Oh my the Bush Stone-curlew are soooo cute! Love that picture of them!

Buff-banded Rail has no privacy! What a pretty bird.

Off to check out Melanie's birds...

wildflowers said:Oh my the Bush Stone-curlew are soooo cute! Love that picture of them!

Buff-banded Rail has no privacy! What a pretty bird.

Off to check out Melanie's birds...

Ditto!

Love the colors on your birds, Glen! And their facial expressions. It's so nice to have an international forum where we can virtually visit each other's gardens!

I was out with the dogs early this morning and spotted a pair of Sandhill Cranes in a neighbors yard; I hustled the dogs back inside and grabbed my camera and went back out to try to get photos. The pair was down farther in another neighbors yard but I managed to get one shot of them as they continued their stroll.

School started 2 months ago, so I've been pre-occupied.

Wow! Loving all these great bird photos!

Glen - Love your Aussie birdies! I am utterly fascinated by the "foreign" birds. Truly cool!!!

The birds are starting to return. And they seemed to have brought some cooler weather with them! Thank goodness!

I sure missed the birdies over the summer! I love Fall and Winter here in Florida. I am seeing a lot of butterflies, too. I hadn't seen hardly any after the mosquitoes were sprayed by the county in August and September.

Today was the first day I actually had any time to sit and photograph the birds coming to my backyard feeders. I was quite surprised at what I saw today:

This is a first ever for me. It appears to be a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I saw it fly to the feeder hook and perch. I was far enough away that I couldn't make out what it was, but took numerous photos. It appears to be an immature male because when it perched on the feeder briefly, I could see a red triangle of color on it's chest:


Such a interesting-looking bird with that beak. I would love to see an adult male. Maybe someday?:


I've been seeing a couple of male Painted Buntings for several weeks now, but today I saw green (female or immature males) showing up at the feeders. So it appears the ladies and children are arriving now. And I saw a "banded" Painted Bunting as well. First banded one I've seen this Fall. I sent an email to the bander sharing the photo to find out where this bird was banded. It may be one of mine and I am just confused about the banding order on it's legs, but I don't think so. I've had one of my birds come back in Winter 2015 & 2016 with the bands WKWS. This bird has similar bands but the bands are on the opposite legs (WSWK). So I am very curious to read what the bander says in her reply! It could also be that the colored bands have faded and they are not white afterall. One never knows until they are captured again to be evaluated.


Also here are 2 green and 1 unbanded male Painted Bunting sharing the feeder with a female Cardinal:


And I've been seeing hummingbirds for several weeks now, too. I have seen at least 3 different Ruby-throated hummers. One looks like a female (very whitish chest and neck), one that looks like an immature male, and then this fella that I believe showed up first, several weeks ago:

for the Grosbeak Becky!

Becky, oh my ... what wonderful birds you are seeing!
I live only a couple of blocks over from you so hopefully I'll be seeing some of those beauties over this way soon; I need to be on the lookout! I did see hummers zoom by a couple of times when I was out in the yard a couple of weeks ago ... they were visiting the Pagoda Flowers (I rooted cuttings and planted them when we moved here in May!) I do need to put the feeders back out now that the storm has passed. I sure would love to see the Painted Buntings around but I wonder with all the hundreds of squirrels here if they buntings would even come close to my yard? That Rose-breasted Grosbeak is really pretty! That's one I've never but hopefully if they are around the area, I'll spot one soon.

Those Painted Buntings are very colorful. I've never seen them in the flesh! Neat hummer and hawk too.

Ann -

Lin - The Painted Buntings only like the Wild Finch Mix. (I get it at Wally World.) I use the caged feeder which keeps the bigger birds out. The Painted Buntings like to hide in shrubs. Which is why I have so many such plants bordering around the inside of my fence and many right near my feeder. My yard doesn't look well-manicured because of that. My yard looks most like a wildlife mish-mash habitat. Not much in the way of landscaping which bugs my hubby, but I don't care. It's in my fenced backyard so no one but me (and my hubby) see it.

Unfortunately, their favorite small perching tree was lost in the storm. I was worried that they would not return to my yard because several smaller trees were damaged or lost. But it's the shrubs that they really prefer apparently. None of the shrubs were damaged.

They are back!!!!! Yay!!!!

At our house in Daytona where we lived for 40+ years, I'd see the Painted Buntings every spring. They visited both the caged and open feeders ... but yes, only the ones located near the fence and dense shrubbery. We moved and rented that house out for 3 years before selling it and our last house had only one Magnolia, one Cypress and a few Palm Trees; no shrubbery or places for the Buntings to hide so it's been a long while since I've seen one of those pretty little birds. They were always attracted to the millet in the seed mix I used back then. Our house here in Sebastian has a wooded lot with lots of shrubs and trees for the Buntings to use for hiding and safe cover so hopefully they will find my feeders at some point. I'm going to put the wild finch mix on my shopping list right now!

These are old photos from my yard in 2010 and 2011 when the Painted Buntings stopped by:

The pair of Bush Stone-curlews at the back of the house do indeed have small young. This is about 100yds from my back door.

Those little ones are so sweet! Love those cute babies.

Glen's posts are like tuning in to National Geographic. So exciting!

mellielong said:Glen's posts are like tuning in to National Geographic. So exciting!

Absolutely!

Earlier this morning a pair of Sandhill Cranes were strolling the neighborhood once again. They kept stopping every couple of feet and preening. The first photo looks like gnats flying around their heads. At first I thought it was dust or something on my camera lens but nope, lens is clean.

Great shots Lin. It IS the gnatty time of year.

I hate those little gnat clouds. Did you guys see the weekend forecast!? Mom told me we were going to be in the 60s at night and I was like, "Don't lie to me woman!" And lower humidity! Are the Canadians back? Because that's when it's official that it's fall in Florida!

The Audubon Society had a cute and educational cartoon about Roseate Spoonbills on Facebook today and I wanted to share it with you all. I was a little surprised and disappointed I didn't see any Spoonbills in Naples. I saw a Wood Stork as I was driving down I-75, but I was going 70 mph and couldn't really stop for a photo. It was with some kind of Egret over in the ditch. Okay, enjoy the cartoon and support your local birds!

Nanny, nanny, boo, boo! Starting Friday night, they have us in the low 50's.
Oh how sweet it will be!

Ann, that's too cold! I just like when I don't pour sweat while working in the garden. I don't think that's asking too much!

mellielong said:Ann, that's too cold! I just like when I don't pour sweat while working in the garden. I don't think that's asking too much!

Well, that's only the nights. The coolest daytime high is 76 on Sat., & 79 Sun., but all the rest of the days are highs of 83. Perfect gardening weather! I like a little nip when I get up in the morning & with temps. like that I know the humidity will be low, low, low.