Brown Thrashers are secretive and hard to spot in their favorite dense thickets and shrubs. They are exuberant singers, like the Northern Mockingbird, with a repertoire of more than 1,000 different song types.

The Eastern Phoebe is a plump songbird with a medium-length tail. It consumes vast quantities of flying insects including wasps, bees, flying ants, moths, and butterflies.

Ann's garden

Robins build a bowl-shaped nest made of twigs and mud, lined with dry grass. The female sits on the nest to incubate the eggs and, later, the nestlings. This nest is above a window at the yoga barn. Eggs take two weeks to hatch and chicks fledge two weeks later. That should be around June 26. Good timing!

Barn in Fancy Gap

Meet Freddy, son of Fritzi

Canada Geese mate for life and the young goslings remain with their parents for their entire first year. Families feed on grasses, seeds, and berries. Flying in V-formation, northbound in spring, southbound in fall, Canada Geese signal the changing of seasons.

Florida Blue Jays are one of the loudest and most colorful birds of eastern back yards and woodlots. They are the first to sound an alarm about a Cooper's Hawk in the neighborhood. They will even attack hawks and owls by “mobbing” them, causing such a ruckus that other songbirds heed the warning about the raptors’ presence.

Florida’s central Atlantic coast has 35 miles of hard-packed sand that is great for wheels and walking.

Birds' feathers require constant care through preening and bathing to remove dirt and parasites that can cause infection and disease. Birds prefer shallow water they can splash around until their bodies are just wet enough. After dampening the feathers, birds preen to loosen dirt and keep feathers soft and flexible for flying.

Main Street, Safety Harbor

Gopher tortoises can live 40 to 60 years in the wild, spending 80% of their time near their burrow, feeding on low-growing plants in their environment. They nest and lay eggs in sunny locations near the entrance to their burrow. Gopher tortoises are ectotherms, depending on their burrow to maintain body temperature. The primary threat to the gopher tortoise is loss of habitat from urbanization and land development.

From Harbor Dish art mural. This organization works with local farmers, restaurants and other businesses to make healthy food for people in need so they may dine with dignity in a warm and welcoming environment.

This is a female Boat-tailed Grackle. Its male counterpart is glossy black. These grackles have long V-shaped tails, like the keel of a boat. They are gregarious birds with loud abrasive calls. They feed on small crustaceans, insects, lizards, and frogs.

Male anoles, in order to lure in females for breeding, puff their throats out as they bob their heads and do push ups.

The Mourning Dove, one of the most common birds from Canada to Mexico, breeds prolifically. A pair mates for life and may raise up to six broods per year.

Safety Harbor Pier

Main Street

Nora

The Laughing Gull, named for its call which sounds like someone laughing loudly, has long wings and looks graceful when flying. It has a black head white arcs around the eye. In breeding season, its beak and feet are red.

The Karol Hotel