Chicken

I think this rooster lives across the street but I am not sure. Anyhow, it is pretty cool, he roams around and the neighbor says the cats are afraid of him. He likes a bit of bread....

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Another caterpillar

Here is another caterpillar we found on an oleander bush. It looks almost the same as the Oct. 1st butterfly but the hairs are much longer and fuzzier.  We'll see what he turns into. It was hard to photograph him, he was moving fast and never stopped. We actually have three of these guys in the bug hut.

Butterfly

This is the butterfly from the October 1st 2011 caterpillar. He was gorgeous and we let him free in the back yard. This is the first cocoon we have done ever I believe... You can also see another, different caterpillar behind him.

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And here is the cocoon he made...

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And here is the original caterpillar

And there you have it... from caterpillar to butterfly, just amazing.

Another Cocoon

We saw these at least a month ago, so I do not know how long it has been in a cocoon or even what is in it. But I will be able to tell you what it becomes, someday.

Cocoon(ing)

The caterpillar from a couple of days ago is already spinning his cocoon. We can still see it is not complete, but he is not moving so I do not know how he will finish it. Until we took this picture we did not see the wide array of web on the inside of the bottle. How long will he be in the cocoon? Who knows? Stay tuned to find out. Maybe a little research is required here.

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Invasion!

We found these guys at a neighbors house feasting on a Passion Fruit plant. They did a good amount of damage overnight but probably not life threatening to the Passion Fruit. There were also a bunch of red and black (not Monarch) butterflies mating and flying around our heads. Stay tuned, as soon as he is in a cocoon I will try to photograph that and finally when he emerges a butterfly. I have him in a water bottle with some leaves and a bit of water in the bottom, and holes melted in with a hot nail. He is about 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" long. Pretty cool.

Toads

We saw these little guys out last night. Hopefully they are getting plenty of bugs...less I have to deal with. I think the first one is a toad but the second one I am not sure if it is a toad or a frog. As always click for a larger image.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Big Bug

This is a big bug. He landed on the screened in porch (lanai) and let me poke and prod him and take his picture. We saw one of these a few weeks before when we had stopped at the serpentarium on the way back from the beach. I did not photograph that one although I believe he was larger by a third and was a little more colorful. When I was talking to Bill he said he and his daughter had seen one also about a week ago.

Screen Runner Squirrel

When the squirrel jumped on the screen it would make noise. Later on this squirrel learned that jumping on the screen would get our attention. This was a fun opportunity for us since the neighbors dog had already damaged the screen. I don't really recommend this as the squirrel did  do a bit of damage to the screen, but it was very minor compared to a dog scratching it.

Catcher

We believe this is a female so her name has been changed to Catcherita. Sometime this Fall she broke her top beak in half, but she is doing fine despite it, and in fact seems to be the dominant jay in the yard.

Double Stuff getting a nut 2

Double Stuff getting a nut

Double Stuff getting corn 2

Double Stuff (aka Chumba Wumba) Bungee Jumping

Make Peanut Butter Pine Cones for Birds - wikiHow

Make Peanut Butter Pine Cones for Birds - wikiHow

Scratch the Squirrel

MMMMMMMMmmmmmm........

Predator in the Yard

This guy was in the yard around 7:30 this morning. You can't tell from the photo but he looked a bit smaller than a crow. He finally got tired of me taking his picture and left. He's not in the picture here but Scratch(squirrel) is on the opposite side of the tree trunk across from the bird. The bird apparently wasn't after him, maybe the squirrel was a bit big. The pics are a little dark because it is overcast this morning. Click pictures to enlarge images.





This one is a little blurry... I used the digital zoom to get closer.

Pine Siskins

Pine Siskins, originally uploaded by maddogandnoriko.

Duck!!

Ducks swimming in the Beck's pond across the street.

Warming up to the Feeder Tray

Finally some little birds are trying the new feeder tray out.