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“… To Where It Bent In The Undergrowth …”*

A glimple of bright orange. “Is that a milkweed?” No. No it wasn’t. It was just after sunrise and we made a different choice today. This particular tract is a wildlife management area within the Withlacoochee River State Forest and consists of nearly 60,000 acres. We have developed a loose routine for exploring this vast area. There are three access points from the main road cleverly named “North”, “Central” and “South” Grade…. Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: brown-winged striped sweat bee, bumble bee, clustered bushmint, fork-tailed bush katydid, great golden digger wasp, green swamp, pale meadowbeauty, persimmon, skyflower, southern beeblossom, twin-spot skipper, virginia saltmarsh mallow, winged loosestrife, yellow fringed orchid

Roadside Attractions

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) You may be surprised to hear this, but Florida has “tourist attractions“. Beaches, picturesque old towns, prehistoric-looking person-eating hundred-foot-long alligators, cattle(!) drives, Seminole Indian reservations (complete with authentic casinos), fishing opportunities and the ultimate in planetary entertainment – an entire world built by a Mouse! Gini and I are both natives of The Sunshine State so we are quite familiar with these incredible… Read More

Category: Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bandana of the everglades, bar-winged skimmer, blue dasher, bumble bee, fewflower milkweed, Florida, flower chafer, green anole, green swamp, hummingbird clearwing, little blue dragonlet, noyau vine, pearl crescent, purple thistle, showy milkwort, trumpet creeper, yellow fly

We Gathered Rosebuds While In May*

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) (Gini continues to take it easy and liked the hospital food so much she may schedule another visit soon. In the meantime, we shall force you to view never-before-seen images of past adventures. Thank you again from both our hearts for your well-wishes. It means a lot.) In the merry merry month of May, Gini and I were frolicking in the Green Swamp… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: buttonbush, carolina chickadee, citrine forktail, eastern black swallowtail, eastern carpenter bee, florida bellflower, four-petal st. john's-wort, green swamp, horace's duskywing, little yellow, mock bishop's weed, phaon crescent, pineland waterwillow, pitted stripeseed, roundpod st. john's-wort, showy milkwort, spurred butterfly pea, swamp rose, tufted titmouse, yellow milkwort

Spring Resurrected (2)

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) The bottom of that shoebox we found for the previous post held a few more pictures, so we thought we would share. Looking in our rear view mirror back to the second week of March, we found ourselves surrounded by Spring. The Green Swamp was decked out in multiple shades of green thanks to the diverse species of trees and plants found here…. Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue-eyed grass, blueflower butterwort, carolina wren, green swamp, leavenworth's tickseed, sawtooth blackberry, shiny blueberry., starrush whitetop, western honeybee, yellow milkwort, zephyrlily

Spring Resurrected

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) March was a busy month around here. Several family birthdays, annoying medical appointments, an anniversary road trip. During an overdue cleanup of the OurNaturalPlaces office complex, we discovered an old shoebox filled with dust and cobwebs which also contained images of one of the year’s first significant Spring swamp forays. We have tried to clean the pictures enough so you may enjoy what… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blackeyed susan, brown-headed nuthatch, citrine forktail, common blue violet, floating bladderwort, green swamp, lyreleaf sage, purple thistle, savanna iris, smallfruit beggarticks, white-tailed deer

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