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(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) Dew-bejeweled wisps of webs atop brown grass stalks sparkled with the first rays of sun as we made our way along the red clay road through the forest. The call of a Northern Cardinal was as clear as the bright blue sky overhead. Mid-summer. Hot. Humid. Surely a day meant for mad dogs. Indeed. Flowers appeared in profusion every few yards. Birds and… Read More
(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) I often tend to be in a hurry. Anxious to “see it all”, I have been known to snap a quick picture of a heron and move on down the shore of the lake as I just know there will be a Limpkin disgorging an Apple snail from its shell and I don’t want to miss THAT! When not on foot, my affliction… Read More
Pine trees. Tall. Green. Rough, thick, scaly bark. Be careful in handling the pine cone or you may wind up with a hand full of small holes. Close your eyes and breathe in. The air of a pine forest can soothe one’s very soul. Our two souls were busy being soothed when the shriek of a Red-shouldered Hawk roused us from our reverie. Gini and I have almost come to treat each… Read More
Header Image: Florida Scrub Jay Wisps of fog hugged the pastures. Still just below the horizon, the sun was turning the eastern sky pink as we drove past the fields of drowsy cattle and moved through several miles of orange groves. Big Lake Reedy loomed to the north as we turned eastward toward the even larger Lake Arbuckle. We slowed to scan the wetlands on either side of the road and made… Read More
Header Image: Common Ground Dove “It’s orange!” The mistress of understatement flung her index finger toward the top of a small tree. I followed the track and located the indicated insect. It was, as described, orange. Not only that, it was something new, to us. The bright bug was a Clay-colored Leaf Beetle (Anomoea laticlavia), in the Family Chrysomelidae. There are over 1700 species in that Family, many of which have not… Read More
Our Natural Places 