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As The Fog Clears

Header Image: Eastern Phoebe Eyes Bagworm Moth We seem to relish foggy days. For one, as Gini noted on this day, it just seems so quiet. The stillness of an early morning on the bank of a lake blanketed in gray with sight and sound limited heightens the senses. More importantly, we know clear skies lurk just above the mist and the natural world will soon be going about the business of… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: arrowhead spider, climbing aster, common grackle, eastern bluebird, eastern phoebe, fog, house wren, hyacinth glider, moonflower, northern harrier, red-tailed hawk, ruby-crowned kinglet, savannah sparrow, swamp sparrow, tenoroc fma, variegated fritillary, white ibis, yellow-rumped warbler

The Rise of Fall

It’s a beautiful day in our neighborhood patch. The pink/purple/orange dawn sky was clear. Relative humidity was 45% (amazing for Florida!). No wind. Cool air invited one to breathe in deeply. Regular flights of commuters were right on schedule as flocks of White Ibises, Cattle Egrets and Double-crested Cormorants moved from roosts to feeding spots. Quartets of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks whistled at us as they swooped low overhead. Just like the animals we… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: barred yellow, belted kingisher, blue dasher, cloudless sulphur, eastern bluebird, eastern phoebe, honeycomb, house wren, little yellow, northern cardinal, palm warbler, red-bellied woodpecker, red-tailed hawk, six-lined racerunner

Balancing Act

Header Image: Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata) Early morning sunshine illuminated the forest’s shadowy places and dried the dampness left by last night’s dew. Insects roused from their torpor to start their daily routine of survival. Just above the bugs on the food chain, hungry birds also began their daily routine of survival. Slightly next in line on that food chain thing, a couple of humans raised binoculars in unison to watch the… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: band-winged dragonlet, barred yellow, camphorweed, carolina wren, eastern amberwing, eastern bluebird, eastern pondhawk, giant swallowtail, gophter tortoise, great pondhawk, ovenbird, roseate skimmer, royal river cruiser, showy rattlebox, snowy egret, southern green-striped grasshopper, spicebush swallowtail, spotted beebalm, tenoroc fish management area, wild hogs

Willful Wander

Header Image: White-tailed Deer Avian fall migration brings out the worst in me. Years of conditioning to be a better “birder” forces me to peruse local birding reports and to visit locations which have historically proven to be “hotspots” for our annual autumnal visitors. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, in the past few years I have discovered other interests in the natural world. I blame the inexorable advancement of… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue dasher, carolina saddlebags, cloudless sulphur, eastern bluebird, fiery skipper, great blue skimmer, pearl crescent, ridgeback grasshopper, saltmarsh morning-glory, sleepy orange, white-tailed deer, wild turkey

Stay Curious

Header Image: Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) “Those are some tall thistles!” My mistress of understatement was right. Soon, I would be threading my way through that sticky forest and would discover most of these plants were two to three feet above head height. Did I mention they were sticky? Our day began later than some as we were heading to one of Florida’s state parks. Apparently, adding the word “state” to a… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bandana of the everglades, bar-winged skimmer, blue dasher, bumble bee, carolina desert-chicory, carolina saddlebags, colt creek state park, cypress tree gall, eastern bluebird, eastern lubber grasshopper, flower beetle, great crested flycatcher, hummingbird clearwing, mexican pricklypoppy, palamedes swallowtail, pickerelweed, red saddlebags, swamp rose, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, zebra heliconian

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