Archives

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

Multitasking Naturally

Header Image: Swamp Chaos This is a follow-up to our last post about flowers. There was a tremendous outcry from a massive amount of our followers protesting the fact no bird images were included in the entry. Okay, so there was only one complaint about a post with no birds. Okay, so it wasn’t really a complaint, more of a “note”. Anyhow, our trip to Colt Creek State Park recently did provide… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american alligator, bar-winged skimmer, blue dasher, cattle egret, cedar waxwing, colt creek state park, dorantes longtail, eastern bluebird, eastern pondhawk, groundselbush beetle, gulf fritillary, halloween pennant, little blue heron, ornate bella moth, palm warbler, phaon crescent, red-shouldered hawk, red-winged blackbird, white-tailed deer, wild turkey

Forest Foray

Header Image: Lake Godwin Moonset “Every day should start this way.” Gini’s simple statement was not only profound but a goal worth striving toward. About an hour earlier, we were on the shore of Lake Godwin, a small freshwater impoundment within the Arbuckle Tract of Lake Wales Ridge State Forest. The moon was descending beyond a line of pine trees. As the sun rose behind us, our surroundings took on a golden… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Photography Tags: arbuckle tract, brown-headed nuthatch, cutthroat grass, downy woodpecker, eastern bluebird, eastern towhee, lake godwin, lake wales ridge state forest, pine warbler, red-bellied woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker

« 1 2 3 4 »

Our Natural Places

Exploring - Naturally