Hot Summer Days!

Lots of hot and quiet summer days on the island, but I was able to find a few photo ops.  There are several red-shouldered hawks hanging around.  In fact, there are four of them that I see almost every day circling around overhead.  If you click on the Wildlife Cam tab above, you'll see one in the backyard along with a Florida water snake.

My candy corn buddy . . .

This Pileated Woodpecker didn't really like the size of the door on our birdhouse below, so he decided to fix it up!

The night blooming cactus had several open blooms this morning and several buds that will open in the next day or so.  The blooms last until around 9 am and then wilt.  If you snooze, you lose!

Juvenile Anhinga Sisters!

These two young Anhinga sisters were all white fluff and pink faces just a couple of weeks ago.  Now, they each have the long, light colored neck that shows they are female.  Some of the white fluff is still visible and their faces are a bit pink.  I love the webbed feet, too!  

A little Common Gallinule (aka Moorhen) was peeking through the trees and watching me photograph the Anhinga sisters.

Two butterflies landed on the grass in front of me, just begging to be photographed.

Hot summer days . . .

I haven't had a lot of photo ops over the past few hot days of summer.  Most of the wildlife must be hidden in the relative cool of the shade trees.  I managed to get a photo of a juvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron in a tree in our backyard.  The only wildlife we saw at the beach today was a little crab.

Little Iguana

This little guy was hanging out in the backyard, watching my husband mow the yard.   This iguana was only a couple of feet long. 

The big gator came around for another visit.  The space between his nose and his eyes is at least 10 inches, making him about 10 ft. long.  He looks just as fierce as he did previously!  Keeping my distance!

These branches extend out over the lake, so I cannot get any closer, but I would love to get better photos of these babies.  The Yellow-Crowned Nigh Heron babies are outgrowing their nest very fast!  The Anhinga nest underneath is being tended by one of the parents (bottom left).  I see only one Anhinga baby head, but lots of white fluff.  Not sure if that is one or two babies.

Woodpeckers love to get into the metal gutters and hammer away!  It can be startling when you're asleep inside near that gutter!

These little marsh hares were enjoying the grass since we've had so much rain!  They are so different from the long eared rabbits that I'm more used to seeing where I grew up.  These almost have mouse ears!

I do love a colorful hibiscus!

This is the unusual bark of the Gumbo Limbo tree, which our neighborhood is named after.