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Sunrise. It happens every day. Many of us are still in bed or busy rushing to jobs or getting the kids ready for school and don’t notice our sun coming up right on schedule. Then – there are other days.

Our trip to the forest had already been an adventure. Some of those rushing to that job were so excited about getting there the dense fog didn’t slow them down one bit. Ghost vehicles suddenly appeared behind us only to zoom around, swerving back just in time to avoid becoming a grill decoration for an oncoming 18-wheeler.

Relief. We left the main highway, made a couple of turns on rural roads and just at “official sunrise time” arrived at the welcome red clay road which runs straight for ten miles through the heart of a portion of the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest. Today we could scarcely see a few dozen yards ahead, much less the sun. Perfect!

Longleaf pines on either side of us faded into gray apparitions before disappearing altogether. The air was damp and normal sounds of the forest were absent. No birds or insects at all. Standing still, the silence was ethereal and quite pleasant.

It was the third week of February. Cold weather had taken a break and the day began a bit cool and became comfortably warm by 10:00. The forest understory was littered with small white decorations Gini declared fairies had created during the night. Close. Little sheetweaver spiders could be considered fairies. Right?

Imperceptibly, the low ground-hugging cloud layers disappeared to reveal bright blue skies dotted with a few pure white clouds. Bird calls and songs seemed to be all around us. Insects scattered with each footfall. A fox squirrel scolded loudly at our intrusion into its domain. Flowers. In February.

See for yourself……

Fairies. Worldwide there are nearly 5,000 species of sheetweaver and dwarf spiders (Family Linyphiidae). I don’t think we saw that many webs, but we didn’t actually count them all.

One of the members of this large family is called a Bowl and Doily Weaver Spider (Frontinella communis). Pretty distinctive web.

This looks like there may have been a web-building contest between a sheetweaver and an orbweaver.

The sun began making an effort to burn through the fog at our favorite breakfast spot on the shore of a small lake.

The support structure of a boat dock made a fine spot for an orbweaver to showcase her talents. Morning dew added a few jewels to her creation.

As the fog lifted, the woods and scrub became active and loud. A Northern Mockingbird stopped singing long enough to glance our way just to be sure we were no threat.

Some areas were littered with Florida Pricklypear (Opuntia austrina) and Deer Moss Lichen (Cladonia spp.).

A small female Downy Woodpecker busily probed for breakfast.

Slightly larger than its cousin, the Downy, a Hairy Woodpecker has a noticeably larger bill. This species is not very common throughout Florida.

We did not expect to see much in the way of blooming flora at this time of year, and we didn’t. A nice surprise were several patches of Florida Lupine (Lupinus floridanus). Different from other Lupine species by less intensely-colored blooms, this plant is endemic to Florida and only occurs in a few counties.

Another unexpected pleasure was finding several butterfly species searching for something with nectar. (“Hey – over there – Lupine juice!”) This small Barred Yellow (Eurema daira) is in its winter form and as summer approaches the underside will turn satiny white.

Found only in scrub areas in Florida, the Florida Scrub Jay remains in loose family groups throughout the year. As breeding season kicks in, first-year birds from the previous season will help take care of newly hatched jays this year. Typical of jays, once one spotted us, he raised the alarm and a half-dozen soon surrounded us yelling and pointing.

From thick fog-soaked forest to sunny skies and singing birds, our morning in the pine woods was incredibly enjoyable. We can’t wait to get back. Gini is itching to get her feet in that red clay and dance, dance, dance.

We hope you enjoy your search for a natural place and come back for a visit!