My garden is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as Wildlife Habitat  No. 24924.  I am also certified from the University of Florida.  

Our new bird feeding station!

Our garden  attracts so many birds and animals.  We've had downy woodpeckers in residence, wrens nesting near our doors, red-tailed hawks catching snakes in our trees, great gray herons stealing fish from neighboring fish ponds, and pileated woodpeckers feeding in mass on avocado tree fruit.  One very unusual thing we saw was a pileated woodpecker taking a dust bath in our compost pile....

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,

But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,

And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

______ Gabran -

               The Prophet

Charlie Returns for Winter

8/29/10

4/15/11

10/2012 

Almost considered a pet.  Our hummingbird Charlie has come back 9 years now and stays about 6 months.  His feeder is right by our dining room window, so we enjoy him daily.  He is always missed, but never forgotten when he migrates north.  We're thrilled when he returns. We've yet to recognize that he has a mate and we've seen him fight off other hummingbirds.  We've also noticed that he lands in the same spot in different trees.  Since he stays so long, he must have a nest, but where I've yet to locate.

1/16/07 - Saw hundreds of red-breasted robins feeding in Camphor tree.

3/4/07 - Accidentally sprayed face with red spray paint.  Measles for a day!

3/17/07 - Snake sighted in the house!   I kid you not!  It was on it's way out, but I draw the line there with nature!

5/1/07 - The cats are gone. We've got our wren nesting by the back door. Late in the season, but she's there.

7/15/07 - Baby wrens leave the nest. (Last year they left 7/25/06)

10/07 - Red tailed hawk lands in tree low to ground during lunch.  We were only 10 feet away from him...staring in awe.

3/2010 - Built Screech Owl house

4/2010 - Saw hawk steal a baby blue jay.

5/1/2011 - Yellow-bellied Gnat Catcher sighted, baby wren eggs, waiting on baby owls....