Osprey with a fish in the backyard.

Osprey on my neighbor's dock with a fish.

A blue heron lands on the same dock as the osprey.

Then I notice the blue heron is on the top of the boat lift with the osprey. The osprey doesn't seem to mind. He keeps eating his fish.

Eventually the osprey gives the blue heron his evil eye look and the blue heron flies off.

Right before dark, I see a great blue heron on my dock. Looking at something interesting. Maybe a fish?

Scenes from my bedroom window.

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Tiny birds in the grapefruit tree

Yellow rumped warbler in my dead grapefruit tree. He was showing off his yellow bottom.

Front view of the yellow rumped warbler.

This little bird was also in the tree. It looks a little bit bigger than the warbler. I'm not sure what this is and couldn't exact match it up to anything in the Stokes Birding Guide. Any Id?

Right before dark I saw a few little birds in the grapefruit tree in the backyard. I figured it was just some house finches but I decided to go outside and investigate. I first noticed the yellow rumped warbler. I also saw another bird but couldn't tell what it was. As I was walking back into the house I saw a mullet jumping. I pulled my camera up and was watching right where it had jumped and the fish jumped again in the same spot. They jump all of the time but it's hard to catch them in the act. Occasionally, they jump again but it's still hard to determine where they will come up again. After 7 years of living here this is the first time I've gotten a shot of one. Not a great one though. The sun was going down behind the trees so it was a little dark.

Cute or creepy?

I was driving into my neighborhood coming home from taking pictures one afternoon and I saw three little raccoons on the sidewalk. They were rummaging around in some bushes at the front of an apartment complex right before my street. I pulled over and took some pictures from my car. They looked awful scrawny and little. I wonder if these were three siblings who had lost their parents. I'm sure they are old enough by now to fend for themselves. They stayed pretty close together. I showed these to a friend who shrugged and said "They're just really big rats." I said "But look how cute they are?"

Backyard visitors

Green heron on my dock. You can see the neighbor's pool slide behind him.

The female kingfisher was yelling about something. That's her "I'm on alert." pose with her tail sticking up in the air. Once she saw me in the window she took off down the channel.

Juvenile red shouldered hawk on my neighbor's dock.

Yuck! It was so windy that morning, the osprey couldn't carry that big old fish all the way up to the top of the sail mast so he stopped on one of the bars lower down on mast.

Just a few birds from my backyard last weekend. All pictures taken through a window, either the bedroom or dining room.

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Ducky weekend in the backyard.

Late Saturday afternoon, I look out the window and 2 mallards are sitting in my backyard under the grapefruit tree. They rarely come in the yard.

I walked outside and they started walking towards the end of the dock.

They stood at the end of the dock watching me for a few minutes. I thought they'd jump in the water but they didn't.

I go back in the house and later I see them again wandering around under the tree. They seemed to digging in the grass below the bird feeder. Where they looking for bird seed? How did they know bird seed would have fallen on the ground. Did a little bird tell them?

Sunday morning I looked out the window and a pied grebe was swimming in front of our dock. It was a very ducky weekend.

Surprise hoodies for Thanksgiving

After sleeping in on Thanksgiving morning, I went into the living room and pulled back the curtains on the sliding doors and there was 6 hooded mergansers floating in front of our dock. I was so excited I was yelling "The hoodies are back" as I ran for my camera. I had not seen them since early spring. This is the 3rd winter we've had them hang out in our channel for a couple of months. I took all of the above through the windows. If I open the door they start to swim down the channel.  Mergansers are diving ducks so they dive down pretty deep to get their food. I just happen to catch the female coming back up with a small fish in her beak. The males are so easy to spot with that big white dot on his head. Out of the 6, three were much darker than the other lighter females so I'm thinking they might be juveniles born early this spring. Since Thanksgiving weekend another male had joined them and I see them swimming around every morning. If anybody steps out into the yard, they take off either flying away or swimming quickly to the other end of the channel. I hope they stay through the winter. I'm sure I'll be taking tons of pictures so I'll keep you posted.

Backyard critters

Eastern phoebe sitting on my fence. He's becoming a regular visitor.

I think this is a palm warbler, sitting on my fence.

Flock of white ibis sitting on my boat lift. That first one has a dirty beak.

Male house finch looking at me through the window.

Stray cat hanging around our backyard. I tried to shoo him away thinking he might scare away the little birds. He just kept rolling over and acting like he wanted me to pet him. No way, I stayed far away. He didn't have a collar. He knows he's being cute. I'm sure someone in the neighborhood is feeding him.

My neighborhood kingfisher

"There's that crazy lady again. Staring at me through that window. It's been months since I've seen her. I bet she misses me."

"She can't have any of my fish. I work too hard for this morsel. But I'll show her what she's missing."

"Yum, I'm going to savor this little fish."

"I move to the other dock and she's still watching me eat my lunch. Doesn't she have a life?"

"This one's a mouthful. I've got to close my eyes to fit this in my mouth."

Yeah! My winter belted kingfisher is back in my neighborhood. Finally! I've been seeing kingfishers everywhere but in my backyard. I was getting worried she wouldn't show up this year. She's been hanging around our channel for at least four winters. My hubby was half asleep watching tv and I was doing chores. I peeked out the bedroom window to see if anything interesting was at the bird feeder (meaning anything better than squirrels) and saw her sitting on my dock. I ran to get my camera yelling "She's back." I took several pictures of her eating a fish on our dock then she flew to my neighbor's dock. I went running into the dining room, taking the last two pictures from there. Back and forth I went running across the house as she flew back and forth around the channel for a while and then took off. I hope she's here for the winter. 

More shots through the bedroom window

I looked outside and saw the usual, an osprey sitting on my neighbor's dock. But wait, I looked again and realized there was also a blue heron sitting there. It was nice of the osprey to share his space. I'm sure he would not have let that little blue land if he had been munching on a fish.

I've been getting a lot of male house finches at the feeder.

Not one I've seen in my tree before. I think it's a palm warbler or pine warbler.

No, the squirrel wasn't yelling at me. I caught him yawning. I'm sure he was ready for a nap after eating all of that bird seed.

Almost dark in the backyard. All picture taken through the bedroom window. You can see how almost dead the grapefruit tree is. My hubby keeps saying we need to pull it out but it's so nice being able to see all of the birds in the tree. I couldn't see that when the tree was full of leaves all year round.

Hawk in the backyard

I knew something was going on when my cockatiels flew off their cage screaming. I peaked out the window and saw a hawk on my neighbor's fence. It's funny how the osprey flies up and sits on the sailboat mast and my birds look at him with indifference but when a hawk flies in front of the window they go crazy. Do they really know that the osprey only eats fish?  The hawk scared away all of the birds that were at my feeder so I went outside to scare away the hawk (with my camera in hand). The hawk did not want to leave. He let me get pretty close. I think this is a juvenile red shouldered hawk. We have a lot of adult red shoulders in the neighborhood.

As I was standing in my backyard waving my arms trying to shoo away the hawk, I see something flying towards me. It's a great blue heron. I think it had planned on landing on a dock in our corner but saw me standing there and kept on going.

This little guy was not scared off by the hawk. He let me stand under the tree and take his picture. I think this is a palm warbler.

A male house finch was also sitting in the tree.