It has been an exciting few weeks with plenty of birds visiting the garden.

The painted buntings started arriving in numbers on October 4, right on time!





The arrival dates over the years have been fairly consistent:

2019: Oct 4 (one single male showed up for a day on Aug 19)
2018: Oct 2
2017: Oct 2
2016: Oct 4
2015: Sep 26
2014: Oct 4 (one single male showed up for a day on Aug 2)
2013: Oct 14

One of them has a silver band. Interested to know where it was banded. I reported it to USGS so hopefully they can tell me!





Lots of hummingbirds too. Seems like we are having a good year for them.







Other visitors include red-bellied woodpecker and American redstart.





Another fall occurrence is the flowering of the Night-blooming cereus. It put on a nice display recently.





Now all I need is some cooler weather!

Had a week off to explore the pacific northwest and take in some scenery and music! Happy to be home with the hummingbirds now :)

Seattle Ferry to Bainbridge



Banana slug



Scenic Whidbey Island











Metsatoll in Seattle. It was a treat seeing them since they hail from Estonia and don't get to Florida very often!











Ghost in Seattle and Vancouver. Both shows were awesome!

We were fortunate to be spared from Hurricane Dorian last week. The first hummingbird of the season showed up yesterday.



Baby cardinal.



The weekend before last we went to NY to see the Royal Air Force Red Arrows.























The rest of the airshow was pretty cool too. It was so lovely to be outside in civilized temperatures!

Blue Angels















We also went for some nature walks and got to see some nice New England wildlife.



Painted turtles





Least Flycatcher

Its been a busy few weeks traveling for work and concerts!

At home, we had an early painted bunting show up last week. I've had them visit in August before but it is pretty unusual.



The owl box is currently occupied by a family of gray squirrels.





Found a glass lizard while weeding the garden:



Visited Chicago a few weeks ago for work.









Then we visited Nashville, TN to see The Aristocrats.



Travis Larson Band



The Aristocrats



Nashville was pretty cool, better than I expected. The Aristocrats were awesome. We saw them two more times, in Orlando and Boca Raton :)

Summer is usually quiet in the garden for wildlife. Things have been pretty busy with work travel and concerts!

We had a box turtle wander through last week.



Mourning doves



Leopard Frog



Blooms







Last week we saw Iron Maiden in Sunrise, FL and Atlanta, GA. The show in Sunrise was good but the show in Atlanta was mind-blowing! We were on the floor close to the stage in Atlanta, while we had seats in Sunrise. It was cool to have both vantage points.

We had two families of cardinals this year with fledglings.







Dad keeping watch.



Mom getting pestered.



The blue jays also had babies.



The wrens are nest building in one of our pitcher plants. Even though we installed a nest box literally 2 feet away.



Earlier this month, we saw Paul Gilbert in Atlanta. Really nice and down to earth kind of person.







Earlier this month, we caught the last two shows of the Yngwie Malmsteen tour, in Clearwater and Orlando. Mr. Malmsteen does not disappoint! The band was awesome as well.













Looking forward to some more awesome tours this summer!

All 5 great-crested flycatcher chicks successfully fledged last week!

It was fun to watch them grow up.











In the garden, there are lots of other fledglings around. Mourning doves, red-bellied woodpeckers, cardinals, and blue jays.

Just got a few pipe vines, hope they do well. The flowers are strange looking and it serves as a host plant for the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. It did not take long for them to find it!





Last weekend we headed to Miami for the airshow. It was a great show but they should have been more truthful with the performer lineup. They had 4 major no-shows and did not do a Heritage Flight. On Memorial day weekend of all days!

Room with a view

The great-crested flycatcher family is growing fast! All 5 eggs hatched and the chicks are voracious!



The last of the painted buntings headed north a few weeks ago. This is the last one I photographed, bathing with a Northern Parula.



The red-shouldered hawk is also growing quickly.



Monarch caterpillars are everywhere.



Orchids are in bloom.



Catching up from last month, we visited Kennedy Space Center and saw the Space X rocket on the pad. Unfortunately, we were not able to head back up there for the launch, so we saw it from Juno Beach. Still awesome to see!





A day trip to the Keys was filled with pelicans, tarpon, and sharks!







Lastly, here are a few shots from the Ft. Lauderdale air show. We watched the show from the 10th floor of a beachfront hotel, and it was an awesome view!

This year the screech owls took a vacation from our nest box. We didn't pay much attention to the box until recently. I noticed a great-crested flycatcher peering out. So we turned on the camera and saw this!







It is strange to not see the owls. I hope this new little family does well!

Last month I spent some time in New Mexico. In between hectic meetings and presentations, I got some nice hikes in!

Kasha-Katuwe tent rocks

















Petroglyph National Monument















Lastly, we recently saw Dream Theater in Orlando. It was pretty cool. They are a bit too technical for me but it was a fun show. I have an inordinate fondness for the keytar!

Things have been kind of hectic lately but there is always time to enjoy the birds in the garden!



A young red-shouldered hawk has been visiting.





Coral bean flowers are blooming, to the delight of the hummingbirds. And this robin.



Quick beach visit







Went to Babcock-Webb at dawn in search of red-cockaded woodpeckers.





Saw several pairs! Pictures not that great but it was fun watching them feed and squabble.



Got the evil eye from a towhee.



There had been heavy rains the night before, so many water dwellers were out on the roads.





On my birthday we went to the Hendrix Experience with Dweezil Zappa, Eric Johnson, Zak Wylde, and Joe Satriani, and many others.