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Familiarity Breeds Content

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) This year has been a bit different than others. “Getting old“, my bride says, “is not for sissies.” Indeed. Hindsight indicates we should have purchased one of those extended service warranties for our bodies. Our appointment calendar sure has been filled with visits to all sorts of medical practioners, laboratories, imaging services and we are now on a first-name basis with the local… Read More

Category: Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: annual blue-eyed grass, bar-winged skimmer, blackroot, carolina desert-chicory, carpenter-mimic leafcutter bee, chicory, common sunflower, coralbean, four-petal st. johnswort, gulf fritillary, mexican pricklypoppy, spring ladies' tresses

A Joyful Day

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) Just after sunrise, by the side of a lake, we take delight in the distant, slightly eerie calls of Limpkins. Do they know they are the only living members of their avian Family (Aramidae)? Would they care? We are fascinated with the strange call, answered by calls from several different areas. An Osprey crashes into the surface of the lake, submerges briefly and… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bald eagle, black vulture, creeping woodsorrel, eastern pondhawk, glossy ibis, greater yellowlegs, gulf fritillary, halloween pennant, northern parula, nuttal's thistle, oakleaf fleabane, ovenbird, prickly pear, red saddlebags, red-bellied woodpecker, red-shouldered hawk, solitary sandpiper, southern beeblossom, swamp sparrow, sweetscent, white ibis, wood duck

Marsh Madness 2/3

(Click images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) “All that water looks really shallow but if you wade out in it you would probably completely disappear in the soft mud.” I’m still trying to work out if Gini was being scientific or making a suggestion. Indeed, the average depth of the water throughout this portion of Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve is from six to ten inches. There are a few deeper… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american alligator, american white pelican, gulf fritillary, hooded merganser, indian blanket, marsh, merritt island nwr, northern shoveler, roseate spoonbill, tricolored heron, white ibis, wood stork

Colt Creek State Park

(Click images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) Standing still, eyes closed, head tilted one way then another. I hear the distant call of a Red-shouldered Hawk, the guttural “caw-caw-cawwww” of American Crows, trumpeting Sandhill Cranes, a raucous Blue Jay, the hammering of a woodpecker on a dry limb. Gini’s superior hearing adds a calling White-eyed Vireo, the clear whistle of a Tufted Titmouse, a Carolina Wren, an upset squirrel and the… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american alligator, ceraunus blue, colt creek state park, coral bean, gopher tortoise, gulf fritillary, hover fly, red-banded hairstreak, red-shouldered hawk, rice button aster, river otter, savannah sparrow, shortleaf wild coffee, sunshine mimosa, tree swallow

Falling Toward Winter

(Click to enlarge images, click again to zoom.) Winter solstice begins in two days. That may not mean too much, temperature-wise, to us here in central Florida, but in many areas of the northern hemisphere the date usually portends colder conditions with frost, ice and snow. I found a virtual binder in the corner of the digital desk drawer which was not reported on at the time. We apologize for its tardiness,… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american beautyberry, carolina satyr, chapman's blazing star, colt creek state park, eastern bluebird, eastern phoebe, four-petal st. john's-wort, goldenrod, gray wall jumper, gulf fritillary, house wren, narrowleaf sunflower, northern cardinal, prairie warbler, swamp sparrow, tropical checkered-skipper, white ibis, whitetailed deer, wood stork

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