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Falling In The Morning

(Click on images to enlarge, click again to zoom.) (Note: This visit to Colt Creek State Park occurred on September 17, 2024. On October 8, during the night and the following morning, this area received between 15-20 inches of rain and experienced the 100 mph winds of Hurricane Milton. The roads and trails we enjoyed were inundated and completely covered in water for days. Thanks to amazing work by park employees and… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american alligator, american beautyberry, colt creek state park, eastern bluebird, forked bluecurls, gator creek, green heron, mac lake, panicled ticktrefoil, pine warbler, pitted stripeseed, prairie warbler, sleepy orange, tall elephantsfoot, viceroy, white ibis

Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Moments

(Reminder: Click to enlarge images, click again to zoom.) Gini and I tend to develop a routine when it comes to exploring. When we become familiar with a particular area through repeated visits, a pattern becomes “comfortable“. Today’s visit to one of our favorite “patches” is a perfect example. Tenoroc Fish Management Area is spread out over several geographically separated venues and consists of nearly 8,000 acres. That is a bit more… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: american redstart, band-winged dragonlet, barn swallow, barred yellow, blue dasher, carolina chickadee, goldern-reined digger wasp, great pondhawk, green anole, green lynx spider, northern parula, northern waterthrush, olive-shaded bird-dropping moth, roseate skimmer, salt marsh moth larva, savannah false pimpernel, tenoroc fish management area, turkey vulture, variegated fritillary, viceroy, white peacock

Combination and Repetition

Header Image: Common Ground Dove “It’s orange!” The mistress of understatement flung her index finger toward the top of a small tree. I followed the track and located the indicated insect. It was, as described, orange. Not only that, it was something new, to us. The bright bug was a Clay-colored Leaf Beetle (Anomoea laticlavia), in the Family Chrysomelidae. There are over 1700 species in that Family, many of which have not… Read More

Category: Birds, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: clay-colored leaf beetle, common ground dove, eastern amberwing, feay's palafox, florida alicia, great southern white, gulf fritillary, owlfly, rambur's forktail, red-bellied woodpecker, thick-headed fly, variegated fritillary, viceroy

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

So Much – LIFE ! (Part The Second)

Breakfast was delightful and enhanced by the local ambience. Alligators now recognize us on sight and popped up to the lake’s surface every few minutes to be sure we were still there. Wading birds probed the soft mud by the water for their own breakfast. Waves of cicadas sang in unison, volume rising then falling, reminding us how much we love our Sunshine State and all the natural beauty it has to… Read More

Category: Birds, Fauna, Flora, Florida, Insects, Photography Tags: cloudless sulphur, coffee-loving pyrausta moth, common buckeye, eastern amberwing, fish crow, horace's duskywing, osprey, rambur's forktail, round-tailed muskrat, spicebush swallowtail, tenoroc fma, two-striped forceptail, viceroy

Our Natural Places

Exploring - Naturally