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So much sky!

We become accustomed to the view from our yards, towns, local woods or, in our case, swamp habitat. Our line of sight is limited by buildings, fences or trees. Hiking through the woods provides glimpses of the heavens through small overhead windows but nothing like we were enjoying on this trip.

Once upon a time, prior to Florida’s human settlement, there existed over 2,000 square miles of dry prairie throughout the central part of the peninsula. This vast semi-open range was home to a large number of “Florida Cows”, remnants of cattle brought by Spanish explorers nearly 500 years ago. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Florida was very busy in the cattle ranching business. “Cow Hunters” annually rounded up what were fairly wild herds and drove them to Gulf coast ports for shipment mainly to Cuba.

Today, some of those dry prairies have been preserved, one of the largest tracts being the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, where we enjoyed our breakfast under a seemingly infinite blue sky. (The three lakes are Kissimmee, Jackson and Marian.) This area is south of Orlando, north of big Lake Okeechobee and about 90 minutes due east of our house. Over 63,000 acres were purchased by the state in the 1970’s in an effort to preserve a portion of this unique prairie ecosystem.

Habitat here is a mix of dry and wet prairie with seasonal ponds scattered throughout and edged by moist flatwoods, hammocks and cypress ponds. An incredible diversity of flora and fauna can be found here.

As we traversed the open grasslands, there was an abundance of wildflowers, birds and insects just waiting to be discovered. I don’t think there was a moment during the entire morning that wasn’t filled with songs from Eastern Meadowlarks or Common Yellowthroats. Plenty of thistles offered nectar to an amazing number of thirsty bugs.

Take a look!

Lunate Longhorn-cuckoo Bee (Triepeolus lunatus) on Leavenworth’s Tickseed (Coreopsis leavenworthii). This bee was a first for us. The bright yellow Coreopsis was probably the most abundant flower of the day.

Pure and loud. The spring song of Eastern Meadowlarks could be heard from all around us all morning.

Not quite as thorny as its purple cousin, Nuttall’s Thistle (Cirsium nuttallii) was prevalent along the edges of the prairie grass. Many plants were well over six feet tall and we seldom saw a bloom without a pollinator drinking its fill.

Depressions throughout the area will contain water during the rainy season. The few we came across with a bit of water also had a reptilian water-lover in residence. (American Alligator).

Although its habitat is listed as pinewoods and moist sandhills, Blackroot (Pterocaulon pycnostachyum) seems to like the edge of the dry prairie just fine.

Competing with meadowlarks for the most abundant songster of the day was the Common Yellowthroat. There seemed to be a male hiding under every palmetto frond in the land. Finally, one popped into view long enough for poor photo.

Plenty of flowers means plenty of pollinators. Here, a Great Southern White (Ascia monuste) enjoys sipping nectar from a Purple Thistle (Cirsium horridulum). Heavy traffic from sweat bees was a challenge and the bees often chased away would-be competitors.

More bits of yellow in the landscape were produced by Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) stems waving in the breeze.

Did we mention the thistles were popular? Halictidae spp. on Purple Thistle (Cirsium horridulum).

A Twin-spot Skipper (Oligoria maculata) on a Purple Thistle (Cirsium horridulum) tries to get a drink before bees and beetles chase him away.

Sandweed (Hypericum fasciculatum) is also known as Peelbark St. Johnswort. By any name, the profuse blooms are beautiful.

Orange and yellow can look pretty nice together. Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) on Leavenworth’s tickseed (Coreopsis leavenworthii).

A Bigflower Pawpaw (Asimina obovata) overlooks a bit of open prairie.

Another thistle, another drinker. The Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan) is very attractive despite little in the way of wing markings.

One bird we had hoped to find was the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. This sub-species is extremely rare and endangered. Our trip was in mid-April and although we struck out on Florida’s bird, we were treated to some great views and singing of its northern cousin visiting for the winter. The Florida sub-species (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) is a bit smaller and overall darker than the Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum). Maybe next time.

We thoroughly enjoyed a change of venue from our local patches. There was more to this visit as well, which we’ll talk about soon. This is one of our favorite areas to explore and we’ll return to the Florida prairie often.

Enjoy your search for a natural place and come back for a visit!