My Florida Tropical Garden

Lately we've had a couple artic blasts coming through causing a long stretch of freezing weather here in Central Florida, which is unusual for our zone. I took some pictures below of some ice hanging from a Sago palm tree in our backyard and a plate of frozen water I removed from our bird bath. In fact, today some parts of Florida had actually seen snow flurries! Some Florida residents were making mini-snowman's with the winter surprise from the sky. I wasn't lucky enough to get any snow at my house though. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. LOL

The low temperature tonight is suppose to be 26°F in my area, the coldest so far. We are covering our tropical plants to prevent freeze damage which can kill palm trees and delicate perennials. Hopefully most of the plants will survive this cold snap but it's not likely everything will make it. Here's some photo's...

Just a quick update on the birds. The male/female pair of Cardinals, about 3 Tufted Titmice and at least 2 Doves still remain in the area. They stop by to feed just about everyday. Since it's been cold outside, I've been keeping a close-eye on the feeders, refilling with more seed if needed so the wildlife can survive the cold nights. Also I wanted to show you all a great video I recorded today of a Tufted Titmouse picking at a sunflower seed.

A couple weeks ago I pictured a young male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak that was using our feeder daily for awhile. Unfortunately I haven't seen it in the last couple of weeks so I think it has moved farther south to warmer night climates. Here's whats feeding on our bird seed mix now (black oil sunflower, safflower, milo, white millet, cracked corn):

Small group of Tufted Titmice
Male and Female pair of Cardinals
3 Mourning Doves feeding on the ground

Yesterday I spotted a new bird using the feeder that I believe was a female Painted Bunting. It only stayed for about 10 minutes and I wasn't able to get a clear photo. I've also spotted a single Carolina Wren hanging around every now and then.

Tufted Titmouse on a windy day, so cute!

Caroline Wren sitting on our grill


Today I placed an order for some more bird seed at Lowes and found a great mix in Scotts Colorful Bird Blend Seed. It has it ALL! nyjer seed, safflower, black oil sunflower seed, peanuts, white millet, sunflower chips, canary seed, raisins, red millet, juniper berries. Also grabbed a seperate 10 lb. bag of black oil sunflower seed since I normally mix more sunflower into the feeder mix. Lately squirrels have been eating more seed than the birds, so i'm trying something new with a Squirrel Bungee feeder, hoping to distract them away from the bird feeders with this. If that doesn't work, I bought a Squirrel Guard for the feeder pole. =)

Scotts 8-lbs. Colorful Bird Blend Seed
Garden Treasures 10-lbs. Black Oil Sunflower Bird Seed
Garden Treasures 16" Squirrel Guard
Birdola Squirrel Bungee Feeder and Cake Combo

While watching our bird feeders today, there was a different bird hanging around that we haven't seen before. It took some research, but I learned it's an immature male rose-breasted grosbeak. The immature male is difficult to identify because it resembles the colors of the female. However, you can see the rosey tint on it's chest and black on the wings, which the female doesn't have.

The adult male is absolutely stunning though, a very attractive bird. The link below shows an adult male rose-breasted grosbeak

adult male rose-breasted grosbeak picture

Information on the Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The small bird feeder in our backyard has been attracting some hungry wildlife. A pair of Tufted Titmouse birds are visiting the feeder everyday, and also a male & female Cardinal are using it frequently.