• Wild Animal Park
  • Vultures
  • Deer Pass
  • Wood Stork on the Lawn
  • The Loss of Habit

What’s New

Nothing. And all things. I’m surprised that after almost six months of daily observation and photographing the backyard wild, it remains so new, and I still enjoy it to such a degree. Actually, this moon, this is pretty new and exciting. It was late afternoon, the temperature falling as the sun set bathed the tree tops in light, the moon sat high on the other side. I am inordinately pleased…

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The Challenge and the Menagerie

It is more than halfway through my 30 day challenge. I’m not entirely pleased with the quality of my writing, and will be rather relieved not to have to do this everyday. Yet, I feel like the obligation is useful since practicing a skill means improving that skill – usually. So, it turns out that what I enjoy most about this challenge is being able to take note of both…

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Great white heron

It IS Actually Winter

I overheard someone say today that if winter wasn’t going to show up by December, it just shouldn’t bother. And, though it has been colder, it was pretty chilly for Tampa. It was nice, though, with a balmy breeze, low humidity. Like a nice Ohio fall day. This heron huddled against the gusts of wind. I took this photo from dozens of feet away. The great white heron is one…

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The Storm – Before and After

Early this morning the birds twittered, the squirrels chattered, and the water rocked the fallen leaves gently, gently. The little birds were active and noisy. The waders were missing: no egrets or herons, no ibises. Then the wind came. The bright blue sky amid the high light clouds swiftly overtaken by thick clouds, dark clouds. Then the birds were silent for a bit, the squirrels were motionless and all that…

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Into the Swamp

This afternoon, the backyard journey extended several miles to the north end of Tampa – Lettuce Lake Park. It is a 240 acre park with a tremendous boardwalk over a swamp that feels almost primitive. The sight of alligators lounging on fallen logs, and snakes curled around themselves next to pond lilies do nothing but enhance that feeling. It is a wonderful place, a half an hour away, that I…

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Wood Stork

Overnight the world broke into a million tiny shards and fell upon the water. Well, it looked like that this morning, at any rate. As the day dawned the rain fell in large flll droplets and the wind created a grey sheet around the backyard. It is remarkable how the quality of the mornings changes with the gusting winds. As the winds slowed and the curtain of shadows slowly lifted,…

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Muscovy Duck

Conservation

A big reason we moved to this house was the backyard. For obvious reasons. That was four years ago. Over the last six months, I’ve grown in my appreciation not just of the beauty of the vista, but at the idea that I share this space with so many others. Occasionally, I feel like an intruder. I am that, unquestionably, so I think of the feeling as a good thing….

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Peace

The backyard is great fuel for the imagination, but it is also calming.It is not difficult to find a peacefulness here. I like to see the wind rippling across the water, and the reflection of light laid down like a path. One of the sounds I miss from growing up is the wind through a bamboo grove. It is a different quality from wind through any other trees, I think….

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Oasis

In the backyard, across the water, there is a strip of land wide enough to act as an excellent buffer between this and the neighborhood next door. I would go exploring there but am afraid of Alligators! Alligators are abundant here, but they do something called brummation, which is a reduction in their metabolic activity. So, they disappear. The last one I saw was several weeks ago. Since I don’t…

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A Different Kind of Bird

The anhinga, or snakebird is interesting. It is neither very attractive, like most birds, nor graceful – at least not in the air. It is territorial and has a raucous cawing sound. Yet it is quite appealing to me. It flies competently, swims masterfully and stumbles around like a duck on land. What intrigues me about it primarily is the quality that gives its nickname: snakebird. It moves through the…

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