I was wandering around the yard trying to get a photo of a Gulf Fritillary butterfly, when I suddenly spotted one…unfortunately…a Green Anole got to it first.
He sat very still for several photos.
You can see he kept his eye on me.
Every now and then he’d try to gulp down a bit more.
Here he is in action.
The Giant Swallowtail Butterfly lives in wooded areas, especially near Citrus trees. I have 5 in my yard, and several wild orange and tangerine trees nearby. A few miles away are Orange Groves.
I find the larger butterflies harder to photograph. They do a lot of fluttering and very little sitting still.
With a wingspan of about 5”, they are easily spotted. They also seem more wary of my camera. I can see several flitting around….until I step outside.
The underside is very pretty. At first you’d think you were looking at a yellow butterfly.
I noticed the adult Wrens were acting a bit different today. They both sat on the railings or nearby and were very vocal. I decided to watch them as closely as I could, incase they were trying to coax the babies out to join them.
I finally saw some activity in the nest.
This is the most I have seen of the babies. They usually stay way back from the entrance. So….maybe today is the day. I had to build a blind and all pictures are taken through a window screen…and there is window screen just beyond the nest. That’s why there seem to be so much checkered background. Several hours later I heard the parents singing again so..back to the blind.
Now I am sure I’ve picked the right day. Two of them looking out.
It would have been nice if I were sitting down…my feet are getting tired, as well as my arms. But I cant give up now. It was worth the wait. Here come the first one.
The two on the L are the babies. There is still one in the nest.
And here is the last one.
While I am taking pictures…I am also trying to get a bit of video.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
My sister gave me this nest. I hung it on the porch near my washer. It is out of the wind and rain but has plenty of air flow. I thought it mainly decorative. 
We’d been gone a month, and when I returned home, I noticed a Carolina Wren heading into the nest with a bug in her beak.
I looked and looked and could see nothing. Finally, 3 small beaks appeared. I don’t think they are very old here.
Today I spotted a baby bird looking back at me. The young start leaving the nest in about 2 weeks. I spotted them on 8/15/09. 
I know there are at least 2 still there, possibly the third one also.
I see “Mom” or “Dad” flying away from the nest with a ball of white, every now and then. I believe this is the babies droppings. When I had the orphan baby wrens for a night, it was easy to clean up after them. The droppings were like a small bag of white. Nature has a great way of taking care of itself.
I can see the nest from my easy chair. I have to keep a close watch if I want to see them leave.
I really like these little Wrens. They are not as pretty as the Indigo Buntings or the Painted Buntings, ( I have one coming to my feeder now) that spend the winter here…but they are still a cute little bird and fun to watch.
When I first saw this Roseate Skimmer I was surprised I’d never noticed the color before. Now I see them all over. 
The light angle wasn’t very good. I couldn’t get the true deep color.
Nature has it all over us…we still can’t design an airplane or helicopter that is as efficient as a dragonfly.
I spent part of the morning walking around the yard trying to get a good shot of a butterfly.
I started noticing this tiny grasshopper. It’s about 1/2 inch long. I have no idea what it is..or if it will grow up big and eat my plants.
While looking for more of them…I spotted this spider. I don’t really like these….they jump. Once as a kid I saw one sitting on the side of the barn. I passed within 3 ft of it and the next thing I knew it was on my neck. Haven't liked them since. Not a big spider fan anyways..but I leave them alone as long as they stay outdoors. It retreated back into the fold of the leaf and this was the only shot I was able to get.
This little butterfly isn’t much bigger than the grasshopper. It’s called a “skipper”.
It is kind of cute and fuzzy. Just look at that face. I am always amazed when I see insects up close like this.
Here, it’s on a Mexican Blue, they grow all over here.
This skipper isn’t much more than an inch long.
The brown Anole 
The brown ones have some interesting patterns on them,
but I much prefer the green.
The brown Anoles remain brown, while the green Anoles can turn to brown and back to green.
You can see how well the brown Anole blends into the habitat. 
This male is trying to attract a female. 
They live here. I’d rather they were all the green ones….but they are here to stay, I guess. They spend most of their time on the bases of the trees or on my fence. Probably because they blend in with the brown much better. I spot the green ones in the trees and bushes, where their cover is mainly green.
I am finally learning to take my camera every time I go out the door.
My husband had just finished replacing a few new parts on his ‘27 Model T and he wanted to take it for a test run. I had to return a few items to my friend, Debbie, so we stopped and visited for a bit. On our way out I spotted a Butterfly that I hadn’t photographed yet. 
I believe it is a male Queen Butterfly. Very pretty. I really like this one.
He was trying very hard not to let me get any good shots.
I wasn’t able to get very close.
Maybe next time .
We have a pretty good canal system, here in the Hammock. It drains most of the water to the lake. I took a bike ride to see if I could get a picture of the 4 –5’ gator I had seen a few days ago. No luck but did see this male Eastern Pondhawk.
Very pretty blue. He wouldn’t turn and look at me. but, you can see his head is a dark green.
It looks like his “helmet” has green dots around the edge. It’s amazing how they are put together.
