Feathers & Flowers at the New Nest

Whew! We are finally moved into our new-to-us Florida home, since Thurs.Three days of unpacking, cleaning, and shopping trips later, I have tamed the kitchen -- figuring out what goes where is the hardest part; Yeesh! Or is it putting the blasted contact paper down?! Wouldn't you know, the very last sheet went psycho on me...But I do have lots of room to work with, including my very first PANTRY, oh Yay! It only took me four homes and 30 years to have one! We love this area; it has a forest-y feel with all of the pine trees surrounding the homes and area. Love it! The previous owner was a 70 y/o lady, and she left a multi-bird feeder and other yard gew-gaws, yeehaw! We're a bit overwhelmed by the large backyard but supposedly the sprinkler system (also our first) waters all the plants for us too. We have a large maple tree in back, and one in front, and much more...

Here's what I snapped yesterday outside at our new sanctuary.... 

Ah yes, we have No. cardinals! Mr. C is hard to miss....

The feeder has an anti-squirrel gizmo on the pole but

The squirrels have plenty to nibble on at ground level...

We have bright green anoles here, plus some brown ones too...

(We only saw brown ones at my BIL's house)....

This poor No. mockingbird is missing its tail!

Perhaps one of the 'hood cats tried to make a

Meal out of the poor fella...

Mourning doves are plentiful, like the mockingbirds...

This male red-bellied woodpecker is quite a messy eater....

I'll get all sunflower seeds for the other feeder...

Three guesses who's providing the squirrel feed down below...

This jovial toad-topped wind chime sits in the back

Of the back yard...for now....I'll move it closer

To the screened lanai some day so we can hear it...

The neighbors have a real tall magnolia tree...

They are planted all about town too...

At least, we think they're magnolias...

Oh lookie, we have a red bottlebrush tree....

If only it had blossoms...not sure why it doesn't

Unless the prev. owner trimmed it recently...

We have these around the lanai and 1-2 other spots,

Alliums or close to those....

We have the larger purple alliums out front....

Now this, growing wild in the Black Hills,

Is called Mt. blue-eyed grass...

Prev. owner called it something else...

Shirley left us a pedestal and globe...

I'll get a more colorful globe some day

And reposition the whole thing...

We even have two very small hydrangeas!

The other one is white...both appear to

Have been chopped down; I hope they'll grow

And fill out better...

Another shot of the woodpecker,

Having returned to the feeders

After my appearance scared it off...

We've got a couple of these funky split-leaf philodendrons...

They have real large, wavy leaves and "wavy" trunks...

I believe this is a salvia a.k.a. Mexican bush sage...

We even have a peach day lily!

We have a tall queen palm tree out front,

Which has streamer-type flowers....

There's one pine tree by our house,

on one side out front...

Many others all around though...

There's even an amaryllis on the side of the house...

(Below) Mrs. Cardinal is more shy than Mr. C but

I managed to snap her from the guest room window.

Hope Springs & a New Title

Hubby and I continue to take our morning bicycle rides,

And a few days ago I was thrilled to discover

A Muscovy mama with six chicks!

So far she still has all six, too...

I just couldn't get them all in one photo.

They were not shy and kept coming at me,

No doubt looking for handouts...

Snappy but Unsnapped (today): Two cormorants; tri-colored heron.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Sideline: I've gone ahead and changed my Blog's title even though I'm not living in Flagler Co. quite yet...too anxious to wait! We close escrow sooner than we'd first been told, on the 23rd, but will be out of town for an important family matter, so won't be moving until the 26th. Still, a few days earlier! After six months of living w/ a relative and "out of a box" as hubby says, it's going to be uber-super to have our own home again!! Hopefully I'll be able to visit 1-2 birding spots before we leave for our 3-month job in Hawaii. And who knows what will show up in our cozy, private back yard?! Soon, no more life in limbo! 

Spring Things

Yes there is a spring season in Florida...

Not only is it warming up,

But some plant life has bloomed...

Red bottlebrush is everywhere...

The yellow trumpet tree blossoms are short-lived, 

Already wilting and falling...

Mama Muscovy and her two ducklings...

I hate to say it but this is a sad story...

Mama had four chicks when we first saw her

At a nearby park, but she went down to two

And then one...

Today, I saw no chicks but not sure I saw her..

I doubt at the fast rate they were disappearing

That the last one survived.  :o(

I did see another Mama Muscovy

Yesterday in a mall parking lot,

She had five chicks.

I hope at least one survives!

*  *  *  *  *

On a personal note...Ru and I have found THE house in NE Florida,
Not far from the beach! We'll be moving in, in three weeks,
Will be in the new house for about three weeks, and then...

We're going to Hawaii for three months! We've secured a
Seasonal job June - Aug., How crazy cool is that?!
Of course, the camera goes with! 

Beach Birds

...Not to be confused with snow birds,

Which I admit I still feel like I'm one of those...

Even tho we now have our Florida license plate

And Florida driver's licenses,

Making us "official" now!

Spring has sprung in S. Florida,

And I hope to get around the 'hood to get flora fotos soon.

In the meantime, we've been to Ft. Lauderdale Beach

A few times recently...

The laughing gulls' heads are blackening...

So are the royal terns, but this one is still in transition...

During our last trip to the SW coast, we checked out Bunche Beach,

Which is on the Great Birding Trail...

An osprey flew over, and a brown pelican,

But otherwise it wasn't impressive

Even if I did smile for this pic...

I thought I was taking a shot of a Calif. gull,

After once again failing to find any skimmers

Since I saw the two and had no camera...

BUT, this is actually a lifer!

Checking my Stokes guide,

I then thought it was a great black-backed gull...

But the legs are yellow, not pink...

So it is a lesser black-backed gull!

Now this royal tern has it's spring/summer black cap on...

This spiffy moth was in the driveway recently...

Ru remembers being afraid of these as a kid, cause they look like a wasp...

This is actually a polka-dot wasp moth!

Bokeelia ~ Pine Island

Another trip was made to the SW coast,

This time to check out Cape Coral...

C.C. is located on the E side of Charlotte Harbor...

What we saw we did not care for,

But we mosied on over to Pine Island

(The largest island on the W coast of FL)...

Bokeelia is on the N tip of the island,

At the mouth of Charlotte Harbor...

It is one of five communities on the island...

There are two piers; this one has a locked gate...

The other pier, you can walk out on part way...

At its gate you have to pay $8 to enter...

While we ate a seafood lunch at the rustic restaurant

Across the street from the piers,

Ru saw a fin out in the water between the piers...

We finished our lunch and went to watch

A porpoise! It was hunting,

And I couldn't get any photos besides of the fin...

...and the splash as it caught a fish,

After zipping at warp speed towards shore...

We did see the fish flip up into the air...

Nearby, and further back down the road, there are two huge osprey nests...

I was able to get photos of the osprey at the nest by the piers...

I did see an osprey in the nest, being fed by the one I photographed...

The osprey flew around nearby then landed on a nearby post...

...And another nearby post...

Here's a perspective shot of the nest...

A brown pelican between the piers.

The porpoise sighting was my first ! Very cool.

*  *  *  *  *  *

A special thanks to Caroline for ID'ing the "duck" in my previous post (Feb. 21) as an Egyptian goose! I KNEW it was a legit bird, not a hybrid, but the memory was too hazy to roll off the tip of my tongue, and it wasn't in either of my two bird guides (where on earth did I see it then?)

Another aside...we have made the tough decision not to buy a home in Port Charlotte/No. Port,

Due to the communities mostly being on well/septic water, something we're both uncomfortable with.

I'm pretty disappointed, but we will push on and have another area to check out on the NE coast...

I soooo wanted to live on the SW coast but the water and Chinese drywall issues are putting the kabosh on that....

Parking for Feathers

Now that we have bicycles, (Mine's a bright orange w/ white-wall tires :o) )

Ru and I  have been putting around the 'hood here and there...

Two nearby parks could be deemed

A birding junkie's emergency "fix"...

The sports park, where the monk parakeets hang out,

Did have the monks "chanting" at the top of the field net recently...

Not good lighting but hey, proof of the parakeets

(Also called quaker parrots)...

At the other park, I followed a tri-colored heron as it fished...

Or tried to...

This pair of awesomely colored ducks was cruising about...

I was hoping it was a legitimate breed

But looks like they're a hybrid...?

Nothing in N American bird guides anyway...

* * * * *

An aside...the house we made an offer on, didn't pan out; we had to drop the bid...

We were disappointed but deep down knew that house wasn't really for us

Despite how much I looooved being so close to Ollie Pond....

Good news is, we're making an offer on another house, still in Charlotte Co.,

So everyone cross your fingers, your toes, and your eyes for us! Happy Thoughts!

A Laughing Lifer

We made it back to Ft. Lauderdale Beach today...

We both could swear we'd seen a sign

ID'ing it as Dania Beach but

That was probably the area just south of

The parking lot we'd used last time

And this time...

Anyway, I put the camera in a small backpack

And we hoofed it S on the beach again,

But not one skimmer peeked out

Among the terns....sigh...

But the skimmer is supposed to be found

On all of Florida's coastline,

Year-round......

In the meantime, I did realize the other day

That I needed to pay closer attention to the gulls....

Above is a laughing gull in winter plumage...

I'm pretty sure I "saw" them during the last beach visit,

But my eyes didn't connect to my brain,

So this is untechnically a lifer...(right?)

This laughing gull is morphing from winter to summer....

The legs and bill have just a faint tinge of red to them as yet...

But the head is obviously solid black.

I sat for two hours in the sun, one hour in the shade of a palm...

Got a lovely sunburn to prove it;

Don't ask why I didn't put the 'screen on, I had it....

Fortunately my face didn't fry...

I wear a $35 light-weight baseball cap

I love the cute floppy summer hats

Many stores sell for women

BUT...my ginormous head won't fit in any of 'em...

Anyway, among the many adult ring-billed gulls

Was this imm. one

That looked to be on steroids.