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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 orange trees. Some dead and withering hulks of their former selves. Some were newly planted and wrapped in plastic giving them an ethereal appearance in the pre-dawn light. Two miles south, about 100 acres of former citrus grove is now filled… Read More

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

The Collecting Jar

(Reminder: Click to enlarge, click again to zoom on images.) During the first week of September, Gini and I spent a morning roaming around the Richloam Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The location is part of the Withlacoochee River State Forest and is within a portion of the vast Green Swamp. It’s about a 30 minute drive north of our house so we visit frequently. As we enter the area, we pass by… Read More

Category: Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue dasher, blue waterhyssop, common eastern bumble bee, crane fly, dorantes longtail, eastern amberwing, great black digger wasp, mole cricket hunter wasp, needham's skimmer, pearl crescent, pinebarren goldenrod, red-femured spotted orbweaver, richloam wma, skyflower, yaupon holly

On The Importance of Planning

It is vital to set goals is life. Without a goal, how do you know where to go? If you don’t know where you’re going it is all too easy to become lost, literally as well as figuratively. Mapping out a route for what you want to do in life is critical to being successful. Philosophy lesson for the day is over. Once in a awhile – okay, most of the time… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american germander, black-bellied whistling-duck, boat-tailed grackle, colt creek state park, dorantes longtail, gaillardia, gopher tortoise, great egret, gulf fritillary, hairypod cowpea, little blue heron, narrowleaf primrosewillow, needham's skimmer, oppositeleaf spotflower, pale meadowbeauty, red-footed cannibalfly, red-headed woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, saltmarsh morning-glory, summer tanager

It Is Our Nature To Be Happy

Header Image: White-tailed Deer “What a really nice morning!” This was the second time Gini had made that statement since we left the state park. As we pulled into the Bar-B-Que restaurant, she observed that we always seem to say that no matter where we have been. She is right. This particular morning had not been particularly unusual. We saw a few birds, a few insects, enjoyed nice scenery and we talked… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bar-winged skimmer, black-and-white warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, dorantes longtail, eastern black swallowtail, fiery skipper, gold-marked thread-waisted wasp, green lynx spider, red saddlebags, white-eyed vireo, white-tailed deer

Inhaling The Rain

Header Image: Great Egret Our current summer has caused childhood memories to flood my conscience lately. It is hot. I walk barefooted to the mailbox and as I cross the concrete driveway, my pace quickens as it seems I’m walking in a frying pan. As a kid, my feet were tough enough to walk on sandspurs without ill effect. A dish of ice cream last night (yes, I know, apparently verboten at… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Photography Tags: american kestrel, balsampear, blue dasher, cloudless sulphur, common buckeye, common gallinule, dorantes longtail, eastern amberwing, four-spotted pennant, great egret, green anole, green heron, needham's skimmer, rain, roseate skimmer, snails, spicebush swallowtail, summer, water moccasin, white peacock

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