Yesterday the first female ruby-throated female visited the feeder. Today, a male was making himself at home, feeding and sunbathing.



Losts of warblers passing through. Of course, they tend to be most active in the evening, which makes photography difficult!

Black-throated blue warbler male and female





Kentucky warbler, a lifer! Plus, we got to celebrate double since it was also a first for the yard :)



Cardinals abound



Carolina wrens

Fall warblers have been moving through over the past couple of weeks.

Ovenbird



Female American Redstart. The tail flashing display is thought to startle insects.



The resident Cardinals and Bluejays are looking disheveled due to molt





Leopard frogs





There has also been renewed interest in the owl box. We've seen the wren, bluejays and the red-bellied woodpecker investigating. As well as some unexpected guests.

Anything to eat around here?



Too small.

Summer isn't great for birds in South Florida, but we do have some that stay almost year round.

Great crested flycatcher.



The wrens have stayed throughout the summer.



The first dribs and drabs of migration are appearing. Had an early hummingbird in the yard a few weeks ago.



Another less welcome visitor to the yard. The brown basilisk, an invasive species. I worry that he will gobble up my caterpillars as well as smaller, native lizards like skinks and anoles.



Leopard Frogs



Lots of fawns at Riverbend







Pileated woodpecker



Red-bellied woodpecker



Some kind of Boletus mushroom. Lots of different mushrooms popping up with all the rain we've had.

Rainy afternoon cardinals:





A great-crested flycatcher sunbathing



Giant swallowtail



White-tailed kites at Everglades National Park. No panthers this trip, but the kites made up for it!





White phase great blue heron



Twilight ospreys. Dramatic skies with a thunderstorm moving in.









Swimming crab



As above, so below

I stayed in La Conner for the 2nd half of the trip to Washington. Stayed in a quiet little B&B with lots of hummingbirds. My room was right near the hummingbird feeders so I could hear them buzzing and chattering out the window, which was nice.







Did some hiking at Deception Pass. It was a lovely cool and sunny day.









Pigeon Guillemot, a first for me!



Bald eagles were numerous





White-crowned sparrow



The rest of the trip was a bit rainy, but still cool and refreshing.



Banana slug



I was also in Colorado a few weeks ago. Visited Golden for dinner one night and was surprised to see the river was quite high.



Waterslide!



Stopped by the Colorado Cider tasting room in Denver. So many ciders, so little time!



Back home now, enjoying our heat and humidity. It won't be long before the hummingbirds are back!

Visited northern Washington last month. It was so lovely to escape the Florida heat.









Lots of bald eagles.





Dunlin



Surf Scoter





Summer flowers





I was staying right on the US-Canada border. This made it easy to head up to Vancouver to see Amon Amarth! The show was epic and I got to meet the band!









At dawn's first light- a welcome sight! Much needed visit to the espresso ship after an early border crossing.



More WA pics to come...

I've still got some catching up to do with my photos! Here are shots from the Ft. Lauderdale air show in May.



Canadian Snowbirds













Heritage flight with F-35 Lightning and P-51 Mustang. This was the first public airshow appearance of the F-35.



Brietling Jet Team





Their "Super Ocean" formation



Harrier



Hovering over the sea





Canadian F-18 Hornet





Lastly, the headlining jet team, the Thunderbirds.















On Thursday, Thunderbird 6 crashed after performing at the Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs. Luckily the pilot is OK!

Here is Thunderbird 6 doing a high speed pass in Ft. Lauderdale.



It was a great day out, can't wait till next year's show!

We watched one baby screech owl left the nest box this week. It was sad to see it go, and we miss seeing the mom glaring out of the box every evening. But we are happy that they successfully raised at least one baby, and that we were able to watch them for the past few months! Hope they come back next spring!

Mom checking to see if the coast is clear



Baby peeking out



I caught some video of the last day at the nestbox. You can see the baby fussing behind mom's back and pushing to get out. Once she leaves, the baby scrambles up to peer out.



The carolina wrens have returned.



We were just discussing whether a wren would eat a lizard or not when the male popped up holding a baby lizard! He then fed it to the female.





We've also noticed the cardinals pairing off and lots of baby rabbits.

The cardinals and bluejays alerted me to the presence of this corn snake:



A vulture dries his wings after a morning thunderstorm:

On the 9th anniversary of starting this blog, I am happy to announce that I have also launched a professional photography website! The new site features several galleries, or "photo rooms", with more to come. The site also features order fulfillment through Mpix Pro, which is a quality photo lab that I have used for years. Check it out at www.janine-images.com! I hope you enjoy it! And, if you see a photo posted here that you'd like to be able to order over there, shoot me an email and I will make it happen!

Don't worry, this blog isn't going anywhere. Although I may do some updating here and there, the quality content that you know and love is here to stay ;)
Summer is here, so I will probably have more indoor time for the next few months to work on such things! According to our home weather station, it is 104 degrees F today (and feels like 110).

I'm happily remembering cooler spring days. Here are a few shots from earlier this year, when the temperatures outside were a bit more friendly.

Pied-billed grebe





Green Heron posing





It was amazing to watch this Anhinga hunt small fish in shallow water



Got one!





And of course, no blog posting would be complete without a portrait of the resident Screech Owl



Time for a cold drink!

Screech Owl Expressions



Looking at a rabbit



"I wish I was big enough to eat that"



"Whoo goes there"



"Whatever"



In other news, we had a mini-vacation in Sanibel earlier this spring. Finally getting around to posting photos!

Lots of spoonbills







Otters









Ospreys





"That fish is too small!"





Bald eagle with Spanish Mackerel




Follow the leader



Brown Pelican





Sunset with white pelicans