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Resting “In The Grace of the World”*

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) “Withlacoochee”. I like the sound. I really like the river. The name may have evolved from Native American for “crooked river”, an apt description. Florida’s Withlacoochee River bubbles up within the depths of the Green Swamp and winds its way north and west for 140 miles where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. It is a beautiful waterway. Near the place where… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bighead rush, blue dasher, great crested flycatcher, great golden digger wasp, green swamp, mohr's thoroughwort, narrowleaf primrose-willow, needham's skimmer, northern cardinal, orange milkwort, palamedes swallowtail, pale meadowbeauty, richloam, rosy camphorweed, southern beeblossom, spurred butterfly pea, summer tanager, winged loosestrife, withlacoochee river, yellow milkwort, yellow-eyed grass

Ridge Riches

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) Our timing was good. Driving through the fringe of the city limits in the dark of pre-dawn is sometimes a harrowing experience. Drivers tail-gating, anxious to pass at the first opportunity, or in many cases, making their own (dangerous) opportunity. They either love their jobs so much they just can’t wait to get there, or they overslept again. We suspect the latter. On… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: arbuckle tract, bachman's sparrow, blackroot, eastern cottontail, elliot's milkpea, grass-leaved ladies' tresses, grassleaf lettuce, lake wales ridge state forest, palamedes swallowtail, pinebarren aster, pricklypear, red saddlebags, roserush, white-eyed vireo, whitemouth dayflower

Big Cypress National Preserve

(Click image to enlarge, click again to zoom.) We had not taken a road trip for quite awhile. March is the month in which we married, 56 years ago. Time to celebrate. Several locations in southwest Florida have been on our “sure would like to go” list for several years. As we reviewed the map, two new spots and one long-time favorite were declared the winners. The vehicle was serviced, hotel reservations… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american alligator, big cypress national preserve, blue-winged teal, cardinal airplant, great egret, halloween pennant, leafy bladderwort, northern flicker, palamedes swallowtail, palm warbler, saltmarsh morning-glory, sunrise

Beyond The Bridge

Header Image: Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) Why does a plain boiled egg taste better when consumed under the branches of a huge oak tree in the middle of a forest where no sound of man can be heard? Following our wading bird extravaganza as we paused at one end of the old bridge over the Little Withlacoochee River, we found a nice clearing for brunch just beyond the other end. Lush Resurrection… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: atlantic grasshopper, blackeyed susan, blue dasher, bulltongue arrowhead, carolina chickadee, climbing aster, green anole, green tree frog, northern parula, palamedes swallowtail, tarflower, wild petunia, withlacoochee state forest, yellow colicroot

Forest In Summer

Header Image: Golden-winged Skimmer (Libellula auripennis) The sun has barely managed to get out of bed and already the cicadas are buzzing their raspy chorus in glorious surround-sound. Walking into a meadow requires slogging through a small ditch where the weeds hide six inches of water under bright green tangles. No matter. The dew is so heavy my feet were wet before I made it to the ditch. The humidity is thick… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bar-winged skimmer, brown-headed nuthatch, eastern pondhawk, golden-winged skimmer, gray-green clubtail, northern cloudywing, palamedes swallowtail, slaty skimmer, spicebush swallowtail, wand loosestrife, wild turkey

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