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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

On The Importance of Planning

It is vital to set goals is life. Without a goal, how do you know where to go? If you don’t know where you’re going it is all too easy to become lost, literally as well as figuratively. Mapping out a route for what you want to do in life is critical to being successful. Philosophy lesson for the day is over. Once in a awhile – okay, most of the time… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american germander, black-bellied whistling-duck, boat-tailed grackle, colt creek state park, dorantes longtail, gaillardia, gopher tortoise, great egret, gulf fritillary, hairypod cowpea, little blue heron, narrowleaf primrosewillow, needham's skimmer, oppositeleaf spotflower, pale meadowbeauty, red-footed cannibalfly, red-headed woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, saltmarsh morning-glory, summer tanager

On The Ridge

June in Florida. Very early in the morning, one can imagine the air still has the lingering coolness most people associate with spring. It’s a hallucination. If you take more than two steps through the greenery, your feet and calves are immediately soaked in dew. Humidity manifests itself by making you feel as though you have stepped into a sauna. As there is no breeze, walking briskly helps evaporate the drops… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Insects, Photography Tags: american white waterlily, arbuckle tract, bar-winged skimmer, bumble bee, butterfly milkweed, carolina satyr, eastern tiger swallowtail, eastern towhee, florida scrub jay, great crested flycatcher, green anole, lake wales ridge state forest, northern parula, red saddlebags, red-headed woodpecker, southeastern five-lined skink, summer tanager, tufted titmouse, wild turkey, yellow milkwort

Our Natural Places

Exploring - Naturally