Cool!

Hi Audrey! Can I see some photos of your garden and animals?

Some of the critters that pass through here:

Pileated woodpeckers
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Red rat snake
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Bad picture of a hawk
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Young blake racer
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Springtime Indigo Buntings
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Sulphur Butterfly caterpillar
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Springtime Rose-breasted Grosbeak
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Very nice pictures!

We also have the raccoons.. 2 of them.

smart frog!

Love the frog pic!

I love the photo's. I have raccoons messing up my veggie garden all the time.

absolutely great!! That frog is a hoot! Ladywingr I don't know where you live - but I am VERY jealous!

I wish, oh I wish, to see grosbeaks and buntings! Are you near the water or what? I am in Sarasota (the Meadows) and have feeders out - lots of titmice, cardinals, finches, wrens, but never buntings or grosbeaks. I'm so jealous!
Thanks for the photos.
Hester

I think it was just a lucky couple of years, and haven't seen them since. The buntings and grosbeak passed through here on migration a couple years ago. I am south of Tampa Bay very near the Manatee River. There is a large jacaranda that was in bloom when they arrived, so I suspect the bright color was an attraction.

The buntings were in love with the baths (I have four baths out now) - I was surprised to see the grosbeak on the feeders.

Looking forward to others' pictures!

(I'm still looking for the elusive painted bunting here. A friend in SE Sarasota had some a few years ago.)

Cool shots. I love the frog the best and then the pretty blue buntings! I'm jealous too! We hav bunnies, a black snake and a family of Eastern bluebirds that stayed her e for 2 years. They're gone now. They started as a couple and multiplied to 8 pretty birds. They were fun to watch from the kitchen window when they would take splash baths in the deeper bird bath. I guess I will have to try and capture some pictures of them if they come back.

I agree, great pictures, I wish I could attract more varieties of birds here close to the bay.

I just had five baby opossums a week ago Sunday in one of my buried five gallon buckets, should have snapped a few pictures but didn't :-( I pulled them out at the end of the day so they would not die of dehydration since they were exposed to direct sun, watched them scamper off to parts unknown except for the runt, who I've rescued from the sun twice since last Thursday but watched grow weaker each time. I've not seen this baby for two days now; I hope he/she made it.

Tom

oh no, that's such a sad part of life. It amazes me how brazen animals have become. When I was a kid you never saw anything but squirels.

Possums do so much damage here that I destroy every one that I can. I happened on a mother carrying a herd of young. There were no survivors.

Homer's back and has decided to come to the back door. He lands on the pool cage until he gets my attention. I feed him on the grass. I guess we aren't supposed to feed them. I've been giving him tuna fish. Any ideas?

Carol B. Sarasota

I give our visiting white egret bologna. I am sure it isn't healthy either, but I don't have any baitfish.

Looks like you've made a friend.

Hi
I'm located in northern Palm beach and have yet to see indigo buntings but have painted from october to early april at least a dozen at times. Never see any migratory northern birds except for hummers but only in mid winter.
Lots of doves Asian , Collared white wing as well as turtle doves. Cardinals Blue jays but never a green jay lol
One unusual visitor some type of lizard about two feet long bright green on top yellow on the bottom. Thinking it's some type of iguana but not like any I'm aware of . Tried hard to get a pic but he climbed to the top of a palm. Amazing the amount of animals ,considering the back yard is only 35x70 Of course the wife feeds them more often than me lol gary

Gary, could what you see be a Knight Anole? We have them here too. Someone told me I should kill them, they aren't native and destroy the native lizards and other natives. But I haven't done it. I haven't seen them this year, so maybe the cold got them last 2 winters.

Great pictures.I saw a bobcat run across the road,while I was walking the dogs this morning.Then when I went to feed my ducks,there was a beautiful male wood duck on the pond-just wish I could of got close enough to get a pic of him.

I've posted my bunny before, but he is cute.

Cute bunny Amber!

Our Westie chased this baby up the fence...then he was stuck. In this photo he's trying to climb higher. After a while, he was balanced with all four paws on the one fence post. I tried to use a towel to pick him up from behind and put him on the ground. Dear lord he sounded like the tasmanian devil going crazy trying to bite me! Anyway, we got him on the ground and he survived.

BTW - not sure what to think of this, but I met a horse owner from Largo on Saturday night at Rizzo's Auction. She told me a Florida Panther had been spotted twice in the last few days by different people just outside Walsingham park. I've been googling to see if any info turns up on it..but nothing so far.

Parrots destroying sunflowers.

A friend said they see panthers in palm harbor occasionally. I assumed she was mistaken but now you've got me wondering.

Torty does live in my yard and does cross this road. How can I get people to take my sign seriously and go slow?

My neighbor puts a plastic flag man in the middle of the street all the time for her two little girls. It's not that cheap but it works very well. See link below.

Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: Walmart Plastic Flag Man

Thanks Carol in Jacksonville, I'll go check out the flag man tonight, it looks quite cute actually. :~)

fern

I have seen 2 panthers since living here.Both were within a mile & a half of the house.One was extremely thin & just walking along the dirt road until it heard me(I was out biking).The second was in much better condition & ran across the road,while I was driving.
My father-in-law & myself had two black bears cross the road early Saturday morning when we were driving to a game.
Late yesterday afternoon,I got bitten by this guy.I am extremely lucky,as it only broke the skin with one fang & apparantly didn't inject any venom.It was curled up under a squash vine & I was pulling weeds,when I felt it strike my index finger.I took the pics,as I figured I would be heading straight to the ER & wanted to give them a positive i.d of the snake.It is a pygmy dusky rattlesnake.I kept an eye on the wound(& my pulse/breathing-hard when getting a shock like that),but never got any pain,swelling or erratic breathing.I think I should go buy a lottery ticket today :)

wow - what a beautiful snake! Shame it bit you. Where do you live - because I want to see animals like that! And how is the earth their? Sand? Any springs? LOL - I am packing.

I live just east of Silver Springs,basically on the edge of the Ocala National forest.I actually have a lot of clay in my soil & yes there are a bunch of natural springs here :)

I get a bob cat in my yard most springs. But I haven't seen it this year yet.

Black Racer eggs

Here are some baby screech owls that were visiting last weekend. I think they must have just been kicked out of the nest. There were three of them. They hung out all afternoon, and then were gone the next day.

Becca

This little fellow stayed put until I could run into the house for my camera. He became a model for several tile.
Cora

Coons carry Rabies.... one should never try to even touch them... they carry the whatever it is you catch but do not get it themselves...if you do happen to come in contact w/them you need to get yourself to the ER because there is a short 'window' on this disease before it is too late to do anything.... sally