“The Farm” is my parents house and a few acres north of Gainesville. Sunday just after sunset 2 barred owls flew into the yard. This yard and the one across the road can be pretty good bird spots.
Then last night as we are finishing supper my sister looks out the window and noticed 2 bucks walking by!
I took a vacation day on Tuesday and went fishing with a friend from church. Thanks for a great time Bob!
This preserve is within walking distance of where we live. Preserve web page. For almost 2 years now I have been a volunteer there 1 or 2 hours a month doing bird counts.
It is getting hot down here and our winter birds are gone but Saturday in the preserve there was a nice collection of herons, egrets and wildflowers.
Birds were too far away for my old point and shoot but some of the flowers were String Lily (Crinum americanum), Saltmarsh Morning Glory (Ipomea sagittata), and Virgina Saltmarsh Mallow (Kosteletzkya pentacarpos).
This week we are at the Hargrave homestead near LaCrosse for Father’s Day. Sitting in the TV room with my dad we noticed a Cardinal fly into the camellia bush just outside the window. I wondered if she might be there for more than just a casual visit and when we looked more closely discovered the nest. It must be hot enough during the day that she doesn’t have to sit on the eggs so I snapped this picture without disturbing the bush while she was away.
Last week at Hickey’s creek I found 4 Florida Scrub Jays on the Palmetto Pines loop just after the turn south to return. The literature mentions that they will post sentinels to keep a lookout for predators. Sure enough one sounded the alarm and I looked up to see a Swallow-tail Kite overhead; really not a danger to the Jays, but alarming nonetheless.
Also noted at Hickey’s Creek were blooming Tarflowers (Bejaria racemosa) —http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/Tarflower/tarflowe.htm
Ellen and I are planning on being in Kenya from mid-August through November this year. We will be on staff at the Africa Inland Church (AIC) Missionary College in Eldoret and I will spend some of my time working on the creation of an ECHO East African Regional Office. We’ll try to keep you up to date.