Glassy-calm sunrise today in Key West, Florida. Look to the left and see some residual condensation on the lens.Ornithology Challenge! Bird spotted at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park on the western edge of Key West, Florida. The bird was spotted foraging on the ground. It’s size was larger than a house sparrow, but smaller than a towhee. Sort of looks like a black-headed grosbeak, but the iNaturalist website says they do not exist in Key West. Post your best or educated guesses, or if you know outright, in the comments, please.
Orange Key West sunrise today just a few steps away.Magnificent frigatebird soaring over the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden. It’s not a value judgement. It’s the name of the bird.Brown anole spotted at the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden. Experts tell me it’s an invasive species from Cuba, if I remember correctly.Northern curly-tailed lizard right outside our hotel. It has the curliest tail of any lizard in the entire world. At least of the lizards I’ve seen, whose tails really aren’t that curly at all.
Good Morning! Sunrise today in Key West.Panorama. Bud N’ Mary’s Marina, Islamorada, Florida.Shark and tarpon feeding frenzy at Bud N’ Mary’s Marina. A deckhand is flinging fish guts into the water as he’s cleaning the catch.
Good Morning! Here is sunrise today three time zones east of Arizona. Or is it two? Anyway, this is not my backyard.Black-chinned hummingbird flying at the San Pedro House is today’s Daily Hummingbird.
Bird on a stick at the San Pedro House.Daily Hummingbird: She’s a broad-billed, I believe, flying in my backyard.Today’s sunrise panorama in my backyard.Gratuitous hummingbird photo: really scruffy Anna’s, like a fledgling.
The bees are so covered in pollen, I can’t really tell the species. These are various prickly pear cactus flowers in my neighborhood. Female broad-billed hummingbird flying in my backyard. Look at the fuzzy gunk on her beak!Panoramic dawn moonrise in my backyard today.Wilson’s warbler in the mesquite.
Good Morning! Here is the panoramic dawn moonrise in my backyard today.Daily Hummingbirds! That’s right. There are two! Both are females. Both spotted at the San Pedro House. The first is a black-chinned. The second is a broad-billed. Look at the fuzzy gunk on her beak!Gambel’s quail calling to one of his pals.My nemesis bird. Hooded oriole, hiding among the branches, won’t come any closer than the far side of the tree.Wilson’s warbler.
Here are some blooming prickly pear cactus yesterday in my neighborhood. Hopefully, seeing these will bring some warmth to snowbirds who may have left southern Arizona too early for the dark, cold North, arriving “home” to face whiteout, icy snow. Makes you wonder if they had to put chains on their vehicle to even get down their driveway to begin digging out a path to their front door.Super-scruffy female Anna’s hummingbird flying in my backyard. She is today’s Daily Hummingbird.Curve-billed thrasher weirdly doesn’t have the curviest bill of the thrashers.Panoramic dawn today with moonrise and freaky sunrays along the horizon.
Anna’s hummingbird flying with her tongue out in my backyard. She is today’s Daily Hummingbird.Here is today’s panoramic sunrise in my backyard with a freaky, long-exposure, flying bird. Do you see it?Ornithology Challenge: Identify this bird. It is a flycatcher of sorts. Spotted along the trail from the San Pedro House to the San Pedro River. In fact, about half-way there, because there was a dude playing with his dog at the end of the trail, repeatedly throwing a stick, and the dog was obviously off-lease, and the entire situation seemed antithetical to finding any birds or other wildlife to photograph. Post your answers in the comments!
There were so many birders at the San Pedro House that I went to hike the trail along the San Pedro River. The butterfly, though, was actually spotted at the San Pedro House. Experts tell me the butterfly is a bordered patch butterfly. The literature says that their identification is “variable,” which explains why my butterfly didn’t look like the reference images. The best method of identification is to contact your regional institution of higher learning and scientific research and request DNA sequencing. Experts haven’t told me yet what species the caterpillar is. If you know the species of the caterpillar, please post it in the comment section.Today’s Daily Hummingbird is this broad-billed flying at the San Pedro House.Dawn in my backyard today. When there are no clouds, your choices are to get some early dawn photos, when there is some color, or wait for actual sunrise and try to catch some sunrays. I turned on the security light on the Mancave for some added interest.
Brian Peterson Photography 