Flora | Our Natural Places

A Grand Day Out*

Header Image: American Alligator Pre-dawn gray slowly transformed into stunningly bright blue skies and a glance to the east risked temporary blindness as the sun announced its arrival. Every field was...

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american alligator, american beautyberry, butterfly milkweed, carolina saddlebags, coastal plain yelloweyed grass, common eastern bumble bee, florida garden spider, fungi, great crested flycatcher, lake wales ridge state forest, little blue dragonlet, narrowleaf primose-willow, pale meadowbeauty, partridge pea, pipevine swallowtail, red-bellied woodpecker, red-femured spotted orbweaver, sensitive brier, spurred butterfly pea, whitemouth dayflower, zebra swallowtail

Our Favorite Day

Header Image: Red-eyed Vireo “What day is it?” asked Pooh.“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.“My favorite day,” said Pooh.” ― A.A. Milne As we entered the month of September, thoughts turned to fall migration....

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue-gray gnatcatcher, brown pelican, brown thrasher, cicada, cypressvine, eastern towhee, gulf fritillary, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, slaty skimmer, spicebush swallowtail, velvetbean caterpillar moth, zebra longwing

Willful Wander

Header Image: White-tailed Deer Avian fall migration brings out the worst in me. Years of conditioning to be a better “birder” forces me to peruse local birding reports and to visit...

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue dasher, carolina saddlebags, cloudless sulphur, eastern bluebird, fiery skipper, great blue skimmer, pearl crescent, ridgeback grasshopper, saltmarsh morning-glory, sleepy orange, white-tailed deer, wild turkey

Swamp Sojourn

Header Image: Pine Flatwoods Dawn “And far as the eye of God could seeDarkness covered everything,Blacker than a hundred midnightsDown in a cypress swamp. Then God smiled,And the light broke,And the...

Category: Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: golden-winged skimmer, green swamp, horsetail, orchard orbweaver, pale meadowbeauty, pearl crescent, pig frog, scouringrush, spicebush swallowtail

Forest In Summer

Header Image: Golden-winged Skimmer (Libellula auripennis) The sun has barely managed to get out of bed and already the cicadas are buzzing their raspy chorus in glorious surround-sound. Walking into a...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bar-winged skimmer, brown-headed nuthatch, eastern pondhawk, golden-winged skimmer, gray-green clubtail, northern cloudywing, palamedes swallowtail, slaty skimmer, spicebush swallowtail, wand loosestrife, wild turkey

Our Natural Places

Exploring - Naturally