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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

“… To Where It Bent In The Undergrowth …”*

A glimple of bright orange. “Is that a milkweed?” No. No it wasn’t. It was just after sunrise and we made a different choice today. This particular tract is a wildlife management area within the Withlacoochee River State Forest and consists of nearly 60,000 acres. We have developed a loose routine for exploring this vast area. There are three access points from the main road cleverly named “North”, “Central” and “South” Grade…. Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: brown-winged striped sweat bee, bumble bee, clustered bushmint, fork-tailed bush katydid, great golden digger wasp, green swamp, pale meadowbeauty, persimmon, skyflower, southern beeblossom, twin-spot skipper, virginia saltmarsh mallow, winged loosestrife, yellow fringed orchid

Slow Motion Notion

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) I often tend to be in a hurry. Anxious to “see it all”, I have been known to snap a quick picture of a heron and move on down the shore of the lake as I just know there will be a Limpkin disgorging an Apple snail from its shell and I don’t want to miss THAT! When not on foot, my affliction… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: arrow-shaped orbweaver, ceraunus blue, florida alicia, four-spotted pennant, frogfruit, grassleaf letuce, halloween pennant, little blue dragonlet, little blue heron, needham's skimmer, ornate bella moth, sand blackberry, southern beeblossom, vagrant scrubsnail, wooly bee fly

Among Flowers

(Click on image to enlarge, click again to zoom.) The calendar for this excursion was near the end of April. Florida’s heat and humidity will be here soon. In the meantime, the mild clear mornings are glorious. We turned off the county highway onto an old logging road as the eastern sky began to lighten. A coating of dust on the plants beside the dirt track testified to the recent dry conditions…. Read More

Category: Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: black-eyed susan, citrine forktail, florida bellflower, longleaf milkweed, peelbark st. john's wort, pinebarren aster, southern beeblossom, spurred butterfly pea, swamp rose, tievine

A Joyful Day

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) Just after sunrise, by the side of a lake, we take delight in the distant, slightly eerie calls of Limpkins. Do they know they are the only living members of their avian Family (Aramidae)? Would they care? We are fascinated with the strange call, answered by calls from several different areas. An Osprey crashes into the surface of the lake, submerges briefly and… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: bald eagle, black vulture, creeping woodsorrel, eastern pondhawk, glossy ibis, greater yellowlegs, gulf fritillary, halloween pennant, northern parula, nuttal's thistle, oakleaf fleabane, ovenbird, prickly pear, red saddlebags, red-bellied woodpecker, red-shouldered hawk, solitary sandpiper, southern beeblossom, swamp sparrow, sweetscent, white ibis, wood duck

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Our Natural Places

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