Florida | Our Natural Places

Scratching An Itch

It is 0645. Sunrise. Not a hint of a breeze. The grass path is wet from last night’s rain. Or morning dew. Both. In the distance, Limpkins call from opposite ends...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bandana of the everglades, black-bellied whistling-duck, black-crowned night heron, bulltongue arrowhead, butterflies, common gallinule, common green darner, dragonflies, great blue heron, great egret, hyacinth glider, itchepackesassa creek wetlands, long-tailed skipper, pin-tailed pondhawk, spicebush swallowtail, string lily, whirlabout, white ibis

Metamorphosis

I was recently reminded of a series of books developed for children which explained various aspects of science. That was a v-e-r-y long time ago, but one in particular stuck with...

Category: Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: butterfly, gulf fritillary, metamorphosis

Diversity Training

Once upon a time (stop me if you’ve heard this one), our primary consideration in planning an excursion into the Great Outdoors was limited to researching what birds might be found...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: black and yellow mud dauber, blue dasher, butterfly, colt creek state park, common buttonbush, dragonfly, great crested flycatcher, leaf-footed bug, leavenworth's tickseed, little blue heron, northern parula, pale meadowbeauty, purple passionflower, red-spotted purple, spurred butterfly pea, squirrel tree frog, wandering glider, wild turkey

There Are No Ordinary Days

Summer is enveloping us. Walking out the front door is like entering a huge sauna. The humidity turns clothing into a heap of sopping wet rags. Camera and binocular lenses fog...

Category: Birds, Fauna, Florida, Photography Tags: american kestrel, eastern bluebird, horace's duskywing, little blue dragonlet, red-shouldered hawk, scarlet skimmer, slaty skimmer, tenoroc fma, water moccasin

Anticipation. One dictionary definition describes it as “pleasurable expectation”. As my memory cells fade into unreliability, a few still meld and conjure up examples of “pleasurable expectation”. Fishing trips. When I...

Category: Birds, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue dasher, cuban brown anole, eastern amberwing, eastern pondhawk, four-spotted pennant, green anole, hardee lakes park, needham's skimmer, pileated woodpecker, purple gallinule, red-bellied woodpecker, robber fly, roseate skimmer, slaty skimmer, sweat bee

Our Natural Places

Exploring - Naturally