Archives

Header Image: Ruby-crowned Kinglet Apparently, we did not exhaust ourselves enough during the Lakeland Christmas Bird Count so we volunteered to participate in the Green Swamp count. Twenty people. Over 500,000 acres of swamp. Challenging! Gini and I were assigned to the East Tract of the Green Swamp Wildlife Management Area which consisted of a mere 51,000 acres. The vast majority of this area is inaccessible. The Christmas census is designed to… Read More

Header Image: Burmarigold or Smooth Beggartick (Bidens laevis) Standing by the side of the road in the dark. Hands cupping our ears. Straining for the sounds of the night. “Whip, whip, whip, whip!” The loud call accompanied the sound of flapping wings passing us as an Eastern Whip-poor-will flew along with mouth open wide to inhale insects hovering above the sandy stretch of road. Ten minutes later, the surprisingly soft trill of… Read More

Header Image: Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls, Ring-billed Gull Admit it. You like to watch birds. Some of you may even feed them and give them water. I personally know about people who provide homes for birds. If you like to watch birds, and I know you do, it is very likely you use a pair of binoculars in order to see them more clearly. Do you perhaps also own a piece of… Read More

It’s that time of year when we sweep out the old in preparation for the new. In a dusty corner of the archive closet, covered in cobwebs deposited by Halloween goblins, I found a few images which need to be shared. Hope you don’t mind. We gave ourselves a treat on All Hallows’ Eve this year and spent the morning poking around another of the gems which makes up the Tenoroc Fish… Read More

It’s a beautiful day in our neighborhood patch. The pink/purple/orange dawn sky was clear. Relative humidity was 45% (amazing for Florida!). No wind. Cool air invited one to breathe in deeply. Regular flights of commuters were right on schedule as flocks of White Ibises, Cattle Egrets and Double-crested Cormorants moved from roosts to feeding spots. Quartets of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks whistled at us as they swooped low overhead. Just like the animals we… Read More