My Florida Tropical Garden

One of the wild vines we have in our backyard is a Cypress Vine, also known as the Hummingbird Vine. It has taken over a corner of our backyard and spreading fast all over the large Sago palm tree. This vigoriously growing vine has fernlike foilage with small bright red trumpets that bloom for 3-4 months in the summer and fall.

This plant has attracted our first hummingbird in our area. It visits briefly about once a day checking out the red flowers on this vine. Now we put a new hummingbird feeder outside on a shepherds hook. They haven't found the feeder yet but it's in the right location close to the cypress vine. We'll see how well the hummingbird feeder works out by the end of the year.

In this post I will briefly update the birds we've seen in our backyard recently.

First I'll start with the year-round residents who seem to have found a local home here. The most common bird around our feeders are the Mourning Doves. At least 2-3 visit everyday, while some days I see up to 8 or 9 doves fighting over a spot to eat.



The Tufted Titmice are still here, usually in small groups of 2 or 3. I can always tell when a hawk is in the area since these titmice are very vocal to alert others of a possible threat.

The male and female pair of Cardinals are still here too. They usually travel together and occassionally the male will feed the female.

My favorites are a couple of Black-capped Chickadees that seem to travel with the Tufted Titmice often. These small chickadees are the most adorable birds ever, and their calls are even more adorable.

And finially here's a female Painted Bunting that recently showed up since the first cold snap that hit our area last week. I remember seeing these birds last fall/winter, so I'm pretty sure they are migrating from the north.