Rediscovering backyard birds

Suddenly I appreciate my back yard all the more. Graciela, our  eleven year old granddaughter in Illinois, was assigned a "descriptive writing" task in her Reading class (I think that is what it is called). 

She decided to write about what she saw, smelled, felt and did during her visits to us in Florida. She selected photos from my FLICKR photostream to illustrate her piece.  

Frankly, I think she painted such a wonderful picture with her words that the photos do not do it justice! She also sharpened my awareness of  the wonders we can experience at our very doorstep. Graci writes (italicized):



My grandparents’ backyard is warm and sunny with a fresh ocean breeze. The first thing you’ll notice is a low brick wall surrounding the brick patio. It is rough to the touch and has two places where the bricks slope and form an opening.



If you stand right outside the back door and look left, there is the grill shaded by traveler palm trees in a wooden plant box. At each of the two top corners, there are small boxes with a little palm tree with decently large, and soft fronds. In between those small boxes, there is a long rectangular planting box. There are three pineapple plants in those.



A large, circular-shaped, hedge is between the boxes, but more to the right. Lining the hedge are aloe, lemongrass, and mint plants, where the little brown anoles- and rarely the Mediterranean gecko-  dare me and Cari, who multiple times attempt to capture them, but they scurry deeper into the plant, teasingly bobbing their heads up and down.





From the center of the hedge is an avocado tree that shades the patio on hot days, and when ripe, yields delectable avocados that are then made into homemade guacamole. Spreading out in front of you is the Lago Grande, or Big Lake.



The water can be pristine blue and clear enough to see miniature tadpoles, or a family of sunfish circling their large nest. On quiet days, you can hear the water lapping on the shoreline, or the faint sound of music playing in the distance. Other days, it’s the sound of kids playing or birds singing their different songs. By the water, you can find fossils, or if you’re super lucky, a mussel just sitting there. I’ve only found two, out of all the times I’ve been there! Looking closely, there can be tiny Cane Toads or tadpoles at the edge.





This is Ken here again. A quick search of my photo archives for the word "patio" produced a plethora of images, a few of which follow, beginning with a Loggerhead Shrike in Impatiens:



Green Heron in the Cocoplum hedge:



Cattle Egret searching for lizards in the Aloe:



 

A quick shot, through the glass door, of a Great Blue Heron:



A visit by a Wood Stork:



Palm Warbler:




Closeup of a Cane Toad with venom dripping from its paratoid glands:



Great Egret, Wood Stork and Tricolored Herons in neighbor's yard:



A pair of White-winged Doves:



The granddaughters enjoying lunch on the patio. Graci is checking out a grackle in the tree:



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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to I Heart Macro by Laura

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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