The PhotoHunt theme this week is “Spotted”

When I saw the PhotoHunt theme this week is “Spotted”, the first thing that crossed my mind was the Spot-Breasted Oriole.

These birds are native to Mexico and Central America, but because of their vivid plumage, many were caught and brought to the U.S. to be caged birds in the 1950′s and 1960′s. Many of those, however, escaped and began to populate South Florida. Today, if you live in a suburban neighborhood and have shrubbery that produce berries, you might see one of these beautiful bright songbirds with their spotted breasts.

I had a family group visit my yard – the top photo is a young, immature Oriole, who’s just starting to come into his spots. The photo below is a mature bird in his full spotted glory.

Happy weekend, everyone!

The PhotoHunt theme this week is “Balanced”

Two weekends ago, it was absofreakinglutely freezing here. In Miami, of all places!

My cats were indoors, the plants were as protected as we could arrange. I did worry a little about the birds who visit the feeders in my backyard, but most of all I worried about the little hummingbird who’s been a guest in and around my yard since November. I woke up that Saturday morning to see this:

Poor little guy sat there for what seemed like forever, balanced on the hummingbird feeder, without moving. After a few minutes, he started to move his head around, and began to feed. Normally, I never see him at the feeders, but this seems to be the day he discovered them. Even the hummingbirds decided it was better to not have to work so hard for their food, and the feeders gave him the most bang for his buck. Or bill. Whatever.

After awhile, I was relieved to see him fly up to balance on the telephone wire. I didn’t notice till I started editing these photos, that he seems to be picking at something up there.

If you look very closely, you can see that he has a bit of spiderweb in his beak – and no doubt a spider along with it. Hummingbirds don’t survive on nectar and sugar water all day. They require protein, too, and it usually comes in the form of tiny spiders and insects.

I came to realize that the little guy must have just been groggy – coming out of torpor, a state in which the hummingbird lowers his body functions and goes into a kind of short hibernation, in order to avoid having to feed at night, or in order to survive cold.

Heck of a balancing act, eh?

The PhotoHunt theme this week is “Lick.” I’m sure I don’t know why.

This squirrel is licking up some water from the birdbath.

It’s not Perriet, but it’ll do.

Sly is licking his lips after a treat.

Please, Mom! May I have some more?

Happy New Year, Everyone!

The PhotoHunt theme this week is “Birds”

Totally cheating, I’m combining my PhotoHunt and Nature Notes posts, again this week. Well, the subject’s pretty much the same – Birds.

Things have been, and continue to be, hectic around here, lately. But I was able to steal a little time to enjoy the increasingly better weather we’ve been having. Of course, good things never seem to last very long – temps are supposed to hover around 88º this weekend. Hardly inspiring the feelings of fall and upcoming holidays!

Still, we’ve had some new visitors:

The Gray Catbird has returned to enjoy snacking at the Beautyberry.

And this lousy picture is of the male Painted Bunting who appeared – if only for a couple of days before apparently moving on to Miz Shoes’ place, several miles away. I was very excited to see the male bunting! I’ve only ever had females come to my feeder in previous years, and have only ever seen one male, years ago, from a distance! So, what happens? The breeze comes up, and it’s nearly twilight, and all I get is a fuzzy image. But I don’t care. I had a male bunting!

In other news, three – count ‘em three – hummingbirds showed up at the pavonia and mystery shrubs! At the same time! For us, that’s more than exciting – it’s incredible! If they stick around, I’ll try to get some new hummingbird photos – not so easy to do, since they seem to prefer the flowers to the feeders.

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Michelle at Rambling Woods is hosting Nature Notes: Signs of the Season, a weekly meme dedicated to challenging us to take a moment out of our hectic lives and notice the seasonal changes – large and small – taking place in nature all around each of us, in our own little corners of the world. Please visit Michelle and all the other participants, and maybe take some of your own Nature Notes!

Just a quickie, this morning…

I finally captured a Zebra Longwings butterfly! While not nearly as cooperative as the White Peacock I showed you a couple of weeks ago – from the modeling standpoint (sorry, I’ve got America’s Next Top Model on the brain…) – it at least stayed still long enough for this. The Zebras have been really hanging out in the back corner of the yard by the Firebushes, and if you can brave the mosquitoes long enough, to squish back there, it can be quite stunning.

One friend said to me awhile back, “I live a block away, but you always have butterflies in your yard. Why is that?” “Plant for ‘em, babe, plant for ‘em.”

I got another butterfly picture! Yay! It’s the little things, you know?

Michelle at Rambling Woods is hosting Nature Notes, a weekly meme dedicated to challenging us to take a moment out of our hectic lives and notice the seasonal changes – large and small – taking place in nature all around each of us, in our own little corners of the world. Please visit Michelle and all the other participants, and maybe take some of your own Nature Notes!

I had kind of an interesting experience, the other day. I got home from work around 6:00 in the evening, and when I got out of my car, I walked past the Sapodilla tree we planted in the front yard a few years ago, and as I approached the front porch, a Mockingbird (okay, fine – a Northern Mockingbird for you sticklers) flew up to the corner and stood there for a few minutes, watching me.

If you look closely, you’ll see something in its beak. Go ahead and click on it if you like. The shot’s not the best, but you get the idea.

Still watching me, the Mockingbird flew to the little Neelum mango sapling we recently planted.

It then flew into the Sapodilla, followed by excited cheeping. Are you kidding me? We’ve been walking back and forth past this tree multiple times everyday. MJ even mowed the lawn right up to the trunk, just the day before!

But the adults never bothered us. We’ve seen a couple of adults harrassing the occasional hapless neighborhood cat who was just passing through. But they never bothered us. Weird, huh?

In case you’re wondering, the Sapodilla is another tropical fruit tree native to Central America, and for obvious reasons, does really well in South Florida. It’s very slow-growing and is quite storm-resistant due to the sticky, latex-like sap called “chicle.” If that sounds familiar, it’s because chicle from this and other plant sources, was used many years ago to produce chewing gum. Remember “Chiclets”?

The fruit is covered with a very thin, slightly fuzzy skin, almost exactly like a kiwi. Also like a kiwi, you can eat the skin or not, as you choose. Inside, the flesh is a tan to almost brown color, sweet, and juicy with a texture that is almost pear-like, but softer, and one or two hard, oblong black seeds. We like to just cut the fruit in half, lengthwise, remove the seeds, and just scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Mmmm…

Maybe I should have saved this for the future PhotoHunt theme of “Surprise”, because we couldn’t have been more surprised than to find an active Mockingbird nest in such a “public” location!

Lettergirl, who writes the awesome Not Going Postal, asked “What are your favorite 10 words and why?” Frankly, I think she’s looking to thin out her blogroll, and what better way to flush out the marginally unstable than to get someone to admit that one of their favorite words is “annihilation”. Or “barbecue”.

But no, I’m not going to fall into that trap. (Pauses to feed cat and make coffee) No siree.

So, here are ten of my favorite words, in no particular order of preference:

1. Nap. I was talking about this with someone, yesterday. Just the word itself brings on that soft, warm, fuzzy feeling inside. A glow of contentment that starts in your chest and radiates throughout your body. Around 3:00 in the afternoon, I must have either a cup of coffee or a nap. On a cloudy, rainy afternoon, what could be better? As children, we always regarded naps as a conspiracy by the grownups to steal away some of our precious few daylight hours. As an adult, it’s a rare – almost decadent – pleasure. If I had a meditation mantra, it would be nap.

2. Humor. The ability to laugh is uniquely human, I think. I can’t even imagine a world without humor. To not take yourself too seriously is a trait I admire. People who laugh are healthier in body and mind. If you can’t find something, anything to laugh at during the course of any day, you’re either just not trying, or you’re dead.

3. Habitat. It’s home. Not just my home, but the home of all creatures, great and small. It’s nature and nurture. I’ve always been a cheerleader for the creation of backyard habitats, planting native species, and encouraging wildlife. Like Buzzy McPollenpants up there at the top of this post. It’s not just for them, it’s for us, too. Click on that link over there on the left, and find out how you can do it, too, with a minimum of effort in even the smallest space. And why you should.

4. Civility. A quality that seems more and more rare, these days. You don’t have to like someone to be civil to him/her. Hell, you don’t even have to know the person. Why is it so difficult to be polite? To give an elderly or handicapped person your seat on the bus or train? To have a difference of opinion that doesn’t descend into mud-slinging and/or violence? Civility suggests that you step outside yourself and actually see other people and acknowledge them. A little mutual respect. The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So many seem to have stopped at the “Do unto others” part.

5. Curiosity. Without curiosity, we’d never leave our caves. If the explorers and scientists of history hadn’t been the least little bit curious, none of us would be where we are today. We’d have no aspirin, penicillin, or electricity. We wouldn’t be celebrating the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon. Or marveling at pictures of Saturn’s rings and Jupiter’s moons and the discovery of ice on Mars. There would be no televisions to watch or blogs to write and send over bazillions of invisible little particles in the air to entertain ourselves while we huddle in those caves.

6. Resilient. It’s what we are. No matter what pains or loss we suffer – individually, or as a species – eventually, we recover. We go on. Like L’il Abner’s Shmoo, or the Bumble in “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, we bounce.

7. Imagination. Most of the time, it goes hand-in-hand with Curiosity. Art, music, literature, science. The creative impulse. Children have it, naturally. Often, it gets beaten out of us as we grow up and are forced to face “reality” (one of my least favorite words). Imagination knows no boundaries, provokes us, and urges us forward with the open-ended question: “What if…?” The world would be a much darker and poorer place without it.

8. Logic. This might actually be my favorite word. In my perfect world, if people just stepped back and thought logically, without regard to religion, emotion, or fear, there would be no starving children, everyone would have access to health care, and we would all have respect for the Earth and all of its inhabitants. No discussion.

9. Kitchen. Most people’s favorite room in the house. Everyone always gravitates to the kitchen. Approached in the proper frame of mind, it’s the most creative room in the house. All sorts of individual ingredients combine – almost magically – into everything from Mac & Cheese to Chicken Kiev to Chocolate Chip Cookies. I learned more about art, math, chemistry, and physics in the kitchen, than I ever did in a classroom.

10. Dessert. I love dessert. In all its forms. Chocolate, cheesecake, creme brulee, pudding, cake, pie, cookies, ice cream, fruit… There doesn’t have to be a lot of it, just a little something sweet to round off the meal and finish things off. Just about every culture, that I can think of, shares the concept of dessert. There are very few other words that almost universally inspire happy thoughts.

As an aside, I’m also terribly fond of the French “il ny a pas de quois”. Or maybe it’s “qua”. Either way, I’m pretty sure I spelled it wrong. I can’t remember that far back. It’s a standard response to “thank you”. I know it’s not a single word, but leave it to the French to come up with a tongue-twistingly, super-polysyllabic way to say “no problem.” But once you’ve mastered it, it’s quite a lot of fun to say. Sort of like “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”.

So, what are your ten favorite words? Leave them here in the comments, or post them in your own blog and leave a link in the comments. I’m curious.

Have I ever shown you the Cuban Anole lizard?

Another import from the island – probably a stowaway on cargo ships, back in the day – these guys can get to be about 18-24 inches long. More of an iguana, really.

This is a mere youngster – probably no more than about 12 inches long. They hang out in the trees, mostly, eating insects and whatever else might come along, including other lizards…

For all of their size, though, they are incredibly shy. This “baby” anole (pronounced “uh-no-lee”) was sunning on my fence one morning. When he spotted me with my camera, he slowly slid down behind that pole. When I backed off, he slid back on top of the pole. We did that dance about half a dozen times, until he got tired of the game and casually sauntered off to the shrubbery.

“Don’t look at me! Mom! She won’t stop looking at me!”

I know this is going to sound odd, but I haven’t really noticed the front yard much, lately. Besides when the grass needs mowing. Which seems to be nearly all the time. I know, I know. I see it every day, leaving in the morning and coming home in the evening, but it’s not the same thing, really. It’s just that it gets so hot outside so early, these days, you really don’t want to spend more time out there than you have to .

Over the last few days, I’ve begun really looking at it again. Awhile back, I observed in other Nature Notes posts, that the fruit trees all seemed to be going wild with blooms and fruit, this year.

First came the mulberries, which I noted at the time were blooming and fruiting more than I had ever seen, since we put them in the ground. Well, since we got all that rain in June, they’ve nearly doubled in size, acquiring an almost weeping form. And they’re blooming and bearing fruit again, like nobody’s business!

Next were the mangoes – especially my Nam Doc Mais which had never bloomed or bore fruit since we planted them 5 and 6 years ago, respectively. Everyone in town remarked, this past winter, how all the mango trees seemed to be blooming more abundantly and energetically than anyone could remember, and the crops did not disappoint. There are still a few smaller fruits left on the trees, and we’re looking forward to them.

Now it’s the Longan tree’s turn. The longan is a close relative of the lychee, another native of Southeast Asia and China, that typically does pretty well here, in the tropics. Left untrimmed, a longan tree can grow to nearly 40 feet high. The fruit grows in clusters, each about the size of a marble or large globe grape, is translucent white, sweet, and juicy over a hard black seed, and is covered by a thin, leathery shell. We had a few fruit a couple of years after planting the tree next to the driveway, but nothing for the last five years or so. Oh, sure, I noticed that it bloomed a bit a few weeks ago, but didn’t really see much of anything until yesterday:

And there seems to be plenty more where that came from…

Last summer, I discovered a used and deserted nest, low in the branches of the longan. I speculated that it might have belonged to either cardinals or mockingbirds, both looking pretty similar and equally likely. So this spring, I occasionally examined the tree to see if there were any fresh signs of nest-building, but seeing none, I gave that up, too. Then, at the same time I discovered the clusters of fruit, yesterday, I saw this:

And I never saw a thing. I don’t know it’s current status, although I didn’t hear anything. I would have to get the tall stepstool to get a peek inside, but if it belonged to mockingbirds and was active, I imagine they would have let me know about it in no uncertain terms! I’ll bet if I do get a closer look, though, I’ll find a bunch of coco fibers from my backyard hanging planter in there. That planter was mighty popular a few weeks ago, attracting a female cardinal, a female red-bellied woodpecker, and a mockingbird simultaneously!

Funny, the things that go on right under your nose…

Honestly, I don’t know what kind of tree frog this is. I checked, but the only photos I could find in sources like eNature.com and National Wildlife Federation’s Frogwatch, only show the top sides, not the underneath sides.

Actually, this was a treat. I rarely see tree frogs around here. Mostly toads. It’s not that they’re not around, but since the tree frogs are primarily nocturnal, they hardly ever come around to socialize. They are attracted to house and patio lights because of the insects that are attracted to the lights. This guy showed up on my back door the other night, just after a rain storm. Eat hearty, little friend!

Credit JJ with the find:

Hello?

Wanna play?