Florida | Our Natural Places

Babylon! Blood! Beauty!

A review of last year’s records began as a search for early fall migration arrival dates. It soon devolved into a tragic tale of ancient Babylon, unfulfilled love and blood-soaked —...

Category: Birds, Fauna, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american grasshopper, black and yellow argiope, bumble bee, cloudless sulphur, colt creek state park, delaware skipper, dorantes longtail, eastern lubber grasshopper, hummingbird clearwing moth, needham's skimmer, northern parula, prince baskettail, red saddlebags, red-bellied woodpecker, red-shouldered hawk, river otter, roseate skimmer

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

Our Natural Places

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