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On Not Setting Goals

(Click on images to enlarge. Click again to zoom) The recently plowed ground was unsettling in several ways. There had always been orange trees here. Across the road were ghosts of orange trees. Some dead and withering hulks of their former selves. Some were newly planted and wrapped in plastic giving them an ethereal appearance in the pre-dawn light. Two miles south, about 100 acres of former citrus grove is now filled… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue dasher, dorantes longtail, killdeer, loggerhead shrike, ocola skipper, palm warbler, sunrise, turkey vulture, yellow garden spider

The Winter of Our Content

(Click on image to enlarge, click again to zoom.) A splash to our right caused us to reflexively look in that direction, although we knew the source. An Osprey rose from the lake’s surface with a small catfish, shook off excess water and flew to a nearby pine tree limb to enjoy her finny snack. She and her mate have been busy with their annual home-improvement project. Soon, the branches will have… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Photography Tags: american kestrel, cattle egret, cypress tree, great blue heron, loggerhead shrike, narrowleaf silkgrass, palm warbler, red-shouldered hawk, sunrise

Our Patch Overfloweth

Streaks of light from the sun rising above the cypress trees lit up the opposite shore of the lake where a Great Blue Heron and Great Egret were wading in search of breakfast. Stepping onto the wooden fishing platform caused a splash from below my feet. A young alligator surfaced several feet into the lake and gave me “the look”. An Osprey splashed just to the right and flew away with a… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: barred yellow, blue dasher, blue-gray gnatcatcher, clay-colored sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, loggerhead shrike, pine warbler, red-shouldered hawk, salt marsh moth larva, snail, tropical checkered-skipper, yellow-throated warbler

Can’t See The Flowers For The Bees

“Did you see that?” “Nope.” This is a frequent exchange between my brown-eyed beauty and myself. I often must gently remind her that when two of us are present, although we have twice as much chance of seeing something, it doesn’t work that way all the time. “But how could you miss that bird on the fence post?” “Because I was looking at the butterfly on the flower on the opposite side… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: dainty sulphur, feather-legged scoliid wasp, great blue skimmer, loggerhead shrike, orchard orbweaver, poey's furrow bee, robber fly, shrubby false buttonweed, western honeybee, white peacock, winged loosestrife, yellow garden spider

Beach In Winter

Header Image: Sandbar With Pelicans and Shorebirds Mid-January. Cold front scheduled in a couple of days. Where to go birding? If you happen to be native Floridians who love to bird-watch, there is only one place to go in winter. THE BEACH ! We made it to North Beach at Fort DeSoto Park in St. Petersburg, Florida just after sunrise. The glow of the early morning sun gives everything a very special… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Photography Tags: american white pelican, bunces pass, dunlin, forster's tern, fort de soto park, great egret, lesser scaup, little blue heron, loggerhead shrike, osprey, red-breasted merganser, reddish egret, royal tern, sanderling

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