Thursday, January 22, 2009

Fruit & Feathers



This is my first post for SkyWatch. I hope y'all don't mind that I combined it with my Friday's Feathers post.

Today's Friday's Feathers belong to the Bluegray Gnatcatcher:


If you subscribe to Friday's Feathers, you've seen this little guy before, from a different angle. The Bluegray Gnatcatcher is a bug-eater. He spends most of his time in trees and shrubs hawking for insects. He's a really good neighbor, fun to watch, and hard to photograph. :-) This time he silhouetted himself against the brilliant blue South Florida winter sky, perched on the large mango tree in my backyard.

For reference, the mango trees generally start blooming in January, but this year, they got started several weeks early. It also seems that, for some reason, all of the mango trees in the area have been blooming much more heavily than in recent years. No one knows if this will result in heavier crops of fruit, since they still have to survive the winds of March and the rains of April, or even the recent Arctic cold snap (and future ones). Personally, I haven't had a single piece of fruit off of them in 3 years - but the bees have been particularly busy and it could happen!

Please click on the photo for a way better look.

Don't forget to check out more SkyWatch images here. And for more Friday's Feathers, click here.

Happy Weekend!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so pretty with the gnatcatcher, blue sky and the pinkish tree...Clever to combine them both RJ...

SaraG said...

Pretty picture!
Welcome to SWF!!
Take care

magiceye said...

looks wonderful when enlarged!

Anonymous said...

Great shot! Have a nice day! :)

Guy D said...

I love the blue sky, great shot.

Cheers!
Regina In Pictures

Anonymous said...

Welcome to Skywatch Friday RJ! I like the enlarged photo of the Gnatcatcher. Very Nice!

I love your avatar of Alice in Wonderland ;-)

vincibene said...

Beautiful picture! I love the soft colors and it remembers me at spring.

Dughallmor Beagles said...

What a gorgeous photo, perfect for SWF and FF! We often incorporate our memes into regular posts :o)
Thanks for your visit

Michele said...

Ah, wonderful combination and it works very nicely... great contrast... good work!
Mountain Retreat

Susan at Stony River said...

Friday feathers and Skywatch certainly do work well together--and I love the clear sky you've got!

I've never seen a mango tree before but it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Have a lovely weekend in your beautiful weather!
:-)

Anonymous said...

The gnatcatcher is a real cutey - not that the bugs would think so :)

A perfect combination of two memes.

Dewdrop said...

Welcome to SWF!!!! I hope you feel welcome in our beautiful community. This is a great capture. I am thrilled to see bird watchers coming aboard. Seems the perfect fit.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to Skywatch Friday!! what a great photo to begin with!

luvmyboys said...

Welcome to SWF! Great shot of both the gnatcatcher and the beautiful sky!

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I like your pic, and enjoyed it enlarged, as well. Happy SWF!

Amanda said...

What a beautiful blue sky and cute bird. Welcome to Sky Watch! Great job!!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
 
ss_blog_claim=1f14b0e02a4db68a0cdb077acb6cfbcb