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Nature Has No Calendar

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) The posted speed limit on this particular road is 60 mph. Traveling at that speed is hazardous to one’s safety. Especially at this hour, just before sunrise. The road is 35 miles in length and connects two major U.S. highways, one of which is a short distance from Interstate 75, a main north-south route through the peninsula. Commercial trucks and commuters use this… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american lady, bluejacket, brown-headed nuthatch, carolina wren, common yellowthroat, coral honeysuckle, coralbean, delaware skipper, florida bellflower, green swamp, large four-spotted scoliid wasp, northern cardinal, northern parula, palamedes swallowtail, pale meadowbeauty, pearl crescent, showy milkwort, southern beeblossom, spicebush swallowtail, swamp rose, white ibis

Early One Summer Morning

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) The turn-off is immediately after the bridge. I almost always miss it and have to do a U-turn. One problem is the highway is a shortcut for 18-wheelers heading for Interstate 75, typically from Interstate 4 to the south. The road saves them quite a bit of time as they don’t have to travel to where the two expressways intersect on the edge… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: amanda's pennant, bar-winged skimmer, eastern black swallowtail, golden-winged skimmer, green swamp, loblolly bay, peelbark st. john's wort, pine savanna, pitted stripeseed, roseate skimmer, roundpod st. john's-wort, showy milkwort, spotted orbweaver, tarflower, tufted titmouse

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

Swamp Bouquet

Header Image: Pine Flatwoods We use the term “swamp” a lot on our blog. Many of our outings take us into or through areas which are defined as swamps. Other wetlands exist in our area and we are sometimes guilty of lumping them all into the same “swamp” basket. Herewith, some short definitions of wetlands found within the United States, courtesy of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Pay attention. There will… Read More

Category: Flora, Florida, Photography Tags: burmarigold, coastal plain willow, cypress dome, floating bladderwort, green swamp, oakleaf fleabane, pickerelweed, red maple tree, sandweed, sawtooth blackberry, showy milkwort, yellow jessamine

Our Natural Places

Exploring - Naturally