Hi Melanie,
Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm a butterfly gardener too, but I spend more than I should on niger seed for the goldfinches because I just love them!
I'm so glad I found this website. I'm having a lot of fun! What nice people!

Hi GrammaChar, it's really great to see you here!

Since you are a bee-fan, you might also enjoy this forum where we chat about bees and other little critters we find in our gardens - The thread "Beefriends(tm) and other Garden Guests - threeeeeeeee!!" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

@GrammaChar There are some people here who take fantastic bird photos and look forward to some from you in the future.

@GrammaChar

What a friendly place! Here's one of my favorite bird photos - these blue birds are in front of a flowering Mexican Buckeye tree. Thanks for the nice welcome.

Wonderful photo, GrammaChar. They're so colourful they look fake!! Are they really bluebirds?

Ah ha!!!! I see how you managed to stop the squirrels from gnawing on the entrance hole. EXCELLENT idea!

Wow, that is a pretty picture and what a beautiful pair of Bluebirds!

From my backyard today ...

Northern Mockingbird


Red-bellied Woodpecker .................................................................................... Northern Cardinal

Welcome GrammaChar!

Lin, what plant is the cardinal next to?

J, that's a Crotons (Codiaeum) I forget which one but I had my husband dig it up from a corner of the backyard last week; a Monstera deliciosa was taking it over so it really needed to be moved. The plan was to transplant it to another spot in the yard but we got busy with something and it didn't get done; I may end up taking it with us when we move in a few weeks. I had him dig up my very large Foxtail Palm too; I went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to leave it or take it. It's one I grew from a very small plant and it's now taller than the house. I hope it survives but so far, so good. We will plant it at the end of the driveway at our new house.

Thanks Lin, moving plants of such size sure sounds like an ambitious undertaking.

J: LOL, My husband has a 12 foot motorcycle trailer and I have so many container plants that he says it will take two trips to move them all. The tall Foxtail Palm will go in the 26 foot U-haul truck.

Afew photos from late this afternoon.

This Northern Mockingbird perched on the roof where he was singing his heart out for awhile. I began to take pictures when he was suddenly on the move; you have to click to see the entire bird:


A pair of Mourning Doves was perched in the Cypress tree for awhile, preening and cooing:



Grackle ........................................ Female Brown-headed Cowbird

That mockingbird is 'steppin out'.

I can't even imagine moving that much vegetation.

Beautiful bluebirds!!!! Wow, the male has awesome color.

While on a morning walk, I saw this vulture sitting in the top of a dead tree. I took a few mediocre photos, nothing great. But then it was like the bird took pity on me and decided to give me a nice pose. Wow, it was my National Geographic Moment! My bird photos are all just lucky occurrences - simply being at the right place at the right time.

Great shot and its definitely a nice poser.

Great picture, GrammaChar! He was really doing it up for you, wings and mouth open!

Fabulous shot!

Warning: Graphic image. Some folks think turkey vultures are ugly birds, but they serve a very important purpose: taking care of the roadkill. I shudder to think what the area would look like without them. An interesting tidbit I learned from reading - the spread wings aren't really about warming up. According to the article, the flared wings enable the sun's UV rays to kill bacteria collected due to the vulture's unhygienic eating habits.
Maybe that will be a question on Jeopardy some day.