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Fresh From Florida!

Heat. Humidity. Hurricanes. Mosquitoes. Traffic. Plus – the most incredibly diverse natural environment you could possibly imagine. Welcome to our home. Gini and I were both born in the Sunshine State. Our childhoods were remarkably similar. Fond memories of trips to the beach, going fishing, picking fresh tomatoes for canning (in Gini’s case, for eating as many as possible before her Mom scolded her), earning respect of our elders, learning the value… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: balsampear, barred yellow, carolina wren, cassius blue, eastern amberwing, gulf fritillary, little blue heron, little yellow, rambur's forktail, red-shouldered hawk, slaty skimmer, southern carpenter bee, spicebush swallowtail, variegated fritillary, water moccasin, western honeybee

Our Favorite Day

Header Image: Red-eyed Vireo “What day is it?” asked Pooh.“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.“My favorite day,” said Pooh.” ― A.A. Milne As we entered the month of September, thoughts turned to fall migration. Even in a region which barely alters appearance during “autumn“, we can sense all sorts of changes. We actually do have some trees which have leaves showing us a golden or reddish hue instead of forest green. Annual bird migration is… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: blue-gray gnatcatcher, brown pelican, brown thrasher, cicada, cypressvine, eastern towhee, gulf fritillary, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, slaty skimmer, spicebush swallowtail, velvetbean caterpillar moth, zebra longwing

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

Late Summer Swelter

Header Image: Black-crowned Night Heron Florida has a unique combination of heat and humidity which can wilt the best of us at times. Late August typically provides us with afternoon thunderstorms which can help cool us down a bit, but at the expense of maintaining very high humidity. Wiping optics lenses for half an hour each morning becomes a reflex. In our area of central Florida, we average 115 days a year… Read More

Category: Birds, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american alligator, black-crowned night heron, blue-faced darner, brown pelican, cyrano darner, eastern amberwing, eastern glass lizard, eastern pondhawk, four-spotted pennant, halloween pennant, long-jawed orbweaver, northern mockingbird, orchard orbweaver, peruvian primrose-willow, rambur's forktail, ringed paper wasp, seepage dancer, slaty skimmer, swallow-tailed kite, tenoroc fma, two-striped forceptail

Escape To The Swamp

Header Image: Carolina Redroot (Lachnanthes caroliana) Wait. Don’t you mean “Escape FROM The Swamp”?? We review the news from around the corner and around the world. Local roads and businesses are packed with people. Drama inserts itself into our lives unexpectedly. A dirt road leads into welcoming green pine forests where we soon encounter a small stream flowing under an old bridge. Cicadas buzz in a cacophonous wave which washes over our… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bar-winged skimmer, blue dasher, carolina redroot, delta flower scarab beetle, eastern pondhawk, fiery skipper, four-spotted pennant, fungus, green heron, little blue dragonlet, needham's skimmer, obscure grasshopper, roseate skimmer, roundpod st. john's-wort, salt marsh morning glory, scarlet skimmer, slaty skimmer, viceroy, wild turkey, yellow garden spider

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Our Natural Places

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