of him. Look at that spikey crest.

One more of the Pileated Woodpecker.

 

A Few for Wednesday

Looks like fall is on the way.

This leaf will be falling soon.

Lantana flowers with the fence in the background.

And Max, smiling at the camera.

 

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.

Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma is here, and from tonight into early afternoon tomorrow is supposed to be the worst of the storm for us here in northeast Florida. We are fortunate to live in a zone D area on the A-F flood probability scale, with A most likely to flood and F least likely. We did not have a mandatory evacuation for our area, though all of the A and B zones did have to evacuate.

It’s windy and rainy now, as predicted for tonight, and we’re just riding it out (or hunkering down, as they always say during hurricanes here). No problems so far. The power is still on and it would be wonderful if we don’t lose our power tonight. Last year our electricity was out for a week after Hurricane Matthew went through. Here are a few photos from today.

Wind and rain in the backyard.

More wind.

During hurricanes frogs often just appear on our sliding glass back door. Max was fascinated when this one showed up.

Little bluebird looking for bugs this morning before the storm really moved in.

We have plenty of supplies–food, water, batteries, flashlights and battery-powered lanterns, a propane stove and a charcoal grill, and the rest of the things they always tell us to stock up on when a hurricane is coming. So we’re as ready as we can be for this storm. If the power stays on I’ll check back in tomorrow.

 

Thursday Photos

Our lavender flowers are opening. The buds were so slow to start opening that I was starting to wonder if they ever would!

Black Swallowtail butterfly chrysalis, one of several on and around the big planter by the back door. I’m keeping an eye on them, hoping to see at least one butterfly emerge.

I did see some Gulf Fritillary butterflies in the lantana bush in the backyard.

One more Gulf Fritillary butterfly.

Green metallic bee in the basil flowers.

And another view of the green metallic bee.

Fiery sky at sunset tonight.