@flaflwrgrl Bats would be fun to see!

I'd love to see some bat pictures, Mika - there's a challenge for you! Do they come out before its completely dark?

Even more of a challenge than getting pictures of owls, at least the owls stand still sometimes.

Btw, I recall you asking a while back if the plural of titmouse is titmice, and it is. We also get to blame you funny Brits for that name, I suspect. No American would ever call a bird a titmouse. Hope you get to see them in person one day, they are very fast, graceful fliers and have lots of personality.

Mika - Oooh! Bats! Yes, I'd love to see some photos!

We're all batty here anyway.

flaflwrgrl said:We're all batty here anyway.

jmorth said:Is Boeing named after the plane manufacturer? He has a noble bearing.

J: Thank you. Yes, Bo is named for Boeing Aircraft ... my husband has been a professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University for 40 years.

We're talking about adopting another dog once we move and get settled ... not sure what name we'll come up with for Bo's brother or sister but it won't surprise me in the least if it's Jet/Jett.

Mika, LOL ... sorry but we could never give up our golden boy. Bo is the first canine we've had in 35 years. We had three dogs, two cats, two birds and a couple of fish tanks years ago and then we ended up with only cats in the household for many years. We had three older cats of our own and then we took in my mother in law's two elderly cats when she couldn't care for them anymore; then when my mom passed away we took her cat. She'd made us promise that we'd take her "Princess" because my sisters all had large dogs and mom was concerned that the dogs would hurt the cat ... so, we were strictly a cat family for a very long time. When our last cat died (about three years ago) we decided we wanted to get another dog and found someone who had two 7 month old golden retrievers they were trying to find homes for. One was adopted right away and we decided to take the other one. Bo has brought so much joy to our lives, he is a treasure! We want to adopt another dog in the near future and possibly a cat as well. My husband and I both love cats too but currently Bo is our only pet. We have a 150 gallon salt water aquarium which is nice and relaxing to look at but fish and coral aren't really like pets.

LOL, regarding Bats! They do serve a purpose but they are kinda scary. At the botanical gardens where I used to volunteer, there were bat houses mounted around on big trees. Bats are good critters for gardeners to have around!

Bats do fly ... so I say bring em on! I'd love to see pictures; I know I'd take picture of bats if I could find some around here.

I'm the moderator and I say yes to bats! I think I'm also giving in to peer pressure.

Bats are very important to the ecosystem, but a few years ago they decided to nest in Grandma's roof. She's not allowed upstairs anymore, so no one knew until I came to visit and stayed in the upstairs bedroom. I could hear something crawling around up there and thought maybe a squirrel or raccoon - but it was bats! So many bats! The bat people had to come out several times. Luckily, they managed to flush most of them out. I don't think too many died.

I spent all day doing adult stuff and I'm tired. Post away and I will see you guys tomorrow!

Melanie, we could add "Bats" to the name of the forum - there would be room even, if we take off the word "forum".

But only if we actually can get some bat pictures, right?

They were selling nice bat houses in the plant shop at Selby when we went on Sunday. Hmmmm . . . . pretty sure there are already a good population of bats nearby, but I'd sure like more around my house.

I'm still awake and finally got my photos from this afternoon downloaded to my laptop so I'll go ahead and post them now instead of waiting until morning.

Brown-headed Cowbirds




Boat-tailed Grackle


Northern Cardinal, female ruffling her feathers


Northern Cardinal, male


Northern Mockingbird, singing atop the chimney cap, on alert in the cypress tree and attempting a headstand?


Red-winged Blackbird


Blue Jay ........................................................ Mourning Dove ............................. Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler


I had my first Hummingbird sighting of the season but didn't get a very good picture. I've already packed all of my nectar feeders for the move but I'm sure my neighbor has her hummingbird feeders out so with the few things in bloom and the nectar she provides at her feeders, hopefully I'll be seeing more of these little flying jewels. I'm going to be on the lookout to try and get some good photos!

That Northern Mockingbird should try out for a gymnast position to represent Florida in the Nationals, a win there, bird world Olympics...

Lin, you have some great shots there, love the silly Mockingbird.

Great photos! Loved that silly Mockingbird! Always a joy to see all the bird photos from you and others here on this thread!

Lin, amazing pics - at least three of which should be turned into large posters:

the middle grackle (reacting to a scandalous and shocking sight?)
the first northern cardinal (wouldn't a fabric version of her make a wonderful egg cozy?)
and of course the loopy mockingbird, (looking for his belly button?)

Re bats, I asked because we were on the coast road yesterday and there were several small bats flying in circles at about head height. I was driving, so couldn't get any photos, but think I might wander down again at dusk to see if they're still there. I did get some photos of large fruit bats in Oman a couple of years ago, but they're very blurry (we were in an outside bar and perhaps I'd had a drop too much!)

Oh, and I looked it up - a group of bats is a colony...

Yeah for bats! Here's some bat pictures. They're the only ones I have from last year when a bat was hanging out near my cottage garden and the garage. I think it was a young male that might have fallen from a nearby nest. It hung out there for about three days until one evening, a bad storm blew through. I watched the poor thing try to get out of the rain by climbing the fence from rung to rung to hang but the wind kept blowing it. The next day it was gone. I hope it found a safer place in a nearby tree.

In the evenings, we can see the bats flying around but just a few. I've never seen more than five at a time. I saw several last night.




The pictures aren't that great and I admit I was a little leary to get too close since it's not normal to see them during the day. As you can see in this picture, he's pretty close to the ground.

I don't have any bat pictures but here is another one of our neighbor's chicken, who had to take refuge in our holly tree one morning. Later in the day, I found a large pile of white feathers in another part of the yard.