Community Chat

[Bird mama]

Good Morning Morning Birding Friends - Bird of the Day is Osprey. Let's see if I can find pictures of the osprey without some sort of prey in it's feet/talons

Bold move by this guy

[possummink]

Birdmama, Good job finding Osprey photos without a fish in the talons. They are magnificent birds, but I wish they ate salad or grains. The nest over by the Mall is getting bigger and there are usually the two adults, there or near the hacking pole. Sometimes there may be 3 or 4 adults near that site.

Many times while sitting at the stoplight, you can see them flying back and forth from the nest to nearby street light standards and perch there. Usually there is a fish up on the lights with one of them and sometimes one will fly over to the nest and give food to the one on the nest. Gorgeous birds, I love watching them even when it comes to their 'fishing' expeditions. Amazing birds.

I forgot to post the other day about the Frigate Birds. They are almost always flying around the Florida Keys, especially Islamorada, where we love to stay. They are always soaring and riding the trade winds, looking for some poor seagull or pelican with a fish. They are 'robber' birds for sure. Beautiful to watch as they fly with the winds, wheeling about and dipping way down close to the surface of the ocean.

Have a wonderful rest of your Monday, Everyone.

[Bird mama]

Bird of the Day - Northern Jacana

[Bird mama]

Hello there Birding Friends ~ Winter has descended on Michigan (again). I am at home, looking out of my window at the blowing snow. We are to expect 5-9 inches of snow when it is said and done. It's coming down at a clip of an inch per hour. I've been up since 6 am and can testify that it's really coming down like that. I was home sick yesterday and even though I feel a bit better today, no way am I fighting the roads in this. Thank goodness I have vacation time to spare. Oh yeah, last night as I was flossing my teeth, one broke. think it's a very old filling. You can't tell from the front - it's a chunk from the back. It's not hurting right now so I can wait until next Tuesday to see my dentist (not one of her associates). Sometimes when it rains it pours, but it's still all good :-)

Bird of the Day - Green Honeycreeper

[possummink]

Hi Birding Friends, Hope you are having a good Wednesday. Been keeping busy with laundry and helping my middle GS with digging out some crabgrass in the front yard and replacing it with new dirt and sod. He's been hard at work for 2 days now and my son is getting him a leveler or lift( not sure) for his truck as payment. I think it was almost too much for him, but he did a pretty good job.

Birdmama, I hope your tooth job is covered by insurance. I only say that because one of my old crowns broke off a couple years back, only I wasn't at home and couldn't use my dentist. It cost me close to $1000.00 and my insurance didn't cover much of it at all. Of course you are home and can use your dentist. I hope you are feeling better. Take care and get some rest. I am sure Grayson and the rest of the little flock are happy to have you at home.

I have DDIL's car for a couple of days, so I have been doing some needed errands and shopping. I do miss my own car though. I don't know how many times I've said that recently. Don't know what I'll do without it this summer.

I wish I had a good photo of the jacaranda trees that are blooming in this area. They are so beautiful and an unexpected sight(when I first saw them). ~~~~

Another beautiful tree blooming here in FL now is the Golden Trumpet tree. Stunning to see and sure brightens up the area. ~~~~Dogwoods and so many other plants are blooming. I saw some gorgeous bougainvillea at Home Depot yesterday when my GS and I were there to rent a tiller for his job on the front yard. The plants had such intense and vibrant colors. Wish I could have them.

I hope all Birding Friends are doing ok and feeling well. Take care and be safe.

[Bird mama]

Possummink - the flowering trees are beautiful.

Bird of the Day - Red legged Honeycreeper. I'm at work and don't know why I am only getting small pictures.

Female

Male

Together

[mousiegirl]

Hi everyone! I can't get over the gorgeous birds posted here. It is gorgeous weather today, so warm that I will have to water soon. Of course, I am stuck inside as I don't want to be bending over pulling weeds with all of the contractors around.

I finished emptying the kitchen Sunday night at 10:00. I could barely walk, so headed for the shower and hair wash, and then bed. DH took things downstairs as I packed. I thought I was ahead of the game because I packed a lot last year, but I was wrong. Fortunately, I had enough sense not to cook, so sent DH for take out. There was a time when I would have, but just so much extra work I did not need.

I am cooking from the rec room, where most of the kitchen is now. I actually fried a steak for sandwiches last night, and a few nights ago, we had our weekly bacon sandwiches. I used the microwave bacon tray which I only used once, over twenty years ago, as I usually fry it in a pan. It worked out fine, but have to learn to gage how long to cook it for crispness, but overcook it. I will grill on weekends, and the only day we can go out for dinner is a Sunday after DD's riding lesson, but may not be able to as she would want to get cleaned up, and then it would be too late, so may only go on Sundays when she doesn't ride. Tonight is soup which I made last week, froze about eight meals worth, but didn't get nearly as much into the freezer of different dishes as I had planned. I made a chicken noodle soup with an Asian flair, from scratch, first time, though used Japanese noodles, love those, silky smooth, one can just slurp them into the mouth, lol.

My family room, which was to have been finished months ago, is still not, but at least the guy is here this week, so hopefully, by the weekend. I havn't even taken the Christmas tree down yet because there is no room to get at it, but once the family room is done, I can move things into it.

I hope everyone's weather is improving. We could use some more rain, but doesn't look as if it is on the way anytime soon.

[Bird mama]

Hi there Mousiegirl - forgive me for not remembering - it your whole house being remodeled? Were you the poster who had the water damage or was that Meuw? I'm having a hard time keeping track of things this year (lol).

Bird of the Day - at first blush, one might think the King Vulture is on the homely side. I think it's a beautiful bird.

[mousiegirl]

Youtube Starling Murmuration, just watched it, amazing!

[possummink]

Hi Birding Friends, It's a bright sunny day here in Tampa area, but chilly, which I love. Apparently the chilly and windy weather played havoc with the golf tournament going on here in the area, but closer to the coast line.

I wanted to post the above photo that I found while trying to identify the bird in the photo below. The above is a Frilled Couquette Hummingbird and so is this photo~~~

The Tufted Coquette Hummingbird is below~~~~~~I was amazed at the beautiful coloration of these birds plus many others that I saw while searching for the names of these beauties.

Hope you are having a nice Friday.

Birdmama, It was Meuw who had the problems with water leakage that required a lot of home repairs. Hope you are back to feeling really good.

Mousie, I sure don't envy you with all the house improvement, construction you all are going through. It will be so beautiful though when they are finished. I saw that murmuration and couldn't believe all the birds, much less the formations. Amazing stuff.

Winifred, Hope all is going well with you. Too bad you don't have foxes in your area. The Red Foxes at home used to kill moles and voles, but esp. the moles. I bet they'd love to have gophers for lunch. My DH had a long going battle with a gopher at home one time. He tried everything to git rid of it, even put a hose attached to the exhaust pipe from either the tractor or truck, (don't remember) into the mound. He had nightmares about that gopher and in the dreams this gopher was getting really big. Not sure anymore, how he finally got rid of it. This happened after the coyotes moved into our area and scared off the red foxes.

We still see red foxes now and then and they still try to get the moles. It's cool to see how they do it, but usually they do it at night. They listen for the sounds moles make, either digging or squeaking, and then pounce the run down and dig like crazy. I'd love to have lots of foxes around to get rid of the moles and the voles, which eat our hosta roots.

Meuw, Stepping Stone, Anika, Hooty, Sweetpeace, Loves, and any Birding Friend I may have omitted,, I hope all is well with you and your loved ones.

Have a lovely weekend, Birding Friends, and stay safe.