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The wild life in this swampy part of the world is quite amazing and there is rarely a week that goes by that I don't see something that makes me go "wow" and run to find the camera.

Currently, we have a little red headed woodpecker ( think Woody) making what seems to be a nest in an old dead palm tree that happens to be center stage in the back yard. It appears to be a home that over the years either many woodpeckers have used or the same one winters here, and then I am assuming, in spring brings his/her little brood into the world. Lately when we take the doggies out for potty time most of the time, this little woodpecker is sitting cozy in his hole/nest and all that is visible are his/her little head and eyes closely monitoring us and the dogs. We are trying not to get too close to the nest so as not to scare him away forever and I have yet to get a decent picture of him/her. All day he spends working on the opening and cleaning out debris from the interior and, I believe, replacing it with new debris to line the nest with anticipation of what might be to come in the next few months. So don't worry I am working on that little photo...but until then I discovered a very pleasant surprise during the last rain.

I have noticed that during, as well as the first sunny day, following a rainy day the wild life comes out in droves. The last rain we had I noticed that we have red breasted robins...a whole flock of them were out in the front yard, I assume digging for worms that were attempting to make their way out of the saturated soil and I noticed something else - a little family of cardinals... wow. I haven't seen cardinals since I lived in Nebraska back in the late 70's. I am assuming that they migrate down here from a colder part of the country and spend the winter here.

Sadly, by the time I changed lenses, set up the tripod for a zoom shot, a school bus had gone by and the noise scared both the robins and the cardinals away.

Luckily, I think that this little family of cardinals is living in a tree that is adjacent to our back yard and I found them later in the day when the sun came out in the back yard. The shot was taken with my portrait lens so there is some distance ( portrait lenses don't zoom very well lol) so that is another goal - to get a better photo that you can actually see the bird and not just a red blob in the yard.

Anyway, trust me, these are cardinals and of course click on the pic and it will show up a bit larger on your computer screen.

Enjoy
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