A couple more from a few minutes ago, female Red-bellied at feeder, male (I think) on the tree looking towards the feeder and a Mourning Dove way at the top of a Pine tree.

I really like the second photo Lin. Nice full shot of the back of that head and the back in general. It looks like a checkerboard square pattern. Nature's symmetry never ceases to astound me.

I've been trying to get a picture of this birdie for several days. Little Carolina Wren with no tail! I don't know if it's just a juvenile, or if somehow it lost its long tail feathers, but it's supposed to have a perky tail about 2in. long. Doesn't seem to be impeded at all, but sure looks kinda funny.
Profile shots:

Even got a bum shot and a Hey! What the?? shot.

Elaine, Wonderful photos of the Carolina Wren and YES, it's a juvie!

Thanks Lin, that's a bit of a relief. Now I get to watch him/her grow a tail, too.

Nice shots Elaine! I love those little birds. They're so spunky.

juvie or not it still should have a tail. hopefully they just got yanked out somehow and will grow back.

I'm not sure how long it takes for the baby's tail feathers to grow but they are so cute when they are little and looking tail-less. These are pic's from 2011

Yeah, we'll never know, but I just looked at a whole bunch of pictures of juvie Carolina Wrens and there were some with super short tails like my little guy's.

I found an web page talking about it and one comment said

"I did find an article in Birds and Blooms that says if they are attacked they can release the tail feathers and it will grow back in approximately two weeks."

https://skyblue43.wordpress.co...

My hubs & I watched 5 Carolina Wrens fledge from one nest this year & they all had what we called "stump tails".

A few I took today.

Ground doves - 3


Tufted Titmouse



The mad Titmouse



Northern Cardinal - male

Ann, wonderful shots ... I love that precious little Titmouse!

I'm glad y'all educated me about the Carolina Wrens. I see them a lot and if I saw one without tail feathers I'd get worried. Kind of like seeing that molting Blue Jay!

Speaking of Carolina Wrens, one of my Dad's friends posted on Facebook that he had one stuck in his house and had the door open for over an hour but it wouldn't budge. He took a picture so that's how I know what bird it was. I hope he got it out by now!

Ann, is a Ground Dove different than Mourning Doves? I've only ever seen those and the Eurasian Collared Dove. Didn't know we had more Doves in FL. #BeginningBirder

@mellielong
Yes, Ground Doves & Mourning Doves are different & both are very common in FL. The Ground doves are smaller and they coo differently. Here are links to both on the All About Birds site so you can see the difference & be sure & listen to their cooing.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/...
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/...

I think maybe the fastest way to tell them apart is the size & the Mourning Dove has that black spot on it's lower cheek. They are different in color too so pay attention to that. I'm sure you're used to seeing Mourning Doves all over the place every single day so you have their coloration set in your mind. When you see something smaller that is more brown than what you're used to then think Ground Dove. Also, Ground Doves have an orange bill unlike the Mourning Dove.

The little map shows Ground Doves year-round in FL but I swear I don't think I've seen one. Now, I'm going to be inspecting all the Doves reeeeal close.

Oh, good to know, I've been seeing some smaller doves at my feeders and wondered if they are the same species as the Mourning Doves.

Carolina Wrens are curious and very adventurous. We've had them fly into our shop several times - usually when DH leaves the big overhead door open for too long - and it's downright difficult to get them to fly out again. They really want to nest or hide in there. I also had one inside my pool cage a week or so ago. I left both the doors open and "disturbed" it if it was getting too comfortable so it would find its way out. They always eventually do. It was the blue jay that really wanted to stay - I hung one of the feeders right outside the door, so when he got hungry, out he went.

I've mostly seen Mourning Doves over the years, tons of them visit the feeders and nest in the trees. I saw a few White-winged Doves in 2012 and 2013 but I've only seen Ground Doves a couple of times over the years. Lots of Blue Jays around but they are too fast for me lately to catch pic's.

Mrs. Red-bellied was visiting a feeder this morning

It will be nice when Dave gets the new configuration to allow us to click and go from one photo to the next again ... hopefully it will be in the not too distant future. It's a hassle to close each one to open another.

To follow up, Dad's friend went out to get the paper this morning and the Wren followed him out!