Category: gardens

a second look, attention to detail, attitude adjustments, backyard visitors, birds, bucket list, fantasy images, Florida wildlife, flowers, gardens, Just do it, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography

A lucky day…

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I went out early on Tuesday. I was seeing beautiful light out back before the sun rose high enough to peek over the fence and shine right in my eyes. Still blue hour I guess. And some of the usual birds visited while I hoped for hummingbirds, so I imagined a post where I explained that all my favorite birds were still coming to the feeders, and that includes the red wing blackbirds who are visiting by twos lately. But I hadn’t written anything yet so on Wednesday morning I went out again, even though whatever quality the light had the day before wasn’t quite so nice that day. And I didn’t have to wait long for the hummingbird to come visit the fire bush. I got a lot of pictures and was tempted to go put them into the computer to see what I got, but I thought I might as well sit there until the sun came into my eyes and I would have to go inside. And she came back a second time, but stayed in the foliage and left quickly. Which is when I heard a particular whooshing sound, and I realized that a hot air balloon was out there somewhere, but I couldn’t see it. It was flying low, behind the trees, so I had to wait until it came into the open to take some shots. I was already quite delighted by this turn of events, and then the hummingbird came back a third time. What a lucky day!

I took so many pictures and they all are this shot, or close to it.
Slightly different angle in this shot.
Just so many flowers to visit and she tries to hit them all.
A little different shot for a change.
One click in Photoshop replaced the dreary white sky with this. All righty then.

It’s those lucky days that keep you going out to try again…

a second look, attention to detail, attitude adjustments, backyard visitors, Florida wildlife, flowers, fun, gardens, go with the flow, let it go, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography

Where’s Waldo…

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Or Mrs. Waldo as it turns out. My firebush has grown. There are flowers down in the foliage as well as at the outer edges, and down in the foliage is where she spent the vast amount of her one minute or so that she visited with us yesterday. And she waited until the shadows were developing to visit at all. But she came, so I’m happy.

I didn’t think I had gotten her in the shots at all until I zoomed in on the photos in the computer. Thankfully she did emerge from the foliage now and then.
So many flowers to visit.
Busy, busy, busy!
I was a little disappointed that the Mr. wasn’t with her.

You know, there are wildly expensive lenses that might give me better pictures. Or maybe it’s me that could learn more of the technical stuff involved in photography. Or maybe I could just count my blessings and by happy with how I get to spend my time these days.

backyard visitors, birds, Florida wildlife, fun, gardens, in the neighborhood, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography

Figuring it out…

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I bought the little ceramic birdie feeder with the notion that it would make a great photo prop. And that has worked out well since I’ve gotten quite a few bird photos framed in the opening. For once a theory turned into a reality. But now I’m tired of the background of those photos being a white vinyl fence. I’m sure I could replace the background in Photoshop, but I can’t seem to convince myself that it would be worth knocking my head against the wall to figure it out.

Natural photo props have their own issues. I have several poses of this brown thrasher sitting up looking proud of him (or her) self. But in those photos the upper branch is then crossing the bird’s head, a no, no according to the guy editing photos on his computer right beside me. Again, I could take the branch out in Photoshop, which is easy and I do know how to do that, or I can just choose to edit a different picture.
I had totally forgotten about this little Carolina wren with the cross-crossed beak. He or she looks well and happy so I guess the fact that it might not win a birdie beauty contest is no big deal. Think how nice it would be if we all just were happy with whatever nature gave us.
As much as the doves annoy me when they park themselves in a feeder and pig out, they are pretty. Maybe a little blue eye shadow wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Drinks are on the house at this establishment.
And more hummingbird photos because I was able to get quite a few of them that day, but many repeat almost the exact same pose.
Somehow the flowers on the fire bush don’t appear to me to be all that exciting, but then I’m not a hummingbird.
Dinner!
adventure, attention to detail, backyard visitors, birds, fences, Florida wildlife, gardens, in the neighborhood, lizards, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography

Visitors…

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You may not think so at first glance, but that lizard in the feature photo is a real daredevil. He took his own sweet time walking along the fence, stopping to puff out his neck and impress any females that happened to be paying attention. This female, however, wasn’t especially impressed. But by being on that fence I’m sure that the hawk that had just stopped by could easily spot him and then what would he do? He tested the limits of my zoom lens.

Yesterday we sat out on the lanai visiting with college friends after having lunch in a nearby restaurant. For once we had a six-minute drive home, it was great. The birds provided the entertainment while we enjoyed our drinks, but then it was time for our friends to set off for their 90 minute drive home…

I was delighted when the red wing blackbirds first showed up in the yard last year, but when they came back in large numbers this year and were emptying the feeders regularly they weren’t so delightful. But their name comes from the Greek, agelaius, meaning belonging to a flock, so I guess they come by it naturally. Lately we are seeing them one at a time, I confess that makes me happy.
This may or may not be the culprit who chewed a hole in the screen after I left a chunk of the woodpecker cylinder on the lanai. I removed the temptation and we patched the screen, but somebody chewed another hole in the screen just to make sure it was really gone.
It was getting later in the day when the brown thrasher emerged from the bougainvillea and hopped around on the ground looking for tasty treats.
Maybe Mrs. Cardinal saw fit to toss him a tidbit or two.
Mr. Red Belly opted for a grab-and-go snack this time.
This Carolina wren stopped by for a drink while we were enjoying drinks of our own while we chatted.
Female cardinals used to be the most common birds we saw out back and I used to wonder why I was taking yet another picture of one. But the males were always fewer in number, and I’ll never get tired of seeing them.

If the hummingbirds would have shown up it would have been perfect. But I’ll keep watching for them.

attitude adjustments, backyard visitors, birds, Florida wildlife, gardens, live and learn, nature, perseverance, photography, simple things

Hummingbirds…

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The hummingbird is still showing up every day, but only when I’m not prepared to take a picture. I can open the sliding glass door and pick up the camera just fine, but opening the door to the lanai will cause the ever-present doves to take off, and that’s enough to make the hummingbird zoom away. It may not be the biggest issue on my mind lately, but still…

The red belly seems to enjoy getting her treats from the birdie feeder.
And then she took off with her treat. But she returned again and again.

I can’t spend all day sitting with my camera waiting for the hummingbird, but I am in the kitchen and able to peek out the sliding glass doors off and on all day long, and that’s when I’ll spot him. I should just watch and enjoy him, and let him visit the flowers in peace…

attention to detail, attitude adjustments, backyard visitors, birds, dragonflies, Florida wildlife, gardens, in the neighborhood, nature, perseverance, photography

Still waiting…

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Still waiting for the hummingbird to return. The flowers he chose to visit last time are still there, also waiting. So is the hummingbird feeder, which he ignored last year and hasn’t visited this year either. But while I wait the dragonfly from the feature photo must have landed and posed 20 times at least, and always in the same position.

I don’t set out to take dragonfly pictures necessarily, it’s just that they are the only thing happening out there most of the time lately.
That the downey woodpecker decided to visit the tube feeder was something new, and gave me a chuckle.
And how can I not take a picture when the photo prop I hung out there attracts a chickadee?
That’s a red bellied woodpecker also amusing me on the birdie.
The downey also visited the cup feeder. Maybe the woodpeckers aren’t liking the woodpecker ‘log’ I bought them at Walmart, so they are sampling the rest of the offerings out there.

The hummingbird was sighted around 4 PM the last time I saw him. So I parked myself in the doorway to the lanai at about 3:30 the other day. I didn’t even try to read, because if he would have shown up I’d have had to take off my reading glasses and pick up the camera, and that was how I missed him last time. I gave up at 5:30, and then never looked out the door again in case I missed him by seconds. At that point if he showed up I didn’t want to know.