More Wildlife Sightings at the Walmart Pond

Juvenile Alligator, Early March 2016

The area where this Walmart shopping center is located on CR 466 is generally called the “Buffalo Ridge” area near The Villages, FL. It is across the highway from the charter schools.   There are two small ponds at the right side of the shopping area and I often visit these bodies of water to spot a variety of wildlife.  By the way, the juvenile Alligator is now about four feet long!  Alligators grow quickly and especially so when there is a lot of food in their environment.

I often see Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, a Little Blue Heron, Anhingas, Coots, Moorhens, and various ducks in the two ponds.  This also is where I saw that big flock of Cattle Egrets a few weeks ago.  The larger of the two ponds is directly at the side of the Walmart parking lot.  That larger pond often has more going on as far as bird life.  Always fun to see which big birds are around!  By the way, I love love love, the pizza at NYPD Pizza, which is at the shoreline of the smaller of the two ponds!  No, they have not given me any consideration for this unofficial review!  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger version of the picture.  Enjoy!

Male Red-winged Blackbird

Anhinga

 

 

Snowy Egret

Double Crested Cormorant

Juvenile Alligator, April 9, 2016

 

 

 

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Wordless Wednesday

Male Eastern Bluebird

House Finches

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Just a collection of photographs of birds I took in my yard on Feb. 8, 2013, and again on Feb. 9, 2013.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Male Red-winged Blackbird

European Starlings

Male Northern Cardinal

Yard Critters on a Hot Steamy Monday

Male
Red-winged Blackbird

A Great Blue Heron, Red-winged Blackbird, a Cotton-tailed Rabbit and several different birds were out and about in my yards and along the road in front of my place here on the little farm yesterday afternoon.  It was a steamy afternoon here with the temperature at 90 degrees (F.) and very high humidity.  It has been off and on cloudy with brief rains recently so the humid weather has been with us for awhile.  I can’t complain as we do need the moisture.

The pictures really reflect the haze in the air.  I saw that big flock of Starlings again yesterday and took a picture of them in flight.  Very impressive numbers to see up above one’s home.  I also saw my friend the Red-headed Woodpecker up on a familiar perch.  Funny to see the different woodpeckers all doing similar activities – guess that’s just nature.  I took all of these pictures yesterday, July 23, 2012 here in the yards or on the street just in front of the property.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Red-headed Woodpecker

Cotton-tailed Rabbit

Chipping Sparrow

Great Blue Heron

European Starlings

An Almost Wordless Wednesday

Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker

Cotton-tailed Rabbit

I took these pictures in my yard yesterday, July 17, 2012.   Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Barn Swallows

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Red-headed Woodpecker

Canada Goslings Learning to Fly

Birds at the Feeder

Here are a few more pictures I have taken of the various songbirds that come to the bird feeder that is next to my front porch.  I see these birds on a regular basis.  The “King” of the bird feeder is the male Red-winged Blackbird.  He makes one or two circuits, walking around the tray of the feeder before leaving.  I am not sure if this action was because at first he was not clear about how to get the birdseed out, and it has become a habit,  or if the action is a territorial claim.

The other birds that come to the feeder here are:  the Brown-headed Cow Birds, the Chipping Sparrow, the Tufted Titmice, the Red-headed Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatches, and House Finches.  Occasionally I also see Mourning Doves near the feeder and also Canada Geese, Wood Ducks, and Mallard Ducks as well.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

A Ruby-Red Cardinal at the Feeder

This male Northern Cardinal is in the height of his glory feather color-wise.  Nesting season is when the birds, especially so for the males, don their brightest and most handsome colors.  This is to impress the female birds, even if the female is already the male’s mate.  So hubba-hubba, this Northern Cardinal is spectacular in the sunlight at the bird feeder.  He has learned to find tasty bird seeds such as the Sunflower Seed, cracked Corn, and Millet.

The only thing that occasionally changes his plans is the bully bird, a male Red-Winged Blackbird.  That Blackbird is quite territorial about the feeder which he has claimed.  So the cardinal works around the comings and goings of the Blackbird!  I took these pictures from my living room window on April 30, 2012.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!