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Ups and Downs of Nature

Header Image: Prairie Warbler Autumn. In many parts of the world, seasons are marked by distinct, often visible changes. Green in spring, white in winter, bright warm days of summer and colorful leaves in autumn. In our sub-tropical environment here in central Florida, we had to invent the calendar in order to keep up with what season we were experiencing. It is now (looking over at the wall calendar) “autumn”. Gini and… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: barred yellow, blue-gray gnatcatcher, common ground dove, fiery skipper, hyacinth glider, indigo bunting, northern parula, prairie warbler, red-shouldered hawk, spicebush swallowtail, tenoroc public use area, tufted titmouse, two-striped forceptail green lynx spider

Slipping Into Spring

Header Image: Clouds In The Marsh “Should I wear my sweatshirt?” It’s that time of year here in sub-tropical central Florida. Important fashion decisions are made difficult by seasonal ambiguities. Yesterday, it was humid and at sunrise it was a pleasant 70 F/21 C. Today, it is somewhat chilly at 50 F/10 C. Will it warm up quickly? What will the wind be like? Wear the sweatshirt or just throw it in… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american white pelican, blue-gray gnatcatcher, brown thrasher, common yellowthroat, dorantes longtail, gray catbird, pine warbler, rain lily, rosary pea, spring, swamp sparrow, white-eyed vireo, yellow-bellied sapsucker

Finding The Extra In The Ordinary

Header Image: Northern Waterthrush It was a day similar to other days. The sun rose. So did we. Ate breakfast. Read mail. Ate lunch. Accomplished chores. Ate supper. The sun set. We went to bed. Ahhh. But during the hum-drum ordinary routine of the day, we discovered a few “extras“. Shortly after the sun rose, we did, too, and drove a short way to have breakfast in the park. Tangerines and boiled… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Photography Tags: american bittern, american kestrel, blue-gray gnatcatcher, carolina chickadee, cooper's hawk, eastern phoebe, goldenrod, grasshopper sparrow, house wren, liatris, narrowleaf sunflower, northern waterthrush, pine warbler, primrosewillow, red saddlebags, red-shouldered hawk

Out-Of-Doors

Header Image: Carolina Wren Once again, that mee-tee-oh-rah-low-gist was absolutely correct. Partly cloudy with temperatures about the same as yesterday. I missed my calling. We pulled into the management area just before the sun was scheduled to make an appearance. Thin fog suggested the actual appearance would be somewhat later than Sol had in the day-planner. Atop the welcome sign, a Red-shouldered Hawk scanned the dew-soaked grass for any sign of movement,… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: band-winged dragonlet, belted kingfisher, blue-gray gnatcatcher, carolina wren, carpenter mimic leaf-cutter bee, common ground-dove, common yellowthroat, downy woodpecker, flesh fly, hyacinth glider, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbird, palm warbler, red-eyed vireo, red-shouldered hawk, regal jumping spider, roseate skimmer, scarlet skimmer, tenoroc fish management area, tufted titmouse, wandering glider, white-eyed vireo, zebra swallowtail

Simplification – A Goal

Header Image: Great Blue Heron We married young. Too young, “they” said. With our 20-20 hindsight, Gini and I have determined we married at the exact time the universe had scheduled the event. Our life continues to be infinitely rewarding. In those early days, we had little “spare” money. (Times haven’t changed much!) What we had an abundance of was curiosity – about everything. The military life had its challenges, but a… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue dasher, blue-gray gnatcatcher, brown thrasher, great blue heron, lake parker park, northern flicker, purple gallinule, white ibis, yellow-throated vireo

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