Wow! A New Post!

I know, I know. It's been a long time. Let's just say that I've been very distracted. I also found the camera! (quite a while ago. ;-)

I was wondering if I could enlist all of your help with identifying the plants in my front yard. I only know that I have bouganvilla at the end, and some sort of iris toward the middle. Plants are not my strong suit, though I really like them. (Heather, you're going to get your photos!!!)

The plant that's nagging at me the most is the big pink bushy thing on the right hand side of the house in the above photo. Here is a shot of its flower.
It's closed because it's been cool. When they're open, they look somewhat like a hibiscus flower... like a lot of flowers do around here it seems. haha.

Another plant is the one with the long stems sticking out with small oval reddish-green leaves on either side. The flower from that plant looks like this:

And finally, the last plant that currently has me stumped has
green and yellow leaves.


I know I could probably do searches on the internet for this stuff, but I'm not sure where to start and figured I could pick all your magnificent brains for info first. :)

Better posts for next time!

The Ivory-Bill is back?

OK, so I still haven't unearthed the camera. I'm too busy trying to get the kitchen in order. I hate trying to cook in a messy kitchen. We bought cork (from Williams-Sonoma :) to line the shelves, but I have serious cork cutting and measuring disabilities, so I have to wait until Ron can finish it to put everything away. Thank goodness there's an artist in this house! But I digress...

My real point was the news about the ivory-billed woodpecker. It was seen first maybe in 2004 by a kayaker? This was in the big woods of Arkansas. Since then, Cornell University has led the main thrust of the investigation into whether ivory-bills still exist. They were thought to have been extinct since the 1940's. Now sightings have even been reported in the panhandle of Florida! Now I have to say, that the ivory-bill seems very distinct (to me) from the pileated woodpecker. They have a wide white wing bar (visible in flight and at rest) that would not be visible in the pileated. They also have a huge ivory colored bill. The pileated's is smaller and darker. Furthermore, they are larger overall with one white stripe along the neck instead of two, and the female has a black crest instead of red like the pileated. All of those things could make for some very conclusive identification. My feeling on it is this: If bird experts saw it and say it's an ivory-bill, then they are most likely right. It's just very exciting that an extinct species may prove to be still alive after all.

If you go to the Cornell site, there are lots of sound files, photos and a video a man shot accidentally that shows the flash of white barred black wings through the forest. Looks like an ivory bill to me! :) I can't wait until they find conclusive proof. I wish I could sign up for that volunteer position to help look for them!