Insects | Our Natural Places

How Green Was My Swamp

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) Thistles! Thrilling! I know. We’re easily excitable. Following a marathon of medical adventures, we needed to absorb as much fresh air as...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue-gray gnatcatcher, brown-headed nuthatch, bumble bee, green swamp, highbush blueberry, narrowleaf blue-eyed grass, netted pawpaw, palamedes swallowtail, prairie iris, purple thistle, red-bellied woodpecker, southern needleleaf, tufted titmouse, white bog violet, wood stork

A Pine Woods Morning

(Click to enlarge images, click again to zoom.) Sunrise. It happens every day. Many of us are still in bed or busy rushing to jobs or getting the kids ready for...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: barred yellow, deer moss, downy woodpecker, florida lupine, florida scrub jay, fog, hairy woodpecker, lake wales ridge state forest, northern mockingbird, prickly pear, spider webs

On Not Setting Goals

(Click on images to enlarge. Click again to zoom) The recently plowed ground was unsettling in several ways. There had always been orange trees here. Across the road were ghosts of...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue dasher, dorantes longtail, killdeer, loggerhead shrike, ocola skipper, palm warbler, sunrise, turkey vulture, yellow garden spider

A Natural Place For Therapy

(Today’s post describes our visit to Colt Creek State Park in central Florida on September 26, 2025. Gini had knee replacement surgery 30 days prior. I will have four more sessions...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: celestial lily, chapman's goldenrod, colt creek state park, eastern phoebe, four-petal st. johnswort, gulf fritillary, pine lily, rayless sunflower, red-shouldered hawk, seven sisters, spider wasp, wild turkey

Our Day of Summer – Part Three

(Finally. This is the last chapter of reporting on our only day this summer we were able to explore nature. It was August 15 and we were in the Lake Wales...

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: barred yellow, black dancer, carolina yellow-eyed grass, cloudless sulphur, common buckeye, eastern amberwing, florida pricklypear, florida scrub jay, lake wales ridge state forest, loblolly bay, narrowleaf primrose-willow, october flower, roserush, sandhill st. john's-wort, scrubland goldenaster, southern needleleaf

Our Natural Places

Exploring - Naturally