It's quiet around home these days as nearly all of our fellow snowbird neighbors have flown North. It's a good time to get things done. With friends gone and activities over for the season, there aren't as many tempting interruptions. And traffic outside of the resort where we live is so much lighter it's faster to get places and faster to accomplish whatever it was that you wanted to do. The standard joke in this area, where much of the winter population are 'senior citizens,' is that the lines at the pharmacy counter are much shorter when the winter season ends.
Our "street corner" … the Canal going out to the Caloosahatchie River
We are snowbirds too of course, but our season is slightly different from most others. This time of year, we pretend we live here year-round. At my dental checkup the other day, the hygienist said how nice it was "now that they're gone" she has cut 20 minutes off of her commute time. I just smiled.
I snapped these flowers and the panorama shot above with my I-phone. I'm trying to become more familiar with what my smart phone can do.
Red-Bellied Woodpecker (top three and lower center). Northern Flicker, lower left and right.
I don't think I'll ever be able to take pictures of birds with the phone though. I have enough trouble with the small camera I almost always carry. This collage shows the Red-bellied Woodpecker that I saw on the ground under a live-oak tree (top three pictures and center bottom) and two pictures of a Northern (red-shafted) Flicker that I took on the same day.
I am used to the red-bellied on trees or poles; this season for the first time I've seen several foraging on the ground. I often see Flickers on the ground. At first glance, their markings are a little bit alike, but it's easy to see the difference when you compare the two. The Flicker is a larger bird also.
Hibiscis
Warning: The snake phobic may wish to avert eyes while scrolling past the next collage.
Across the streets from the Canal, homes in our resort back on to wetlands areas that are tropical- jungle-like. An RVer who stayed awhile had either a whimsical or an evil sense of humor. They transformed a strangler fig behind their space into a pretty good replica of a Burmese Python. It will be interesting to see whether the resort management leaves their artistic endeavors for another season. That space is for temporary visitors; someone else might not appreciate the view!
Further warning: One of these pictures is not like the others. The one in the lower left picture is a real (but no longer living) Burmese Python. Someone had rather unkindly laid it out on a railing at a wildlife viewing spot near the Everglades. (That picture is from last February). It was a good thing that somebody killed it because these snakes are invasive and create serious problems in this part of Florida. I just wished I hadn't almost put my hand on it.
Back to the pretty stuff:
Skies this week have been interesting. It continues to rain hard at least for a short while almost every day (usually with lightning). But there are also always times when we can go outside. It never rains all day long.
The picture below is from way earlier in the season. It was forgotten on my phone and found when my practice photo at the top of this post (and about a million others I threw away) were downloaded.
Pink Shell Beach, January 2019
An oldie but a goodie!
LINKING this week to the following: Thank you to all of the hosts.
NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; MACRO MONDAY , THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; SAY CHEESE; WILD BIRD Wednesday; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING
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