Nice pictures Lin.


I don't know if you guys will remember but I had some bluebirds nesting in the mailbox post. I'm afraid the nest was abandoned. Maybe it was an inexperienced couple but I didn't think it was a great location in the first place. Too much going on. The mailman putting mail in the box; us coming & taking mail out, it's close to the road & it seemed every time we came & went we would see the mom flying out of the nest in fear. I looked in there & there are 2 eggs & some days before that I saw an egg with a hole in it & had thought the babies were hatching but I guess it was some predator getting into the eggs. At any rate it's certainly abandoned.

On an up note ~~~ the bluebirds in the nest box on our pergola fledged. We have cleaned out the box so if they want to have another clutch they can use the same box. We saw them yesterday (before we cleaned it out) hanging around & looking inside.

Ann: That is so sad about the abandoned Bluebird nest in the mailbox but it does sound like it was an inexperienced pair who chose that inappropriate nesting sight! It's good to hear that the babies fledged the nest box on the pergola ... I can picture the adults hanging around and looking inside for their youngsters who've already flown the coop so to speak. I bet those adults will be building a new nest soon!

Blue Jay's this morning. The adults are still feeding their young and some of the juveniles are eating on their own but still cry to be fed if an adult is nearby:

flaflwrgrl said:

I don't know if you guys will remember but I had some bluebirds nesting in the mailbox post. I'm afraid the nest was abandoned. Maybe it was an inexperienced couple but I didn't think it was a great location in the first place. Too much going on. The mailman putting mail in the box; us coming & taking mail out, it's close to the road & it seemed every time we came & went we would see the mom flying out of the nest in fear. I looked in there & there are 2 eggs & some days before that I saw an egg with a hole in it & had thought the babies were hatching but I guess it was some predator getting into the eggs. At any rate it's certainly abandoned.

On an up note ~~~ the bluebirds in the nest box on our pergola fledged. We have cleaned out the box so if they want to have another clutch they can use the same box. We saw them yesterday (before we cleaned it out) hanging around & looking inside.

Ann, I remember your mailbox bluebird nest. Everyone thought that it was an odd choice for a nesting bluebird and I guess mama bluebird finially realised it was not a good place. Next time she will know better and be successful. Hopefully she finds a better location in the backyard. She might be looking for a box now.

Congrats on the pergola pair succesfully fledging babies. Hurray, hurray! And how nice that they will nest again just where you can see them.

Why do baby birds always seem to have big eyes? See those eyes in Lin's photos? Cute & clean young jays.

I have no way of knowing if the bluebirds had any clutches before we moved in but I know they've had 2 since we moved in. Don't know if they will have another this year or not. I know it's getting really, really hot here now. We saw the bluebirds looking yesterday but all day today we have been checking off & on & haven't seen a single bluebird anywhere near it. Only time will tell.

In other news; we believe we have acquired a kestrel. We have not seen any previously but today we saw something that looked very much like one. We couldn't get a real clear view so we'll have to keep our eyes open to confirm. The kestrels are reputed to be here year round so......

Lots going on in your garden Ann!

Ann: That will be so awesome if you have Kestrel's! I've been in Forida more than 46 years and have never seen one, only photo's and they are beautiful birds! My book Florida's Birds has a listing for the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) but says Florida is inhabited by a smaller race (Falco sparverius paulus) which has been threatened by loss of cavity trees and reduced habitat availability. It states that they are found throughout the state, usually nesting in abandoned woodpecker holes in Pine trees.

Another one from this afternoon, Northern Cardinal:

plantladylin said:Ann: That will be so awesome if you have Kestrel's! I've been in Forida more than 46 years and have never seen one, only photo's and they are beautiful birds! My book Florida's Birds has a listing for the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) but says Florida is inhabited by a smaller race (Falco sparverius paulus) which has been threatened by loss of cavity trees and reduced habitat availability. It states that they are found throughout the state, usually nesting in abandoned woodpecker holes in Pine trees.

We had kestrels in Hobe Sound but only as winter visitors.

Interesting what your book says. I have "Birds of Florida Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela & it says Falco Sparverius.
It has it listed as 10-12". It lists them as being here to Tallahassee & down to about Cocoa Bch. excepting the very coastal areas (you among those) year round but all over the entire state in the winter.

Here are some more links. Interesting the size differential on the Wikipedia site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

And both of those sites show the kestrels as year round in the entire state. But I can say for absolute positive that we had them in Hobe Sound ONLY in the winter.

We get the American Kestrel here in the summertime, I have seen only one this year so far, usually I see several, I was thinking it may be because we seem to have a lot more of the larger hawks around. Here's a couple of not too great shots I took of them in our yard. My guide says they are 8 1/2 ", to me they look more like 10 or 11".

Margaret: Love your photo's! Kestrel's are such pretty birds but I too get confused with the different descriptions of size. I've read they are the size of Mourning Doves but with larger heads; and I also read somewhere that they are the size of the American Robin! I've learned that there are different subspecies that differ in size etc. I copied and pasted this from the Wikipedia site:

Seventeen subspecies of the American Kestrel are recognized, generally based upon plumage, size, and vocalizations:[15]

F. s. sparverius, described by Linnaeus in 1758, is the nominate subspecies. It is found in most of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
F. s. paulus, described by Howe and King in 1902, is found in the Southeast United States, from Louisiana to Florida.
F. s. peninsularis, described by Mearns in 1892, is found in southern Baja California.
F. s. tropicalis, described by Griscom in 1930, is found from southern Mexico to northern Honduras.
F. s. nicaraguensis, described by Howell in 1965, is found in Honduras and Nicaragua.
F. s. sparveroides, described by Vigors in 1827, is found in Cuba and the Isle of Youth, and southern to central Bahamas.
F. s. dominicensis, described by Gmelin in 1788, is found in Hispaniola.
F. s. caribaearum, described by Gmelin in 1788, is found in Puerto Rico through the Lesser Antilles to Grenada.
F. s. brevipennis, described by Berlepsch in 1892, is found in the Netherlands Antilles.
F. s. isabellinus, described by Swainson in 1837, is found from Venezuela to northern Brazil.
F. s. ochraceus, described by Cory in 1915, is found in eastern Colombia and northwest Venezuela.
F. s. caucae, described by Chapman in 1915, is found in western Colombia.
F. s. aequatorialis, described by Mearns in 1892, is found in northern Ecuador.
F. s. peruvianus, described by Cory in 1915, is found in southwest Ecuador, Peru, and northern Chile.
F. s. fernandensis, described by Chapman in 1915, is found on the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.
F. s. cinnamominu, described by Swainson in 1837, is found in Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
F. s. cearae, described by Cory in 1915, is found from northeast Brazil south to eastern Bolivia.

Wow Lin, that sure is a lot of subspecies. I love to see them hovering, but so far I have not been fast enough getting the camera to get a shot before they move out of range.

Oh my goodness Lin! Who knew? 17 subspecies ~~~ wow!

Last day of June, can you believe it? This year is flying by so fast! Here are a few pic's I took today ... it was storming and raining all afternoon but the birds still came around to the feeders!

Blue Jay ................................................. Common Grackles (adult on left, and juvenile on the right wanting to be fed) and Northern Cardinal:


Red-bellied Woodpecker, female soaking wet from the rain and juvenile:


Tufted Titmouse ............................................... and Downy Woodpecker, juvenile:

Great shot of the juvie Cardinal!

All your pics are great!