A Peaceful Easy Morning
Header Image: Skin Pattern, Water Moccasin
There is nothing quite like a large yellow flower in a field of brown grass to grab one’s attention. Prickly Pear blooms dotted the landscape this morning. We appreciated it.
Mornings still have a hint of coolness and have not yet evolved into the sub-tropical heavy air filled with humidity that we will soon enjoy. Gini and I reflected today on how reassuring the visits to our natural places have become. It would be easy to succumb to pessimism and callous indifference with the onslaught of negative news and behavior to which we are exposed on a daily basis.
Nature is predictable. The sun rises each day. It may be obscured by clouds or fog, but we KNOW it is there. Flocks of White Ibises, Cattle Egrets and Double-crested Cormorants move from their night-time roosts to feeding areas and retrace their flights just before sundown. Flowers bloom. Insects pollinate the flowers. Birds eat the insects and sing about it. Alligators maintain watch in their watery neighborhood. All of this happens whether or not we are present to observe.
Nature is sort of like our reset button.
We enjoyed another breakfast together at the side of the lake lined with tall Cypress trees all draped with Spanish Moss. A pair of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flew low in front of us. Three Swallow-tailed Kites cruised the shoreline just above the trees. As we checked a few favorite spots, we felt as if we were dropping in on old friends to make sure they were doing well today. Actually, I suppose that is exactly what we were doing.
Nothing we saw this morning was exceptionally unusual.
Everything we saw this morning was exceptionally satisfying.
Prickly Pear, Devil’s-Tongue, Cactus. (Opuntia spp.) From a dull green flat pad guarded by long, sharp thorns emerges a glorious bright yellow flower.
Red-bellied Woodpeckers are by far the most common woodpecker species in our area. At this time of year, adults are searching non-stop for insect morsels for hungry chicks.
A bright green female Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) was busy devouring what may have been an Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera), but I’m not sure about the victim’s identification.
Edgy raptor. Red-shouldered Hawks tend to hang around the boundaries of changing habitat. A wood line adjacent to a field, the shore of a lake – any spot where they can observe and react quickly.
It’s natural for us to see a Water Moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus), also called a Cottonmouth Moccasin, since we spend a lot of time exploring within its preferred habitat – wet. Fortunately, as with most wild things, they usually slither off the road or path as we approach. Usually.
As the sun dries the dew from the landscape, insect activity increases. This, in turn, brings out insect predators such as the dragonflies. A Red Saddlebags (Tramea onusta) likes to perch atop a bare stem which provides an unobstructed view of any potential prey flying nearby.
There are many lakes in our natural places around central Florida. All of them support healthy populations of fish. Bald Eagles like fish. A lot. It’s common to see them heading from one fishing hotspot to another.
Golden wings with bold stripes identify the Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina).
A Red-tailed Hawk is a treat to see any day. Recently, a pair appears to be tending a nest in the area. We haven’t located it yet, but seeing these magnificent raptors soaring in our blue skies is encouraging.
Just as we decided it was time to head home, the clear sweet song of an Eastern Meadowlark caused us to linger a bit longer.
Our peaceful easy morning soothed our souls. No rare bird to report nor did we see any Panthers or endangered plants. What we DID see, however, was nature going about the business of survival. How could we not marvel at such a spectacle?
Enjoy your search for a natural place and come back for a visit!
Our Natural Places 
It does seem like there are more yellow flowers blooming right now. I haven’t been able to ID a couple of them but I am seeing a few of the sunflowers already. Love everything you saw and there’s something to be said for a peaceful day. Enjoy your weekend!
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Thank you, Diane!
Our prospects for peaceful days seem to increase the further we travel into Nature.
The weekend is already wonderful!
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Beautiful compositions of the Prickly Pear, Wally! Loved all your photos. I was surprised to see the Eastern Meadowlark, I did not know they were in Florida, how awesome! I have two places I can visit to see them near me. I much enjoyed trying to capture all the Red-shoulder Hawks you have in Florida during our visits as they are not so common here, but we do have lots of Red-tails. Let’s get these two together to help ‘fix’ our local dilemmas of not seeing the other so much, they are both gorgeous hawks! 😉
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Thank you very much, Donna!
Hard for us to pass up a bright yellow flower. Well, okay, hard to pass up ANY flower!
The Eastern Meadowlark breeds here and in Spring through Fall the air is filled with their clear song.
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It is our pleasure and enjoyment to marvel at such spectacle! 😲 Thanks for sharing.
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You are very welcome!
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I completely missed the prickly pear blooms this year, so it’s a real pleasure to see yours, and remember how beautiful they are.
I laughed at the thought of a snake taking shelter in prickly pear shade. It reminded me of the old jokes about west Texas jackrabbits seeking shade next to telephone poles, and the reality of our marina mallards resting on the docks in the shade of pilings. They experience their own peaceful, easy feelings, and get up only to move with the shadows. As a fisherman, you probably know that gardo that, too. If you want to find an alligator gar here in high summer, look in the piling shadows on the water.
I’m quite fond of Halloween Pennants. Their perching preference certainly does resemble a pennant blowing free in the wind, and their tendency to return to and linger on the same perch makes them pretty easy to photograph.
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It was exciting to go around a curve and see the large expanse of brown grass dotted with plenty of Prickly Pear flowers. The only trick was to check that brown grass before laying down to take a picture. Durned little cacti hadn’t poked through the top layer yet but my stomach and chest found ’em with no problem!
Yep, fishing in the summer in shallow lakes meant probing under anything that created shade. Bass and bluegill lay under the lily pads, but the gar could be quicker to grab the bait!
Why can’t all butterflies behave as politely as the Halloween Pennant?
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That post title had me scratching my head as it was so familiar to me but I couldn’t work out why – until I read Steve’s comment – I guess it’s less than a week since I last listened to that Eagles number (I’m a bit of a fan).
This post has filled me full of joy with it featuring dragons, snakes, raptors, and a woodpecker – and even the cacti were a delight as, about 50 years ago, my main hobby was growing cacti – I had several hundred of them!
All is motoring along steadily here.
My very best wishes to you and Gini – – – Richard
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An Eagles fan! They apparently attract a higher class of intellectual admirer. Well, at least two of us.
We were pretty full of joy, too, while watching the day unfold. Very satisfying morning. Several hundred cacti!!
Gini and I hope you and Lindsay are doing at least as well as the two of us!
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Hi Wally and Gini. How wise you both are about the reset button. I watch less and less TV these days to avoid the negativity and the propaganda spewed out by all of out TV Channels bar one – GB News. When politicians drop stuff through our letterbox it goes back in their prepaid envelopes with a scrawled message most suitable for whoever sent it. You in the US probably have the same saying? “Cheeks of the same arse” (butt). I think that in this case, I could find lots of use for those ripe, sharp Prickly Pears.
Good to see your dragons doing what they do best. The Halloween Pennant looks to have copied its colours from an African Tiger?
It’s true. We in the UK are having a hot dry and sunny spell for 3 weeks now – most unusual, and any day now we expect to be warned it is a sure sign of catastrophic global warming rather than an old fashioned British Summer. And probably a hose pipe ban just to reinforce the message. For sure, it will rain for 4 weeks when it’s over and that too will be down to you and me spending too much time driving around birding rather than the pattern of weather we’ve seen for a number of years.
Andy is still in Florida. I think he’s calling in to you on his last day tomorrow as he’s spent up in Disney and needs a loan.
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Nature is so much more entertaining, nice to look at and downright satisfying than anything the boobtoob can offer.
It’s been good to see more and more dragon and other buggy activity lately, but quite frustrating the little beasties won’t hold still for my shaky lens. (That “vibration reduction” thingy modern cameras use needs to be upgraded to “old-person stabilizer” button.)
If you continue having those sunny days, you will have no need to abscond to Skiathos each year. (No worries. I have it on good authority the planet is headed for an imminent Ice Age.)
I stood in front of the house holding out cash all day yesterday. Andy apparently got lost escaping the Giant Mouse. Lots of strangers were happy for the sacks of money, though.
Gini and I are both doing disgustingly well. Blissful days of birding, lunching on truffle sandwiches and relaxing by the azure waters of the swamp.
Take good care out there.
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Very nice assortment of flora and fauna. We spotted prickly pear’s at the Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge, though no flowers quite yet in April.
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Thanks, Brad! We usually see the cactus flowers a couple of time during the year. The thorns – they’re present at all times!
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Thank you. Nature is the best artist and her galleries are superb. Your reset button reset me too. I have been reading the news this morning and NEEDED a reset.
Prickly Pear was introduced over here. It likes it here. A LOT, and has become a pest.
Some people cook and eat the fruit though and I occasionally see it for sale.
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You’re welcome, EC. Any time.
I have read about the Prickly Pear invasion down under. Typical cactus. Can’t behave.
In the meantime, Nature paints, we adore.
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That Halloween Pondhawk is a beauty, with his scarlet wing-lights. I’ve often wondered about the advantages of those tiny flecks of color on the tips of dragonfly wings. I’ve noticed scarlet, orange, and yellow, all very bright pure colors, clearly meant to be seen.
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Thanks, Sam.
I’ve read those bits of color, called stigma, may act to signal a mate or a rival. They may also help add balance and structural integrity to the wings.
Nature is fascinating!
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I don’t think of prickly pears in Florida, which shows my ignorance. (Actually many other people probably also don’t imagine prickly pears there.) How nice that they’re still flowering near you.
Your inclusion of the bald eagle could serve as a tribute to the group whose song seems to have inspired the title of this post.
That’s a good (if gruesome) dragonfly predation portrait. What can we say? Nature is like that.
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We grew up here in Florida and learned how much snakes like to use the Prickly Pear for shade. That knowledge came in handy when we camped in Texas.
Nice catch on the Eagle(s) reference.
I guess I should have put a warning label on the post: “Graphic Violence In This Post”.
The circle of life can be ugly.
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Different places, different particulars. Can’t say I’ve ever come across a snake taking advantage of the shade under a prickly pear cactus in Texas. Maybe it happens here too and I just haven’t seen it.
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We found it to be fairly common in West Texas. Less availability of shade likely played a role.
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