I hope it's ok to start a new thread. It's August. :)

This is one reason why I'll never get into feeding live mealworms to the Bluebirds. There are so many bugs around here already.


Here is one of those crazy Sandpipers from last month. It's a Stilt Sandpiper hiding his "stilts".


To make up for all those Sandpipers that look alike, here is a Baby Killdeer. I saw no others around, but there had to be, since it was so young, yet.

Kim, thanks so much for starting a new thread for August! Looks like that young Bluebird is going to have a tasty grasshopper for dinner. Love the Killdeer, reminds me of little shorebirds we get here in Florida.

These aren't the greatest pic's, the Egret was quite a ways down in a neighbors yard and I took the photo of the standoff of the Dove and Brown Thrasher through the window. The Dove kept trying going after the Thrasher trying to run it off.

Great Egret ............................................ Standoff between a Mourning Dove and Brown Thrasher

Thanks for the new thread Kim.

Lovely photos both of you.

Forgot it was a new month! Great photos Kim!

I guess this robin had a second family this year, saw her on Tuesday with a very large worm then she looked for more bugs to add to it.

Margaret, great shots! It looks like that Robin might have lots of babies to feed!

She sure got a fat & juicy there Margaret.

I spotted a Hawk flying overhead ... thought maybe it was going to swoop down and grab the Dove that was perched on the power line but thank goodness the hawk went in the opposite direction.

That is one lucky dove!!!

Love that Robin, Margaret!

Fantastic shots of that robin, Margaret!

The dove lives another day!

Thanks guys, it was interesting watching her keep working until she got that large worm all folded up neatly in her bill.

I was out on my porch this afternoon when out of the corner of my eye I saw this bird fly over to the waters edge behind my next door neighbors house. At first I thought it was a juvenile Ibis until I realized it didn't have the curved bill. Then I thought possibly a juvenile Sandhill Crane but nope, once I downloaded my pictures I knew that wasn't right either. It was driving me crazy until I finally got out my bird book and saw that it was a Limpkin.


I looked farther down and spotted an Anhinga coming out of the water into another neighbor's yard, where it stayed for awhile while it was drying it's wings:

What a blessing, Lin! That is a bird I'll likely not see here.

Our Robins are done nesting, but a handful are still around.

I am bound and determined to get a good picture of a Northern Flicker in flight. Those yellow feathers are beautiful. This may be my best... you should see the others... ick. But this was an accident. I heard the woodpecker calling, but did not recognize it. I still get the Flickers and the Red-bellieds calls confused. I find it in my camera and just before I hit the button, it takes off.


I take my camera everywhere around the yard between all the birds, flowers and insects. Anything at a distance, I need it since my eyes are getting so old. I am grateful for digital cameras, so I can delete most of the photos not worth printing.

I just took this picture of a goldfinch on my purple coneflower eating seeds I wish I could have got a better picture

Kim, it was my first sighting of the Limpkin and yet I read that they only breed in Florida. Hopefully I will be seeing more of them around. Cool shot of the Northern Flicker as it's taking off!

Heath: Great shot of the Goldfinch at those pretty coneflowers!

Lin, those are great shots of the Limpkin!

Lin, congrats on the Limpkin photo!

I have noticed our finches on the coneflowers too.

This is not a very clear picture, and not a very pretty bird, but an unusual sighting for me.



Turkey vulture down by my pond. I caught this bird in flight out of the corner of my eye and something made me look twice. We often get eagles, herons, and hawks down at the pond, but this bird's flight somehow registered as different to my brain. He obliged by landing on the top of a dead tree and staying there until I could get my camera and snap off a photo. When I enlarged it, I could ID it. I've never seen one in my backyard before. Per my Audubon app, they are summer residents for me.

Deb, Something must have attracted that Turkey Vulture down to your pond, either a source of food nearby or perhaps it needed a drink. I wonder if they eat fish?

We see the Turkey Vulture as well as the Black Vulture here in Florida; they do serve a purpose by keeping the roadways clear of roadkill. I've read that the Turkey Vulture has an amazing sense of smell and can actually smell it's food source from above thick tree canopies! We see only one or two Turkey Vultures at a time but the Black Vultures always seem to be in large flocks.

The subdivision where I live is a large gated community of over 1,800 homes. For the past few years one of the neighborhoods in the community has had an issue with large flocks of vultures roosting atop their houses and causing damage to their roofs by pecking at, and removing shingles from the roofs! I can only imagine the mess they are making on the lawns and sidewalks. Because of the expense that would be involved with trying to remove the vultures and the fact that they are protected by the Migratory Bird Act, the HOA can't seem to do anything about the problem. I'm just hoping those birds stay over on that side of the community and don't decide to come to my neighborhood because we also have shingle roofs rather than the tile roofs of the more upscale homes.

These are old photos from a couple of years ago.

Turkey Vulture flying overhead and one perched on a neighbors roof:


Black Vulture's perched in trees at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge: